Today’s Scripture: 1 John 4:18, NKJV- “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
As I was praying alone in the dark this morning, I was reminded of a scripture I just drove by yesterday. God knows when we are missing the point and He will drive it home, where it belongs.
Perfect love belongs in our hearts. I have proven throughout my life that I am incapable of the perfect love that John mentioned in 1 John 4:18. As I look around the world and social media it is obvious that perfect love is ignored most of the time. Maybe not ignored but yet to be discovered.
God’s love is not a love we possess on our own. God’s love is on another realm. As 1 John 4:16 states, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (NKJV)
How do we know the love that God has for us? One of the things I am so thankful for having gone through the 12-Step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Celebrate Recovery is that Step Two is “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” We must accept there is a power beyond us.
When we come to believe that there is a love greater than ours then we are open to receiving a perfect love that will restore us. We must accept that there is a greater love, a perfect love, available to us.
On our own we do not possess this love. Just as in recovery of our other fleshly weaknesses, when we admit we are powerless we are making our first step to finding the true power of God. God, I am admitting now that I do not have the power to love as You do. I believe that Your perfect love can restore us.
But how do we receive this love? This is where Psalm 46:10 comes to life. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (KJV) We must become still. When we look to the LORD for His love, we are opening ourselves to receive what we do not possess on our own.
LORD, You alone possess perfect love. I am empty LORD, please fill me with Your love. With all the other noises of life silenced, we can sense God’s perfect love swell within us. In the quiet we can experience the Spirit of God’s love.
We all have fears. Many are irrational and misdirected but very real to us. The ruler of this world fills our airwaves, minds, and feelings with fear. When we hear what others say they fear, we cannot relate. It makes no sense to us. Well, guess what, our anxieties and fears do not make sense to anyone else either. But they do make sense to God and He simply calls us to be still and know that He is God and He loves us.
So, in the quietness, alone with God let us give up our fears and understanding of love, and welcome God’s love. Come LORD, fill us with Your perfect love and help us to abide there. Will you ask God for His greater love now?
Today’s Prayer: Almighty God, Heavenly Father, fill me with Your perfect love. I confess I do not possess Your love on my own. Welcome Holy Spirit. Help me to know Your perfect love. I am being still now before You, seeking Your face, and asking to know Your perfect love. Please calm our hearts and our nations LORD. Draw us to You now. Thank You for living in us so we may live in You. In the mighty name of Jesus and the filling of Your Holy Spirit are praying. Amen.
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