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 teaching her how to be confident and overcome her fears to the point that one day she asked me, “Are you mad at me?” It took me by surprise because of course I wasn’t mad at her. But I realized I was mad at the fear that controlled her life. I told her, “No sweetie, I’m not mad at you at all. I’m sorry. But I won’t stand by and let fear dominate over you because it’s not from God.”
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 letter to his beloved son in the faith was Paul’s last letter before he died. It’s evident in his writing that he knew his time was short and therefore only wrote about the most important things on his heart. It seems fear has always had to be addressed. If let alone, it robs people of faith.
How does fear gain so much power?
First of all, if fear isn’t from God, there’s only one other source. 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).
We could talk for hours about love (what it is, how it acts, etc) but the main thing we need to know is that literally GOD IS LOVE and there is NO FEAR in love (God). Let’s establish that in our hearts. This is why God can’t be the one putting fear on us. But Peter gave us two keys to abiding in love (and therefore overcoming fear). He said, “…we have known and believed 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 many people who see God more as a lightening bolt from heaven than the epitome of love. This one fact explains why fear can run rampant in a person’s life, including the life of a believer! A person can believe in God and His Son Jesus but still not really KNOW God. How sad.
The best way to get to know Him is through His Word, especially through the New Testament. The Old Testament is better understood once we’ve grasped the love God had for saving the whole world (John 3:16). But if we never spend time reading the Bible for ourselves, no wonder fear dominates our thoughts.
Do you believe the love of God?
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 entry to heaven but that’s it. And since insecurity is a form of fear, it’s not hard to see how this tactic of the enemy has kept people in bondage.
Again, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). So the only way to combat fear is to keep hearing (and hearing and hearing) of God and His love through His Word. And at some point, choosing to believe the word you are 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 discovered the love of God for herself. It’s her passion to tell others of His love. 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.
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 those scriptures. I promise you’ll never be the same because perfected love casts out all fear.
