Do You Know How Complete You Are?

"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.

We love Him, because He first loved us."

-1 John 4:18-19

If we're walking in the Lord's love, then we won't have any fears whatsoever. No fear of the future, no fear of how He will give us His promises, no fear of failure (because we know all things work for our good), no fear of shame, no fear of Him not being faithful!

When we remain in His Word, we're training our minds to believe what is written. When we worship Him, we're lifting our eyes and hearts to follow Him. And when we take Him at His Word, trusting that what is written is true for us, we will feel and know that we are loved and that He desires good things for us. But we can't just feel it, we have to know it.

There Is No Fear In Love

The word fear in the first part of this verse is the Greek word phobos, it's where we get our word phobias. A phobia is an anxiety disorder that causes an irrational, persistent, and excessive fear of an object, situation, or activity. What's fascinating is that even the internet knows that a phobia is irrational! But our minds don't if we begin to believe in them - then they become real to us, our new reality. And how do we change our reality? We focus, or refocus our mind on what's written in God's Word instead of thinking about our irrational fears.

Let me say it this way, if you're experiencing fear of any kind, then you're not keeping your eyes, heart or mind fixed on Him. Because He is love, and when we fix our gaze on Him every fear will have to be cast out - because His love will fill us, consume us, and flood our hearts! And the fear will dissipate as we remain in Him.

In Him there is no fear, so remain in Him! And the fear will die as love is birthed and takes root in your heart.

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:17-19

Pray

The first part of casting out fear is bowing our knees to the Father. Then we pray, that He would strengthen us with His might through His Spirit in our inner man, that Jesus Christ would dwell in our hearts, increase our faith; and that the Lord would root us and ground us in His love. We pray that He will grant to us great comprehension that we might know just how great is His love for us, bypassing our knowledge, and filling us so completely with the fullness of God. Amen

But Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

The Greek word for love used in this verse is agape - but how it's actually translated in the Strong's Concordance is: love, that is affection or benevolence, specifically a love feast of charity.

And what does charity mean? An organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need. In our case, we can look at the Organization as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all working together and set up to provide us help in our time of need.

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear..."

Psalm 46:1-2a

I included the first part of verse 2 so we can see that the key to not having a fearful heart is to look to the Lord and recognize Him as our refuge, our strength, our help in times of trouble. If we don't see Him as these things, then we will be filled with fear instead! But if we grab ahold of this promise, meditating on these words, and continually come to Him to be our refuge, our strength, our help, then fear will have nowhere to go but to flee from us; for His perfect love casts out fear.

And the word perfect is the Greek word teleios, derived from teleo- the words Jesus uttered on the cross, "It is finished." He was perfect in all His ways, He fulfilled the law of Moses keeping every commandment, every requirement, so that we can look at Him and say, "You, my Yeshua, are my perfection. You did it perfectly, so I look to You."

What do you need? Finances? Look to Him, ask Him for help. Ask Him to give to you according to His riches in glory (Eph 3:17).

A better marriage? Bow your head and ask Him to be in the center of your marriage, to make it great, to provide His wisdom and love to flow through you both.

A house, a job? Ask for Him to perfectly align His plans for your life to receive the right home that He has handpicked for you. Pray for Him to bring about the right position that will give you purpose and meaning, filling you up and challenging you to become better at your craft.

I can tell you that every single one of the above things are prayers the Lord answered for me. I have had jobs literally land in my lap out of nowhere, that I wasn't necessarily qualified to do, yet He provided greater than I could have asked for. We have had finances show up overnight, providing for our family in unbelievable ways. We have had Him open doors to step into our home, which was far better than any house we looked at. He has caused our marriage to flourish and blossom, giving us a wonderful friendship filled with love.

And all of this He did because I asked Him to, submitting to His will and His plan and putting Him in the center of my life. Some of these prayers came over a period of time, some of them were answered overnight, but here's the thing- when you ask Him to be in the center of your situation or problem He'll never leave you hanging. He always, always, comes through.

