The Antidote for Fear

1 John 4:18
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.

The Antidote for Fear

We live and walk in a world consumed by doubt and fears. Unfortunately it touches many who are believers as well as the world. It is important that if fear and doubt are a struggle that you have that you will be encouraged and exhorted by this word.
The only one that God wants us to fear is Him. When we truly reverence and stand in total awe of who He is then we realize He ultimately has the say and judgement over our life and spirit. Others may be able to afflict and kill the body, but God determines our eternal destiny.
When I find myself in fear and doubt, I find that I am not standing and walking fully in faith. Faith in God’s Word assures me that God is Love. His love is able to keep me, not matter what circumstances surround me or those I love. In Romans 8:28 I am given the assurance that, “all things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Even when I am faced with tribulation, persecution, afflictions and death, I need not fear.
Why?
Because God’s perfect love drives out all fear. In Psalms 118:6, the Psalmist declares, “The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” We have the assurance that as we have received by faith, Christ as our Savior and Lord, He lives in us and we live in Him. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. All else, spirit or flesh, is under His dominion. If we are in Him then anything that touches us must come through Him.
Our fears come when we lose sight of the identity that we have in Jesus Christ. When we fully grasp and lay hold of the promises and truth of God’s Word, fear has no grip upon us.
Why?
Because we are God’s children who abide in the Love of God. His perfect love casts out fear. Our lives are His. Is there any so great as to pluck us out of the hand of God?
“But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” If we fear judgement and punishment then we lack the assurance that we have been fully washed and cleansed in the blood of Jesus. We don’t fully understand that we are fully justified in Christ, meaning it is just as if we never sinned. When we abide in the Righteous One, then we abide in the full assurance of His salvation. In that salvation is the revelation of God holy and insurmountable love for us. For us to live in fear, means that we have taken our eyes off of who He is in us and put them upon the circumstances that surround us.
When Stephen was about to be stoned by the frenzied mob of the religious, he didn’t fear what they could do to him. He only saw Jesus and had set his eyes on things above. When we, like him, see Jesus setting a the right hand of the Father, then there is no room for fear because Ephesians 2:6-10 assures us, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
When we know who we are, where our position is and what our purpose is then what can man do to us. Our life is hid in Him and He is sovereign over all of the affairs of men. When we get a revelation of this we will better understand the perfect love of God and that God has designed that we should be made perfect in that love. “Perfect love drives out fear.”

Blessings,
kent