Hebrews 2:14-15 Since then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death (that is, the Devil), and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Numerous acronyms can be made from the four letters which spell “F-E-A-R“. Here’s one: False Evidence Appearing Real.” Deceptive fear is spreading everywhere. False evidence, questionable claims, disputable statistics, endless narratives, hyped-up threats, and massive complexity defying interpretation are producing a threatening atmosphere (or “atmosFEAR”). Uncertainty and danger, real and imagined, pervade, the air spreading rampant anxiety. This FEAR is being used as a weapon to attack our mind and emotions, and quench our spirits. How to master it?
First, do we realize our bondage to the fear of death which is the foundation of all other fears? If so, we can overcome False Evidence Appearing Real … with Firm Assurance In The Holy. FAITH, the true evidence of what does not appear “real”, but is more real than anything else.
The Lord Yeshua (Jesus) came to destroy him who had the power of death. Death, the underlying base of all our fears, and the fear of death, are no longer our slave-masters if we have died with Messiah. Our life in this world is but a vapor, a shadow, as such, False Evidence Appearing Real. But the resurrected Son of God has hidden our true life in His, beyond this fear-soaked world. So meet your FEAR, master it…with FAITH, in the risen Messiah.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]A new driver for an interstate trucking company was having a difficult time. He found the long cross-country trips extremely tiring. The older driver who traveled with him, however, seemed to thrive on those long trips. He always seemed to look as fresh at the end of the ride as he did at the beginning.
In the Olivet discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Yeshua prophesied that “… nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” The word “nation” in Greek is the word “ethnos”, from which we get the English word “ethnic”. All of this polarization and ethnic warfare which the media feed upon and incite is the work of the enemy as he stirs up the sinful nature of men.
Several hundred years before Jesus was born, a plague broke out in Athens, Greece. In an effort to stop the plague and appease the ‘gods’, the Athenians sought counsel from a wise man named Epimenides from the island of Crete.
There’s nothing we can do to earn God’s love, however if we want to experience His blessings we need to observe the qualifications that He’s given us in His Word. Psalm 112 details a whole list of blessings, but the key to receiving them is verse 1.
Looking at the relationship between “love and affection” (“chiba” in Hebrew) and “obligation” (“chova” in Hebrew), we find another closely related word, “chaver”, one of the Hebrew words for “friend”. Friends are people with whom we share love and affection and also a sense of obligation. Our God and Father wants us to be His friends, to share love and affection with Him and to carry the sense of responsibility and obligation which friendship requires.
We are called to be servants, are we not? Well, what does a servant do? He (or she) carries out the will of his master. A servant doesn’t tell his master what to do — he performs whatever tasks the master requests of him. A servant doesn’t choose what days or times it’s most convenient to serve his master. A servant’s function is simply to follow and obey his master’s instructions. A servant does not develop a vision for the master either. The master is the one with the vision — and he wants his servants to be ready and available to carry out that vision and bring it to fruition.
This passage in Isaiah contains a poetic play on words which is lost to any reader but one who understands Hebrew. A word for word translation runs something like this: “If not you will believe (lo ta-aminoo), surely not you will be established (lo te-amenoo).” The three letter Hebrew root – “aleph”- “mem”- “nun”, is the same in both words, and the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah is clearly playing on this root to emphasize His point. The same root letters are also used in the spelling for the familiar word “Amen” which literally means “truthfully”.