When we come to Him with our problems, and we learn (and remember, it takes time to learn some things!) to trust in Him, He will fill us up with His love and cast out every fear that we have in our hearts. Casts is the Greek word ballo - which means to throw violently or intensely, to throw down, thrust, strike. Sometimes this process feels a little violent, because if fear has been allowed to reign supreme in us for some time it might feel like a warzone within us as we turn to Jesus to take up residence. His Holy Organization goes to work casting out the demon of fear that we have allowed into our lives.

Let Him do what He does, defeat the enemy and give us victory. Surrender to His will and plan, and keep praying for His hand to intervene in your situation. I promise you that if you keep coming to Him, what you will find is a love feast. A perfect, wonderful, amazing feast made just for you to feed on.

Pray

Lord Jesus, I look to You to be everything I need. I'm in trouble, I'm struggling with (name the trouble), and I need You to fix it for me. Come into my situation, I give it completely over to You to take care of and to manage. I pray that You would cast out every fear and every doubt that I have this day. I recognize that when You said on the cross "it is finished" that you paid for my debts, my sins, my health, my life; and I give all of these over to You and trust You to take care of me. Your Word says that if I come to You, You will hear me and answer me. I'm coming to You, hear my prayer for (name what you need), provide for me, answer me, and give me blessings and favor over my situation. I trust in You completely. Amen

Because Fear Involves Torment

Fear, phobos (to be afraid, frightened, filled with terror) involves torment. Torment is the Greek word kolasis, which means infliction or punishment.

Infliction is defined as the action of forcing someone to experience something very unpleasant: the deliberate infliction of pain on others. When satan whispers into your ears different lies, he's deliberately inflicting pain on you. The key to not receiving this action is to either ignore his lies, or to counter it with the truth. If He says to you, "how can you believe the Lord will come through for you? He hasn't yet so obviously He won't..." All we need to do is what Jesus would do, which is to say, "It is written."

Keep verses about the Lord's faithfulness in the forefront of your mind.

" But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."

-2 Thessalonians 3:3

"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise."

-Hebrews 10:23

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds."

-Psalm 36:5

Remind yourself of His faithfulness and the enemy will flee, because His word will guard us and strengthen us from the evil one.

When we are fearful we are allowing satan to torment us. And when we let him torment us, we are not only allowing him to inflict pain on us but we are then receiving his words as our punishment. Don't let him speak to you! Instead stay in God's Word let His love consume you. Let the Lord speak His promises over your life. Let God's Word remain in your heart!

Pray

Lord Jesus, I choose to remember Your faithfulness. You are faithful to perform Your Word. Guard my mind and strengthen my heart. Keep me protected from the evil one as I choose to trust in You and in Your Word. Come through for me as You promised You would, and keep me from being tormented by the devil. I pray the blood of Jesus over my mind and my heart, keep me encompassed in You and don't allow any lies to be whispered into my ears and infiltrate my mind. Instead, may Your blood cover me and protect me, keeping me free from punishing thoughts. I know that You will keep me in perfect peace, for my mind is stayed on You. Amen

But He Who Fears Has Not Been Made Perfect In Love

Being made perfect in love is having a heart that fully knows the price Jesus paid on the cross. We have to know what He did, what He paid. We have to believe in the completeness of it!

Anytime I struggle or waiver in faith I remember that the Lord put a tiny verse in Mark 9 that says, "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” That's what our response should be. Cry with tears, grieve with fullness of heart, or simply say it out, "Lord help my unbelief! Help me where I don't have faith to believe in what You said You would do!" He always answers that prayer. He comes to our rescue and fortifies our minds and hearts with His faith, and it replaces our fears and doubts.

If we have any fear or doubt or unbelief in us, then we haven't been made perfect in His love and the price He paid for us. There's nothing wrong with His Word, so if we're fearful or doubtful then something in us needs to change.

