1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
Ever since the Garden of Eden where the story began and our first parents sinned, fear has permeated humankind. The fracturing of relationships, God to man, man to man, man to woman, engendered a universal pandemic of fear and alienation. Fear supplied the Adversary, Satan ("satan" means adversary in Hebrew) with a powerful means for control, manipulation, and deception of fallen humanity, with nearly infinite varieties of expression.
In this light, 1 John 4:18 is perhaps one of the most significant and profound statements in all of scripture, and one which we do well to memorize, meditate upon, and pray into. "There is no fear in love..." In a sense we could say that fear is the greatest enemy of love. If love is our goal, if God is love and we seek to be like Him, then fear must be acknowledged and banished from our motivations. This may not be easy, but is a worthy and entirely possible approach.
Whatever causes fear in us will be a test; it will bring out our best...or worst response. The emotional or even physical reaction of "fight" or "flight" will threaten to overwhelm my connection with God's Spirit within. If I allow fear to manipulate or control me and drive me into a reactive mode rather than a responsive Spirit-controlled one, love will evaporate. This reaction to fear might simply be expressed by another F-E-A-R acronym, Forget Everything And Run....or Fight Everything And Ram.
But how about Face Everything And Rise!!! Those who do will reveal the growing perfection in love which is our inheritance in Messiah Yeshua. Where love is made perfect fear is cast out! With fear conquered we are equipped to be light in the darkness because the Holy Spirit in us will not be quenched from revealing the glory of God through us.
Can you imagine a more perfect time in these days of growing darkness to take this word to heart? Can you begin to fathom the opportunity to rise above your fears and to reveal the glory of God? How to do it? Cast anxieties on Him;
[1 Peter 5:7]; pray and supplicate with thanksgiving; [Philippians 4:6]; if you lack wisdom, ask with faith; [James 1:5-6]; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; [Colossians 3:16];" fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul;[Matthew 10:28]". Face and rise above your fear now, today. The glory of the LORD will arise upon you.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]These first two scriptures are speaking of the same "Stone", the prophesied Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), the "head of the corner" or "rosh pina", in Hebrew. This stone is laid in Zion, a common synonym for Jerusalem, where mount Zion rests. The stone is "tried", that is, tested in every way that a stone can be; the stone is precious and excellent to be set as a sure, reliable, accurate, even everlasting foundation, and a stone which is prepared and set in place by God, Himself. Can you think of a "Stone" more perfect or beautiful than our Messiah?
"In the washroom of his London club, British newspaper publisher and politician William Beverbrook happened to meet Edward Heath, then a young member of Parliament, about whom Beverbrook had printed an insulting editorial a few days earlier. "My dear chap," said the publisher, embarrassed by the encounter. "I've been thinking it over, and I was wrong. Here and now, I wish to apologize." "Very well," grunted Heath. "But the next time, I wish you'd insult me in the washroom and apologize in your newspaper."
Years ago, I heard an anointed missionary and personal friend speaking on the consequences of sin. He told a story about a pair of brothers he knew quite well.
Junk mail -- those annoying letters that fill your mail box. Along with the junk comes the delightful bills, and renewal notices. Of course the junk, we can just throw away, the bills, unfortunately can't be ignored, but the renewal notices, those we're thankful to see. Without them, we'd likely forget that we need to renew our licenses, our credit cards, membership cards, whatever else.
A story is told of Napoleon Bonaparte. As he was busy conquering Europe in the 1800's during one of his military campaigns, Napoleon accidentally let the bridle of his horse slip while he was looking through some papers. The horse reared itself and the Emperor lost his balance. One corporal quickly leaped forward and caught the bridle just in the nick of time, bringing the horse under control and saving Napoleon from what might have been serious injury or even death. Napoleon saluted the corporal and said, "Thank you, Captain!" "Of what company, Sire?" asked the corporal. "Of my guards," replied Napoleon.
It ought to be obvious to all of us believers that we are in a spiritual war that is taking place all over the earth -- and that we are called to fight in this battle. In the world's armies, soldiers are not sent into battle before receiving many months of serious training. They need to get physically in shape first and then to learn how to handle different wartime situations and tactics of the enemy.
The New Testament records that when Yeshua (Jesus) died; there was a great earthquake and the veil of the Temple was torn in two. The size of this gigantic veil is not recorded in the NT...but we read from other sources that it was roughly 60 feet long and 30 feet wide with multiple woven layers the thickness of a man's hand! It was hung on a crossbeam stone – a lintel – which was over 30 feet long and weighed more than 30 tons! It was not an easy cloth to tear...