Perfect love drives out fear

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love, (1 John 4:16-18)."

What is perfect love and why would it drive out fear?

Do you think the Lord God loves you perfectly? Yes? Okay, now for the next question. Are you sometimes afraid? Do I hear you say quite often? So, do you maybe wonder why you are still afraid quite regularly if the Lord loves you so much?

If God's perfect (Greek meaning: complete) love is supposed to drive out fear, why are we still afraid? Is God not supposed to miraculously wipe away our fear with His love?

Consider a little child. If she is afraid of something in her room, what does she do? She screams out or calls her dad or mom. Why would she do that? It is because she knows they love her. How does she know it? They often told her that.

Would having told her be enough to give her confidence to call on them for help? If I were in her shoes and had no evidence of my parents' love apart from their words, I would probably have screamed for help in any case, testing whether they would respond. This would prove that their words meant something.

What is it that gives a child confidence to sleep alone in a dark room? Is it not her parents' assurance of her safety, backed up by their nearness? She has learned through a relationship with them to rely on their power to make her feel safe. Their love and protection have always been there, but her faith in them grew as she learned through relational experience that they can be trusted.

The Lord's love and protection are always active. It is however your believing it that activates it for you. Jesus said in Mark 11:23:  “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them." This faith comes through a relationship with the Lord. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, (Romans 10:17)."

Just like a child develops faith in the parents' abilities through a relationship that creates confidence with the child, so you will develop faith as you receive revelation from the Lord through your relationship with Him. This revelation comes through the Word of God as you study it to get to know Him better. As you study the Bible, the Lord highlights passages for you that increase your faith and forms the basis of it.

Through the years the Lord has blessed me with much revelation in the form of passages from the Bible that became real to me and brought me faith. Recently Psalm 23 became very real to me, and removed any doubt I may still have had in His abundant care.

You can have the same. When you're fearful and quote Psalm 23 (or any other passage you may have received) in prayer, once the Lord has made it real to you, faith in God's love rises up and drives out any fear.

The result of this faith relationship is peace in your heart that He will never leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). You learn to quote His promises of perfect love through prayer, asking, and thanksgiving in times of fear until His peace fills your heart (Philippians 4:6-7).

Love and adore the Lord and you will not fear, for you will have insight into His character of love.

Lord, please fill my heart with revelation from your Word to replace my fears with faith.