I fear not because He loves me!

[Picture by Sofia Di]

Have you ever been afraid of something? I feel afraid about the future very often. God has been revealing to me some truths that are setting me free from it.  One of those truths is to rest in His perfect love. His perfect love drives out all fear. Receiving his love for us help us to embrace and believe in the plans He has in store for us---plans to bless us and not to harm us.

What is fear?

I believe that fear is a negative faith. When we fear, we focus on the negative circumstances that could happen to us. When we fear, we stop placing our eyes on the truth of God's perfect love for us!

What is perfect love?

Many times we believe that perfect love is our love for God or our love for our neighbors, which can be a fruit of it but it is not the root of perfect love. Perfect love is to receive Jesus' love for us. The bible tells us that perfect love casts out all fear.

1 John 3:1 says:  "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." By reading this verse, I realized that perfect love starts by beholding. We  have to behold what Jesus has done for us. Beholding means to see attentively, meditate, declare, receive His love for us and His forgiveness of our sins.

1 John 3:16  says: "This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us"

 This verse makes the concept of love very clear. Perfect love is God's love for us. This is the love revelation that will cast out all fear. Notice, that the verse does not says:  "When we love others we experience love." Instead, it says when we receive Christ sacrifice then we experience love.

The revelation of God's love for us will allow us to trust in him. We can believe that He has everything under control and that nothing we face will ever harm us.

 What about the times we will suffer?

God promises us in Luke 10:19 that nothing will harm us. It says: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

  As I read this verse and looked back in all the hardships I had to overcome. I asked God how come you said that nothing would harm me? How come then I had to go through all that trouble?

 He showed me that He promised that I would never be harmed by scorpions or serpents. This in fact,  didn't mean that I was not going to have to face them. Instead, it means that God's plan for my life will always reign! I was specifically design to overcome every obstacle in life. Not only that, I was meant to come out of all my troubles better than what I was before!

  Now I believe, that the harm He is talking about is the harm that would paralyze us for ever. And that would leave us completely destroyed without any hope. If The situation we are going through right now is not of victory, it means is not God's plan for our lives. It means is not the end! It is the beginning of our victory.

  God is omniscient, He knows everything! He knew how the world we were coming into was like. He also knew about the enemies that were going to try to prevent us from our divine destiny.

 Since He knew about it, He decided to carefully knit us together our mother's womb. He equipped us with all the weapons, abilities and all the strength we would need to face and overcome every obstacle in life so we can fulfill our divine destiny.

 If He knows that something has the potential to harm us, or to prevent us from our destiny, then He would never let us go through it! It is just like the trees, God doesn't plant coconut trees on snowy places. Those trees are design to endure the heat and the winds. In the same way, God will not plant us in a place that we are not made to resist or that will destroy us.

 God wants us to rest in His love for us. He wants us to know that it does not matter the name of the fire we may go through, it is not meant to harm us. We were made to overcome it. And we are not facing it alone. He is with us until the end of the world. He has sent his one and only son to replenish us with the love we need to cast out all fear.

Some action steps to overcome fear:

1. Read verses out loud about God's love for you.

   Meditate on them day and night. Do it first thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed. Whisper those verses all day long. When fear tries to come back in then declare God's word. Some verses are: John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:1

2.  Make a list of all your fears and next to it write:

I fear _____________________ but I know that God loves me! He will not let me go through this if it has the potential to harm me and prevent me from my divine destiny. If I ever go through this situation that scares me is because I am already equipped to overcome it.