There is no fear in love. This is what the Holy Spirit told John to write to believers. Yet we see fear running rampant everywhere — fear of death, fear of illness, fear of lack, fear of fear.
My daughter struggled with fear of everything when she was a little girl. I was constantly trying to redirect her thoughts and teach her how to be confident and overcome her fears. One day she asked me, “Are you mad at me?” It took me by surprise because of course I wasn’t mad at her– I was only mad at the devil and the fear that seemed to constantly control her life.
I told her, “No sweetie, I’m not mad at you at all. I’m so sorry. I love you. But I won’t stand by and let fear dominate and dictate the rest of your life, because it’s not from God.”
If left alone, fear robs people of faith.
Paul told Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This second epistle to Timothy was Paul’s last letter before he passed away. It’s evident that he knew his time was short and therefore important to him to write about things on his heart. And fear had to be addressed.
But here’s the question: If God isn’t the author of fear, how does it gain so much power in our lives? Peter explains this well:
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:16-19).
He who fears has not been made perfect in love.
This says a lot doesn’t it? We could talk for hours about love (what it is, how it acts, etc) but the main thing I need you to know is that literally GOD IS LOVE and there is NO FEAR in Him. This is why God can’t be the one putting fear on us. Fear is of Satan. And the best way to defeat his onslaught of fear is to “… know and believe the love that God has for us.”
Do you know the love of God? Whether it was directly taught from religious pulpits or planted in our minds by the devil, there are too many people who only view God as a judge or disapproving dictator. This wrong perspective explains why fear can run rampant in a person’s life (including the life of a believer).
It’s possible to believe in God and His Son Jesus but still not really KNOW Him.
The best way to get to know God is through His Word, especially through the New Testament. The Old Testament is better understood once we’ve grasped the love God revealed when He sent Jesus to save us (John 3:16). Fear finds entrance in our heart and thoughts when we lack knowledge and understanding.
But, knowing and believing God’s love isn’t the same thing. For a long time, I wrestled with believing God could really love me. I believed and accepted salvation as an invitation to heaven but that was it. Insecurity is a form of fear, so it’s not hard to see how this tactic of the enemy kept me (my daughter, and many others) in bondage.
Thankfully, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The more I read my Bible and grew in my understanding of God’s Word, the easier it became to combat fear. I had to keep hearing (and hearing and hearing) about God’s love. And then one day, I had to choose to believe the word I was hearing.
Today, my daughter is a confident, yet humble, young woman. But it wasn’t my nagging and rebuking fear that helped her (well, maybe a little). She actually discovered the love of God for herself. She meditates on it all the time. And the result is no fear. She has come to know and believe the love that God has for her and all of us. And now it’s her passion to tell others too.
Perfect love casts out all fear.
If you wrestle with fear of any kind, I encourage you today to look up the word love in the New Testament and spend the next year meditating on every scripture. I promise you’ll never be the same.
