Letting Go of Fear

Fear. 

Fear is definitely something I have wrestled with a great deal in my life.  It is the one evil "spirit" that the enemy uses the most to harass and entrap me.  I believe that there is a reason that God says "Fear Not" so much in His Word.  He knows that this is a big tool of the enemy - it is one of the ways that the enemy comes to "steal, kill and destroy" us, as is stated in John 10:10.  God knows that we will be confronted with situations, people, circumstances in which our first reaction is fear.  However, He doesn't want us to be slaves to fear, as "He has come to give us LIFE, in abundance, to the full, until it overflows." (John 10:10 AMP)  

So the "fear" that I am talking about here is not the initial fear reaction, but being plagued by fear.  Fear ruling and reigning, possibly as long as days, months or even years.  With little respite.  That is the kind of fear I am talking about. 

I really sought God on  this "plagued by fear" idea, out of total desperation.  I wanted freedom from this awful thing.  Initial fear doesn't steal my joy and peace, but living under a prison sentence of fear most certainly does.  God was faithful to bring me to 1 John 4 to get a perspective on this.  He references "fear" in this scripture, and I think the fear he is talking about is the persistent state of fear versus initial fear.

1 John 4: 18 says
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.

In reading this scripture, several things jump out at me: 1) that we associate fear with punishment; 2) that God uses love to drive out fear; 3) in the presence of God's love, fear literally has NO place; and 4) when we experience persistent, unrelenting fear, it is because we are NOT experiencing that God loves us (a full revelation of His love is not yet made "complete" or perfect in our hearts and minds...our experience of Him). 

Regarding 1), I absolutely associate fear with punishment.  I am afraid of punishment.  I will try to do things "perfectly" in order to avoid punishment.  And a combination of striving for perfection and the fear that I know I can never achieve perfection utterly wears me out.  And then, I stand waiting for the punishment (God's wrath, not being a good "witness" of Christ, failing as a mother, wife, friend, ministry partner, etc). This is the state that the enemy wants me to live in - the state of fear. 

All of the points above point to Jesus and the complete revelation of what He did when God sent Him to save us.  He saved us FROM DEATH and saved us TO LIFE.  Life eternal and life right now.  The John 10:10 kind of life - in abundance, to the full, until it overflows.  When the enemy can trap me in the fear of punishment, I do not get to live victoriously in my life.   

So what can we do about this?  Pray and receive.  Pray for God to soak us in the deep, abiding knowledge and experience of His Love and pray for the grace to receive it.  Pray for God to help us let go of our grip on fear, to let go of the lie that Jesus's sacrifice and resurrection was not enough to free us from the prison of fear and restore us to live a life of abundance, freedom and love.  And again, give us the grace to RECEIVE ALL OF THIS, which He lovingly and freely and completely gives.