1 John 4:18 NKJV 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
Perfect
love is the completed love, the finished when applied to persons. Perfect is
that being whole, the soundness present in the Lord. Perfect!!!
So where do
you and I stand in the perfect of that understanding and believing He loves us?
One place
to take a good look at is how we respond to trials. Does faith reside in us knowing
He is God ? Faith resides in us who walk, not hindered by what the world is
tossing around. If we think God is tossing a plague at us to get our attention,
then we must have been sleeping. But if we regard that plague with a fear, a
torment, then we are held in that place with no release. We are held under that which is of a burden with no light!
Children in
God should not be acting out anything toward a plague other than confessing God’s
goodness in the land of the living, that His will is for good to those who love
Him, and that His word never fails, but accomplishes where it is sent. And if
we truly have been confessing Psalm 91, Psalm 23 and Psalm 103 daily, then we
stand in His protection, where our faith is active that He has heard us. Psalm
103 gives this: Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; 3 Who
forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.
Believing
He has forgiven us, relieved us that burden with a responding trust that He
is for us, and will continue to be present with us! He sent His Holy Spirit to
teach us and do we listen and obey Him when He gives instruction? He is very
aware where we stand, even now, and how we act either as the one who trusts and gives
thanks He is present with us always or whether we are acting like the child who thinks God is
giving a spanking.
Another
factor is strength to our faith! It is that measure of strength our faith man has by readily expressing and confessing His truths. Some
consider that if they had more money they would have a more strengthened faith,
and others think they need a mate to complete their faith factor! Psalm 84:11
speaks: For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and
glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Simple, right? The LORD God is a sun and shield, He gives grace and glory. NO good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Light is provided to help us see through darkness, and that shield is protection against the scorching heat along the way. Grace helps in our need and the glory is when we enter eternity with Him. He withholds that which is not good for us. Let’s say you had a marriage with one husband and a child or two. Let’s say, you got tired of the work required to keep the marriage in good working order, left with words of he or she did that, this is all a mess, and he or she can have the mess. But in truth, you walked out of the situation, yes, that trial and carried the “mess” with you.
The other person you might have left with the child or children, the spouse with home and bills, yes, you who left them to face life, caused them to be living life, moving on to future things, but you in your decision decided to leave, exit stage right and forget it. But that is not how it works. So today, when you make decisions you still have a whole room of people attached to that continuing “mess” from either yesterday or 20 years ago. Repentance, with that humble heart will bring a certain relief, but then you have to live by faith in God, a trust in His word that He will help you walk through that darkness to where you receive more light to not make the same mistakes again.
A couple we met some years ago kept having issues rising in their life. It would affect the father more than the others. Still they had a share in "it". The leader asked for prayer and wisdom from God. Praying revealed a heart had not repented of the early appearance of a child born before marriage. Now whether they asked for that forgiveness only God knows. But when we know we have done something outside of what is righteous before God, we are to repent and turn!
If things are mounting for you in your home, workplace or elsewhere, and fear and worry are present, that perfect will not describe your belief in the Lord. It is a sure signal you or I are not on the same page as God is. At this point a good verse is Isaiah 43:13 (NKJV) to rehearse….Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work and who will reverse it?”
Isaiah 43:13 (CEV) : "I am God now and
forever. No one can snatch you from me or stand in my way."
Message
Bible: “ I, yes I, am GOD. I am the only Savior there is. I spoke, I saved, I
told you what existed long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene. And
you know it, you are my witnesses, you are the evidence. Yes, I am God. I have
always been God and I always will be God. No one can take anything from me. I make;
who can unmake it?”
John
6:39-40 NKJV This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has
given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And
this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and
believes in Him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last
day.
John 10:28
NKJV And I will give them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall
anyone snatch them out of My hand.
Philippians
1:6 NKJV…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus;
You most likely have heard how difficult Job had it. And certainly there are those have who lost whole households like during the Holocaust, some in World War 1 and also in World War 2 of the twentieth century. Theirs was a great loss as well! Such hatred toward others for an agenda killed multitudes. Job 36:15 He delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.
In
circumstances like these, we look to God. No one can dispute with God. His
power and His wisdom is a summons to appeal in that fear of the Lord. Things
like what occurred during the Holocaust or the world wars is to educate us to
not go that way again! To have that fear of the Lord, to fear Him: Job 37:24
Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”
Job 37:24
Message Bible: “Mighty God! far beyond our reach! Unsurpassable in power and
justice! It is unthinkable that he would treat anyone unfairly. So bow to him
in deep reverence, and one and all! If you are wise, you will most certainly worship
him.”
If God is
for us and we know His word is true, then our faith should hold that measure of
truth in our heart. But if our attitude of heart takes things into our hands,
that we cannot trust God to do what He said He would do, then you and I do not believe how good God really
is and how much He loves us! That is a big doubt, and it is a doubting of the
depth of God’s love for us. It is exposed as that which denies God, the essence
of Who HE truly is: LOVE!
In this nation, just as in other nations around the world, we have the attitude of satan take can take a hold causing insanity in a lot of humans. They leave one thing to just take up another thing that is nothing but that which results in death for themselves and for many others. You can see that with a vaccine today.
We know
human nature can mimic satan’s spirit as see in Ephesians 2:2 in which you once
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. INSANITY! This is seen as destructive, and it is in each of us a self-destruct button when we wander from one area to another, from one group of people to another, to put our lives in our
own hands making our own decisions. Wander out of God's authority and moving into man's whims and delights can carry one into harm, great pain and yes, death!
God always loves us more than we love ourselves. We must know that love of God that sets us free in His goodness. 1 John 4:17 promises that perfecting our faith in God's love for us gives us the power we need to face our trials, our day of judgment, and boldly stand in Him. 1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
God is
love. Abiding in God will reveal that love. And that love is for the born-again
believers and those in fellowship with them. Today we must be about God and His
love. Today we must be about the Father’s business to love others as He has loved
us. And if we have not grown in that love to operate in faith toward Him, we find
ourselves in the cringing terror arena. It is that place where you do not sleep, rest is far from you and justice is not seen.
Perfect
love from God to us, in that grace we have received washing sins away into the
full light of day where no darkness is seen. Will we see our feet free of
debris to walk the path or highway God has given us to take for His glory? Or will
our walk looking like someone who stepped on wet toilet paper which is stuck to
the bottom of the shoe revealing a “mess” we just left behind?
Jesus is our example. He is the point man of God’s love to us! In that love, through Jesus we rise above to overcome this world. Our faith is believing with whole hearts that God is for us, we are the saved and our love is expressed in willing obedience to His commands.
I cannot speak for you, but for me, I have seen His hand of healing, I have seen His willing to walk with me in darkness to visit with me in that valley of dark shadows when a doctor's diagnosis was given. In choosing God’s holy word to bring back life into my soul I walk today but no paper stuck to the bottom of my shoe!
I know that He is for me and I that He loves me with a great love to be with me in the midnight hour, to soothe the tears of anxiety and to wash away any fear in the love that set me free to know He is real and He is coming for me soon.
Let us be set to know Him, who set captives free
preaching the gospel to the poor, who healed the broken-hearted, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed. That which tormented you in 2020 and 2021,
Jesus is still the answer to the ills in a physical sense or in a spiritual
sense. For the Scripture given in this is fulfilled in your hearing and your
seeing. The Lord is our only answer and He is for us….He proved that on the
Cross. Now will we accept His invitation to stay and follow His leadership when
voicing that word of truth while insanity continues in the world? We are safe in HIM!
Rehearsing Our Future
