Hi, my name is Sarah Crockett and I’m part of the God TV team, and welcome to God Today. Today, I want to talk about God’s love and I want to talk about fear. I want to start by reading a verse in 1 John 4:18. It 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.”
So that first part: There is no fear in love. So how much fear is in love? None, zero, nada. There’s no fear in love. And so, if we’re feeling afraid in any way, even just an ounce, the antidote to that is love. The second part is so good, “But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” And so when we feel fear, when we’re afraid of speaking or afraid of a conversation, or we’re afraid of taking a risk or stepping out, or being vulnerable, or whatever it is you’re afraid of, perfect love will cast out that fear. And so in a practical sense, all you have to do is spend time with Perfect Love. Well, who’s Perfect Love? That’s Jesus Christ.
And you know, what’s really neat? I love this. I love this. Okay, so here’s my Bible, right? John 1:1 says, “The Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Well, which one of the Godhead became flesh? Jesus. And so the Word is Jesus. Jesus is the Word. And so when I spend time in the Word of God, I’m actually spending time with Perfect Love. Isn’t that cool? I love how the Holy Spirit just connected the dots. So it’s like I can come to this as a book of information, or I can come to this as a book that’s living and active, like it teaches us in Hebrews. That’s actually Jesus and I can spend time with Perfect Love. And as I hide the word in my heart, Perfect Love comes in and fear gets pushed out. Amen?
I want to pray for you in that sense. So Holy Spirit, where there is fear, we just release your perfect love, that you would actually release a love encounter right now to every ear that’s hearing this, the sound of my voice. That you would release your perfect love from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet, and that you would drive out fear. You don’t just push it out, you drive out according to the word, all fear. And we just speak peace, and we speak comfort, and we speak perfect love over you today, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.