Love Lifts Me Over Fear
Fear is the absence of love? What?!!! I fear having no money. I fear dying early. I fear relationships I care about suddenly lost or broken due to misunderstanding. I fear for my children’s future. I fear sickness. I fear being shamed and disgraced. I fear pain of every kind, but mostly the emotional kind. I fear missing the rapture when Jesus comes. Do you have any of these fears, too? What are your personal fears? Be honest with yourself as you take the time to write them down. And look at them; ponder over these fears for a moment. I asked myself one day, “Now what do these things I fear have to do with lack of love?”
1 John 4:18 tells us, 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.
If fear is the absence of love, then what is love and how does it cast out my fear? O.k., let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. We can list the characteristics of love: 1. Suffers long; 2. Is kind; 3. Does not envy; 4. Does not parade itself (does not make himself or herself look better than someone else); 5. Is not puffed up (thinking too highly of oneself: “I am perfect”; and looking lowly or down on the faults of others, e.g. arrogance); 6. Does not behave rudely; 7. Is not selfish (not thinking how his or her actions might affect others); 8. Is not provoked (to overreact in anger); 9. Thinks no evil; 10. Does not rejoice in iniquity (wrong-doing); 11. Rejoices in the truth; 12. Bears (carries) all things; 13. Believes all things (are going to work out for the good of those involved); 14. Hopes all things (will get better); 15. Endures all things (as it pushes through to a positive end); and 16. Love never fails. It’s not conditional, but agape.
If fear is the absence of love, then what is love and how does it fast out my fear?
When I fear having no money, I lack the hope (#14) that God will supply all my needs (Phil. 4:19). When I fear dying early, I lack the endurance (#15) to do what is right to take care of my physical body, my emotional (soulful) body, and my spiritual body (all three of my being) and I hesitate to accept God’s promise for long life (Psalm 91:16). When I fear broken relationships, I lack the belief (#13) in humanity’s goodness despite of its weaknesses: no one is perfect, therefore, I become puffed up (#5) in seeking perfection when it is impossible and, later, fall into disappointment and despair because I cannot accept human weaknesses in myself and in others. Wow!
When I fear for my children’s future, again, I lack belief (faith) (#13) that God is working everything out for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 6:28). When I fear sickness, I lack positive thinking (#9). I make sickness become a big evil thought in my mind which will surely manifest (become real) as terrible and ugly and unbearable; instead of looking at sickness as a challenge to overcome which will give glory to the power of Jesus’ stripes. When I fear being shamed and disgraced (of course, publically), I lack trust in God to vindicate me and to cover my offences (more like imperfections); and then I coil into my selfish shell (#7) overwhelmed resisting to come out because I don’t find myself perfect enough to live with others, thereby denying them and myself the best parts of me—the good things God put in me.
I fear pain of every kind because I hate long suffering (#1); but the pain comes to help me learn life’s lessons and to learn to be patient as God works on perfecting me into behaving how love grows in and through that painful situation or doing what love would do to avoid the pain altogether. So, why do I fear missing the rapture when Jesus comes? I lack the understanding of how love never fails (#16) in that Jesus loved me so much, He died for me and is now my righteousness; and that, if He lives in me, I have the victory to overcome the world – my faith in Him (1 John 5:4). When sin so rampantly surrounds me, I lack rejoicing in the truth (#11) that Jesus came to set me free from sin and shame. I struggle to forgive myself of past sins and fear sinning now; and feel my imperfections will keep me out of heaven. Really? Read 1 John 3 and 4.
Dear family, you see how my fears show a lack of love in my life? It is a cataclysmic cycle of torment (self-inflicted punishment) for not accepting the fact that I am not perfect. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him (1 John 2:5a). . . .God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us (1 John 4:12c).
Please, drop the guise (or disguise), dear brother, dear sister. If you are in such a cycle of torment from your own personal fears, there is only one way out: Forgive yourself, forgive the ones who caused you pain, and embrace the wonderful person God made in His own image and likeness: YOU. Change your way of thinking about yourself and know that God did not make any mistakes when He created you. No two people are exactly the same; and He has a special plan and purpose for your life.
Do not spend any more time wasting time in your doubts and fears. Shake that old devil off. I did; and if I could do it, so can you. He’s gripped you for too long holding you in your prison of fears. YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. Begin (right now) loving yourself into a life of freedom. And you shall know the Truth [about who you really are in Christ] and the truth shall make you free! (John 8:32).
Say this prayer out loud for you to hear it well.
Dear Lord,
I love you. You are my perfection. You perfect me. Your perfect love casts out all my fears. I promise to study and meditate on your Words only and what You say about me. I refuse to accept any negative, derogatory words of men and what “they” say about me. I promise to show that I love myself by taking good care of me, so that I can share what’s godly in me for the benefit of others. Where there is love there is no torment. I thank you for taking me out of that dark and miserable place and setting me on your high road of love. Help me to stay on that road, oh Lord: to love and to be loved. Amen.
© 2023 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Light In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The artwork depicted in the blog article is carefully selected to draw out the points made for healing of the soul, and by no means promote any ideologies from the various artists unless they are found in the center of God's perfect will.
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