I understand the Bible tells us not to fear 365 times. It is the most common ‘command’ in the Bible. Some say that it is one reminder each day of the year to ‘not fear.’ Why is it so hard to trust? I shouldn’t have, but I chuckled as I recently reviewed a journal entry from many years ago. I think I have come a little way along this journey of faith from where I was.
My journal entry referenced the verse 1 John 4.18:
“…. ‘fear has torment.’ What was it I feared?
I feared not getting better. I feared financial demise. I feared loneliness. I feared God would give up on me. I feared all the things I faced in life were too big for Him. I feared I did not have enough faith. I feared I would fail Him. I feared my fear. I feared my anger. I feared disappointing Him. I feared the future. I feared loss. I feared things I could never control. I feared. I feared. I feared-and I did have torment.
1 John 4.18 also says, ‘there is no fear in love – dread does not exist, perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!’
The wonderful truth is that God loves us. The bottom line was and is that all I could count on for sure is Jesus and His Word. If I truly believed what God’s Word says, there is no reason to fear. He is perfect Love and never fails us. How do we come to realize this everlasting love? (Jeremiah 31.3)
‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart and understanding may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..’ (Ephesians 1.17-20) I pray this because when this becomes real inside of us, we will not fear.
Just as Jesus showed His scars to His disciples in John 20.19-20, “…though the disciples were behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace to you!…He showed them His hands and His side,” He shows His scars to me- the price He paid for my peace, my restoration, my provision, my answers to prayers, my favor, my success, my beloved relationship with Him, my deliverance, my happiness, and more.
This poem sums it up:
Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
“I would really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
“Friend, I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”
We do have a Heavenly Father, such as cares for the sparrows. ‘Don’t be afraid, because you are move valuable than many sparrows.’ Matthew 10.31.
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