Friday, March 07, 2008

Perfect love drives out fear

Saw this article, Perfect love drives out fear, over at GraceCreates. Lots of great stuff.

Fear leads to defensiveness and being less trusting. Fear comes out as criticism, manipulation, rejection and so many other things.

On the other hand, God's love casts out fear. It results in encouragement, edification, peace and so much more.

3 comments:

  1. Joel--

    God's timing is so perfect. This post was exactly what I needed to read this morning.

    Due to some rather sudden and unforeseen changes in our life, we will be moving, and that means temporarily in with my parents. This has stirred up a boiling pot of fear in me the likes of which I've not felt in a very long time. My mind has been spinning with "What ifs"... and "how will we...?"... and trying to anticipate and intercept every potential problem. Meanwhile, my teenage daughter, who was deathly ill just over a year ago, has developed some issues with her heart that may or may not be related to the illness, and may or may not prove serious. And all we can do is wait for test results. The enemy lies to me that I am unsafe, alone, and that it's up to me to make life work.

    I can't fake faith or trust I don't possess, and I don't believe God calls me to 'white knuckle' my way through this trial. I believe the right response is to run to God and admit how scared I am, and ask Him to reveal where the real fear lies. For me, I have to confess it's that somewhere in me, I'm not quite sure God has my best interests at heart. Said another way, I have not yet seen how perfect His love for me is. I have a choice... be overcome by guilt at my lack of faith, which will drive me further from Him, or I can confess my weaknesses, and ask for His grace to believe in His perfect love for me, and perfect plan for me. I choose the latter.

    Sorry for the long comment. Thanks for linking to this post. It greatly encouraged me.

    Kathy J

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  2. Hi Kathy... I'm very sorry to hear of the things that you are going through, but I'm glad God is speaking to you through it all. He's a great encourager, and He's never late; He's always on time.

    Be assured that I'll be praying for you and I'd like to ask everyone else to join me.

    Kathy is a dear sister, and together we can lift her up to the God of comfort of peace who Himself bears our burdens.

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  3. Kathy, I'm not sure this took the first time so I'll try again.

    I'm praying now. You've made a good choice and I'm sure Father will make himself real in the midst of your circumstances.

    Aida

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