Love and Fear part 3
This is from the book Dune, "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Love and fear. Whatever you magnify is what manifests. But notice this: We don't hide from fear. (Even though it seems like the natural response.) We don't stick our head in the sand and pretend everything is hunky dory when it's not. We don't ignore the facts. We simply acknowldge the truth. We stand on the Rock and we are not shaken. We face our fears. And what is the biggest (only real) fear? That we are not loved. That we will never be loved. That's we're not good enough. That no matter how hard we try to grab the carrot, the stick will always move just out of our reach. And, I gotta say, that's exactly what happens in religion. In man-centered, performance based, do in order to be religion there's always one thing you lack. As soon as you get one thing under control, something else slips through your fingers. Why? Because we don't control love. Christ's love controls us. It's not about external things. Not about what you do. It's about internal things. The Holy Spirit filling you up INSIDE. It's about what you believe. Because what you do flows from what you believe. You can't fix what you do until you address what you believe. Until you understand that he that is born of God CANNOT sin. When that revelation really grips you you'll stop struggling with sin. And what is sin but unbelief? Believing the lie instead of the truth. Love and fear right? Whatever is not of faith is sin. Faith is knowing and believing the Word (Jesus, love) of God. So I guess, in a sense, I'm saying being afraid is a sin. But guys, that's WHY a believer can't sin! Because perfect love casts out fear. When we know and believe that we are loved... then we have nothing to be afraid of. When we face our fears and see them for what they are--a lie... a powerless lie--then we can ignore them. Not in the sense of sticking our head in the sand, but in the sense of laying aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets us. In the sense of not bringing our problems to God, but bringing God to our problems. Addressing things that need to be addressed, but rather than trying to "fix them" ourselves... we cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us. We trust Daddy to take care of things. Why? Because He loves us. We trust in love. And that's what PERFECT love is. Because God loves you regardless. He always has and He always will. But my pastor always says that in a very real way it's not the truth that sets you free... it's the truth you KNOW that sets you free. There's so much LIFE (abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life) available to us. But if we don't know it... if we're afraid it's not for us, or it's for some time in the future... then we won't lay hold of it. We won't experience it or enjoy it. It's not until our fear has gone past that we can see it's path. And then we will see what remains. Perfect love casts out fear. And then only love remains. Only WE remain!