You Are Not Given a Spirit of Fearਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 4: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

When fear tries to overcome us, we must remember that, just like God gives us His power, He gives us His love.

John 17:26 tells us that the very love that God loves Jesus with is in us. The very love. not 50% of that love, not 90%, but the very same love shared between the Father and the Son.

When you were born, you didn’t have that love. You might have had a great personality. You might have been a really kind person, but you didn’t have the love of God. But Romans 5:5 says that the love of God has been shed abroad, so when you are born again, the love of God comes by the power of the Holy Spirit and is poured all over your heart.

Casting Out Fear

It is important to recognize that this love has been poured inside of us because 1 John 4 tells us that God’s perfect love casts out fear.

I studied that word, “cast out,” and what it means is “to kick out.” To give you a picture, let’s say that your dog or cat did something really bad. Maybe they hurt somebody, or they hurt you, and you just say, “Get away from me! Get out!” Well, that is the same word used to say love casts out fear. You are the one with the power, not fear. You are the one with the power, and you can say, “You get out, fear.” You have that authority.

Receiving and Giving

But when you discover this love in your own self, you can’t just keep it in. You need to do something with it. Fortunately, God gives us so many instructions and examples of what love is supposed to look like and what we can do with it.

He tells us all about the patience and humility and forgiveness of love in 1 Corinthians, and John 3:16 tells us that God showed His love by giving us Jesus, our perfect example. What did Jesus do? His love was not passive at all. His love was very active, and He came and gave up everything for you and me. It was action.

Many years ago, I was struggling a lot, but do you know what I got to do? I got to go every month to a drug and alcohol hospital, and I got to share the love of God with the women there, and that was so healing for me.

When you smile even though you don't want to smile, it's going to bring something to you. When you love somebody, hug somebody or call somebody, you are using the very love of God that's going to be in you forever. You are using it and giving it out and making a difference for somebody else that needs it.

You have to recognize the love of God on the inside of yourself and then give it away, and when you give, you see, you start being healed.

Discussion Questions:

1. Sometimes, our view of love is tainted or skewed by our experiences or hurts. Take a moment to write down a list of traits that you think love should have, then look at today’s scripture readings to see how they match up.
2. Can you think of a time when you chose love in spite of a certain struggle or attitude? How did that choice affect you?