Fear Casts Out Love

The Bible tells us that perfect love casts out fear. But do you know what else is true?

Fear can cast out love.

Being afraid of God causes us to run and hide from Him. That is not the healthy fear of the Lord. It is the kind of fear that makes us try to work *for* love instead of work "because we are already loved".
Until we understand the difference, we can remain trapped in religion.
Religion tells us to work for love. It tells us to perfect ourselves, perform for approval, and make sure everyone—including God—is pleased with us. Then, when we fall short and feel unworthy, we stop trying. We pull away from God or backslide because we believe we will never be good enough.
But behind all of this is a fear-based gospel whispering:
"I am not loved."
"I am not accepted."
"I have to do something more."
But we do not have to do something more to earn the love of God. Jesus has already made the way for us to approach the Father with boldness and confidence.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.” — Hebrews 4:16
This is where we must understand the difference between the fear of the Lord and being afraid of God.
The fear of the Lord is reverence, honor, and awe. It is recognizing His holiness and refusing to treat His presence casually. But being terrified of God makes us run away, hide, and expect rejection.
You can be afraid of someone you do not love. But true reverence grows as we know God, love Him, and understand His love for us.
That is why being rooted and grounded in love is essential. We need His love to cast out the tormenting fear that makes us hide from Him.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.” — 1 John 4:18**
For many of us, this fear began in childhood. We learned early that love had to be earned. We felt that we were never good enough, and that if we made a mistake, love might be withdrawn from us.
That is a heartbreaking way to live.
The enemy then uses those wounds to attack our assurance of salvation. He gets inside our thoughts and fills our minds with accusations. That is why the Bible tells us to put on **the helmet of salvation**.
When fear overwhelms our minds, we begin obsessing over whether we are going to hell. We obsess over our failures, guilt, and unworthiness. We struggle under constant condemnation and sometimes mistake that torment for humility or godliness.
But condemnation is not piety.
Constantly declaring ourselves worthless does not honor the cross. It can become another way of saying that what Jesus did was not enough.
Salvation was freely given to us through Christ. We do not have to work to make God love us. However, when we truly receive His love, obedience should naturally flow from it.
Working *for* God’s love and obeying God *because we love Him* are two entirely different things.
One flows from fear.
The other flows from love.
One says, “I must perform so that God will accept me.”
The other says, “Because God has accepted and loved me, I want my life to please Him.”
How can we freely love someone while living in terror of them?
Perhaps you were terrified in a relationship where someone claimed to love you. Maybe you were punished, controlled, rejected, or abused by someone who continually called it love. That can deeply confuse your understanding of God.
But there is no darkness in Him.
God is not like the people who wounded you. He is not waiting for you to make a mistake so He can reject you. Through the cross, Jesus made a way for you to be reconciled to the Father and stand before Him covered by grace.
You do not have to live terrified.
You can have peace.
If you are constantly tormented in your mind, fear may be distorting the way you understand God’s love. Do not allow the enemy to talk you out of the assurance, peace, and identity Christ has given you.
You are a beloved child of God.
You have been accepted in the Beloved.
“He made us accepted in the Beloved.” — Ephesians 1:6
It was God’s pleasure to create you. It was His love that sent Jesus to rescue you.
If you have never truly experienced that love, ask Him today:
“Father, show me how much You love me. Heal the fear that makes me hide from You. Teach me how to obey You from love rather than perform for acceptance.”
Then look at the cross.
See the arms of Jesus stretched open as an eternal invitation to come home—to come out of hiding, lay down your fear, and receive the love you could never earn but that He freely chose to give.
You do not have to work to become loved.
In Christ, you work, serve, and obey because you already are.
Jaziz Gutierrez

Transparency: Key to get free from sin

Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. It has been defined simply as "the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender." Wikipedia

Transparency is important because when we hide things in our lives it keeps them in darkness. Darkness is the realm of Satan. It is in that place that he can torment us and condemn us. It doesn't allow the Holy Spirit to deal with that area in our life. The bible exhorts us to, "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." If there is no confession there can't be healing.

So what is a trespass? Well many define it as sin. I will give you another perspective. When we trespass, we are actually going into enemy territory. We are trespassing the boundaries of the realm of the spirit. We are going to a place where God isn't. This is dangerous because you become fair game to the enemy. You are on his turf and he can take you out. Many Christians have the idea that they can trespass without consequence. Let me suggest to you that this mentality is dangerous because it can get you killed. Yes God may forgive you but sooner or later you will become a casualty if you are not careful.

What happens when we are not transparent after awhile is that we go in a state of denial. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10 Denial is the act of pretending that you are not struggling or not dealing with the elephant in the room. Denial opposes the work of the Holy Spirit. "Having a form of godliness but denying its power." 2 Timothy 3:5 You are refusing to grant access to the truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. When we are in denial or don't confess our sins we deny the Spirit of Truth access.

This happens in many areas. It can happen in our own personal life but it can also happen in the church. There are many churches that will be in denial over the moral failure of their leader or leaders over them. At this point the truth is too much for them to deal with so they deny the obvious moral failure or even cover it up. They allow their admiration and love for that person to get in the way of exposing something that will ultimately destroy the person they are protecting and those around them. This is not saying that we air everyone's dirty laundry. What I'm saying is don't cover up sin. It doesn't get dealt with that way. We expose it to bring healing and reconciliation not so we can kick someone when they are down. The exception to that would be criminal activity or something that will cause someone immediate danger. For example don't keep quiet if you suspect abuse of a child or think your leader is going to put a hit on his wife. I'm not being cynical. This stuff really happens. Just recently they discovered a group of Christians (supposed) who plotted the death and murdered the wife of a minister. What's worse this was all by the direction and leading of their overseer.

Listen as far as loyalty goes it ends when someone is being unethical, and decides they are going to be an apostate. Again let me emphasis that this does not mean we cut people off who are struggling with sin. We cut them off if they know they are sinning, don't care and don't intend to stop. We are not following men. We are following Jesus and when the person we have been in fellowship with decides that they are going to trespass into enemy territory we wave goodbye. See you when you get back if you come back. I will pray for you. Love is key in all these matters. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to write.