No Fear in Love

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear *involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.  ~ 1 John 4:18

We know that fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real, but I’ll take it one step further and say that fear is a lack of trust.  As God’s Word says, “the one who fears is not perfected in love.”  God is that love and those of us who live in or with fear have not yet been perfected or encompassed by it.

This fear can be broken down into many different categories.  There’s the fear of abandonment, which keeps you from speaking up for yourself in a healthy and respectful manner.  There’s the fear of rejection that keeps you from standing up for what is right and true.  The fear of rejection can also be coupled with the fear of failure and/or the fear of success, all of which can keep you from fulfilling your dreams and God’s purposes for your life.

Fear is a great immobilizer.  God put warning signals in our brains to send out as messages to our bodies to keep us from harm.  Satan, however, twisted it to keep us from the things God intended for us.  One thing, above all others, that fear keeps us from is understanding and living in a perfect relationship with God our Father.  Because the enemy has used our earthly relationships with other the men in our lives—our fathers, uncles, brothers, husbands, boyfriends, etc.—to cause us fear in some way, we reflect that back onto Father God and we are kept from having the perfect relationship with Him—the One who is able to cast out all our fears and protect us.

If there is only one scripture you study and get to know better, make it this one.  Allow Father’s perfect love to displace your fears.  Allow His tenderness to sink into your bones and seep into your heart.  Allow His peace to overcome your thoughts.  Allow His joy to replace your fretting and grief.  Allow His promises to replace your worries.  Trust in His love enough to allow it to replace your fears.

Do No Be Deceived

Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies. ~ Exodus 5:9

How many times has it happened that we receive a Word or promise from God and the enemy immediately ramps up his attacks against us?  I think it happens every time.  It reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 4 about the farmer who sows seed, which is the Word.  For some people, the Word is sown into their lives, but either due to their having no root or being deceived that word is chocked out of them (see Mark 4:16-20).  When the enemy assaults us with these attacks after we’ve received a Word from God, we need to remember two things: 1) The enemy cannot create something new—as God can—he can only produce a counterfeit of the Truth.  That means if God promises us blessings by following His path, the enemy will come in with a “short-cut” that sounds similar to God’s promises, but will only lead to pain & death in the end.  2) the Bible tells us  that the devil is the “Father of lies” and has come to the earth to “steal, kill, and destroy” all that God has given us and promised to us (see John 8:44; John 10:10).  The devil has come to distract us.  Just as Pharaoh, upon hearing that Moses was sent with the message to let God’s people go, increased the pain of the Israelites, the enemy will try to increase our pain so we are so distracted with what’s in front of us, we will have no time to focus on God’s promises.

Jesus promised us, “In this world you will  have trouble.  But take heart, for I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33).  Jesus knew that as soon as we received a promise from God, the enemy would pounce on us to distract us from going after it.  But, Jesus also assures us that He has overcome the world and the enemy  has no real power over us as long as we continue to walk by faith and not by sight.  So ask yourself today and in the next weeks and months: is what I’m going through as good as all that God has promised me?  If not, don’t be afraid to open your mouth and tell the devil he’s a liar and you’re not going to listen to him anymore!