Cast Out Your Fears

"Perfect love casts out fear."      1 John 4:18 NKJV
You would be surprised how many people, even successful ones, struggle each day with unexpressed fears.  Maybe you're one of them.  The Bible says, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV).  Now if our fears don't come from God, where do they come from?  Different sources: (1) The way you were programmed growing up in your family.  (2) Overdosing each day on the news, 99 percent of which is negative.  (3) Satan.  The point is, your fears don't come from God.  Recognizing the true source of your fears is the first step to overcoming them.  And God has given you a powerful weapon with which to defeat them: "Perfect love casts out fear."  You say, "Yes, perhaps if I loved God more perfectly, I wouldn't be so afraid."  No, you've got the cart before the horse.  Try as you might, you could never love God perfectly.  There's only one "perfect love," and that's His love for you.  And it's unconditional, bought and paid for by Jesus Christ when He died for you on the cross.  Having a revelation of the unmerited, undeserved, unearned love, grace, and favor of God toward you will enable you to rise up and begin to "cast out" fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, condemnation, and worry.  God's love for you is not based on your performance, but on Christ's.  When you trust in Christ's performance instead of your own, you are "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).  And when you have the assurance of that, you know you also have the power to "cast out" fears.

This message taken from: Daily Devotional - The Word For You Today