Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been afraid of God? Have you ever felt unloved, unworthy, or unimportant? Have you ever felt like a failure, a fraud, or a hypocrite? Many, dare I say all of us, have at one time or another experienced at least one of these — I know that I have. There were times in my life when I’d done or thought things and then feared what God might do about it. He’s all-powerful and mighty and that scared me at times — and I’m not talking about the healthy fear of God that comes with knowing that He is God and I am not — I mean the unhealthy kind of scared that has made me not want to talk Him because He might get mad. The kind that comes from not truly understanding who He is or accepting how much He loves me.
I saw others who had gone through so much worse than I had and wondered how they were able to get to where they were in life and ministry. People who had experienced things that would make many run away from God or cause deep fear that would make trusting Him nearly impossible from an outsiders perspective. Those who shared their testimony and left me standing amazed that they made it through at all. The ones who had believed, at times, that they were too far gone and didn’t think they’d ever be able to let God love them, and yet they did — they do. I would think of people who were actively building the kingdom through various ministries and reaching so many different people through various platforms and wonder how they became who they were in the midst of this crazy world. The ones who’ve experienced SO much pain and now show SO much love — it would blow my mind!
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment…” That made it all click for me. Those people — the ones who have endured much in their lives and are able to use it to advance the kingdom — were able to get to where they are because of the perfect love of God. Instead of being afraid of God’s love or punishment, they allowed God’s love to transform them. Instead of living out of a place of regret, anger, bitterness, hatred, failure, etc. they allowed God to truly love them and drive out their fear.
When we allow God to love us perfectly as oppose to being afraid of Him, He is able to fill us with love that we can in turn pour out on others. When we allow ourselves to let God love us, He is able to push out our fears and use us in extraordinary ways. He can take all of our pain, heartache, fresh wounds, old scars, brokenness, etc. and heal it. He can take us from wherever we are and love us to where He wants us to be. He can work, move, and heal us in the midst of the pain and after the pain has been felt.
He loves us perfectly and that is what casts out fear. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of punishment. Fear of pain. Fear of love. Fear of rejection. Fear of loneliness. Fear of happiness. Fear of truth. Fear of deceit. All fear is cast out by perfect love — if only we would choose to allow it.
We have a God who loves us more than we can ever hope to fully understand and He desires a relationship with us so much that He was willing to die that we might live with Him forever! That was how He demonstrated His true and perfect love! He won’t force us to let Him in, yet He eagerly awaits our invitation. When we invite Him into our pain and our fears and allow Him to work, He will!
I have seen Him work in my own life — in the midst of grief and heartache — and I can say that His love is the reason that I am who I am today. I have had pieces of my story come to be that I would never have chosen and God has used them to teach me extraordinary things about Himself. He didn’t give me the grace to endure the tragedies that I’ve experienced until it was time for them to happen. He has been with me every step and I have seen His faithfulness in my life time and time again. I’m a testament to His goodness and I have experienced His perfect love casting out fears in my life. Not that I’ve mastered never being afraid — there’s just a different level of peace now than there used to be. God is so good and He is so kind and the more I get to know Him, the more I believe that deep in my soul.
People that we see who have lived extraordinary lives are the ones who invited His perfect love in. We can all be healed, whole, extraordinary witnesses for God when we truly and openly allow Him to cast out our fears with His perfect love! May we be such people!
Song(s) of the Week: This week I chose “Perfect Love” by Jeremy Camp. Enjoy!
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