Again!

Last week we talked about God’s love. We had a look at how God’s love, His righteousness and holiness are perfectly balanced, which means one will not override the other. We will continue talking about God’s love this week.

1 John 4:13-18 says, “And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”

I never used to understand the phrase, “perfect love casts out fear”. I would use it because it’s in the Bible, but I just had no idea what it meant. But thank God for Holy Spirit who brings revelation light where there otherwise would be darkness. See, God’s love is already perfect. You cannot improve on it. God is perfect in every sense of the word. So His love is perfect. However, our understanding of God’s love is imperfect. Our verse says “…we have put our trust in His love.” Do you trust in God’s love for you?

I know I am a work in progress. I know this because I still have moments where I feel fear regarding certain things. Fear is an indicator of areas where we are not trusting in God’s love. Take for example a small toddler. Their dad can throw them in the air, and the toddler will laugh all the way up and all the way down and scream “Again!” They are not afraid. Why? Because they trust in their dad’s love for them. That their dad will do what it takes to catch them, because he has done it so many times before and they know he is strong enough to do it and will do it because he loves them and doesn’t want them to fall.

Now take another toddler who has never been thrown in the air, or one who has recently fallen from a height, when you try to throw them in the air they hang on to you because they are afraid. They miss out on the fun and freedom of floating in the air because they do not trust there will be safe arms to catch them when they come down. A lot of us are like that second toddler. Perhaps we are trying something new, or life has dropped us a time or two and we are afraid of being dropped again so we hold on to what’s familiar for safety.

When God begins to heal us, He helps us let go of what we think is safe and teaches us to trust in Him and put our hope in Him so that when life throws us in the air, we can enjoy the ride knowing His arms are always big enough to catch us. We don’t have to live afraid. Fear is never from God. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” How amazing is that! God has given us Holy Spirit who gives us power (we are not weak or inferior), love (God’s got us covered and is gonna catch us) and a sound mind (free of fear or worry and capable of trusting God).

When we grow in our understanding of God’s love it brings freedom in our lives and fear has to leave because we know we will never lack, we will never be forsaken, we will always be taken care of, God will always provide for us, heal us, restore us, protect us, defend us, cover us and He will always catch us. God has got us covered, always. He always has your back. The more we lay hold of His love for us, the less we worry because we know who our Father is. He is an awesome Dad!

I will leave you with this, Romans 8:38-39 says, “So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!”

It is time to let go of fear. You are loved beyond your wildest imagination!

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.