I had a friend last year attack me for believing in the Lord's ability to heal. I know healing is real for I have experienced it - again and again. It's impossible to tell someone who has had the Lord's hand descend upon them that His hand doesn't descend. When you've experienced His healing, His grace, something miraculous from Him, you can't doubt it to be true! Because you know that you know what you went through!

When I asked the Lord what to do in that situation He said to me, "her inability to believe is her issue, not yours. You keep following Me and believing and trusting as you have, for My life is in you when you come after Me." And then He said to me, "Never let someone else's doubt or wavering belief affect your ability to believe in My Word. Keep believing that if it's written, then it's true. For I am yesterday, today, and forever."

We are perfected in love when we simply believe His Word as it's written. If it was true then, it's true now. Part of what we need to do in our walk is align our thoughts with His Word and how it's written. And that, that is repentance.

Sometimes repentance is a big, tearful act. Sometimes it's with great sadness and sorrow. But sometimes, it's a simple choice!

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."

-Acts 3:19

Repent is the Greek word metanoeo- which means to think differently, to reconsider. It's the literal act of taking our thoughts (or the lies satan has fed us), mull them over and compare them next to the Word of God. Do they match? If not, toss out the garbage and grab ahold of what's written as your new truth. Let your truth be His truth!

When we repent of what we've been thinking and align it with God's Word, it's then that we will experience the second part of that verse: times of refreshing coming into our lives. We will be refreshed, rejuvenated from His loving presence when we believe what He said.

Anyone who has fear in their hearts or in their minds has not grabbed ahold of His Word and made it their absolute truth, their solid foundation, their rock on which they stand. They have not allowed their mind to be perfected by what He did. Is that person you?

Pray

Father, I confess the parts of me that struggle to believe in Your Word and that what You said is true. I repent of every evil thought, and I ask You to change them all to align with Your Word. What You wrote in the holy scriptures is true, and I choose to believe in everything You said because as it was true then, so is it true today and forevermore. You are perfect in all Your ways, and I pray that You would lead me and guide me in Your perfection. I choose to let go of every lie that hinders me, and I pray that You would replace them with Your thoughts, Your truth. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.

We Love Him, Because He First Loved Us

Ahh, there's the key to understanding His perfect love! We don't love Him because we can or because we should, we love Him because He loved us first.

We recall to mind what He did on the cross. We think about the beatings He took on our behalf, His back being stripped apart so we can declare our healing (Isaiah 53:5). We remember the cross of thorns piercing His perfect skull to redeem our thoughts. We imagine the soldiers casting lots for His clothing so that He could declare to us that He was made poor, so that we might be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). We keep thinking about what He did!

In my article The God Who Heals I mentioned my all-time favorite story by an author. I'm going to repeat it again, because this is what His love did for you, for me.

"Once when I was taking communion alone, the Lord granted me an amazing experience. After I had eaten the piece of matzah and was meditating on the cup of His suffering, I sensed His presence with me in the room. I could see with the eyes of my heart that the Lord was also holding a cup in His hand, and that He wanted to drink it with me. 

I held out my cup of grape juice to Him. Just before drinking His cup, the Lord held it out toward me, and He spoke a traditional Jewish blessing: "L'chaim!" For those who have seen Fiddler on the Roof, you will remember that when drinking a toast to the bride and groom at a Jewish wedding, we declare, "L'chaim!" This means, "To life!" I noticed that the Lord had a bittersweet smile on His face as He pronounced this toast. The Lord was drinking the remembrance of His suffering, and I was drinking nothing but life.

I answered Him, "L'chaim bi'shua," which means, "to life in Yeshua." Before drinking, I added, "It's death to You, but it's life to me."

I sensed that the Lord didn't want me to watch Him as He drank the bitter cup and as He remembered the bitterness that it represented. I closed my eyes, and we drank it together. The Lord's word for His children as they take communion is "What was the cup of bitterness and death to Me is the cup of life to you."

The value of Yeshua's blood is beyond our ability to imagine, but we trust in it even if we cannot fully understand it. This was an incredibly sacred and special moment to me, and I will never forget it."

-Jill Shannon, A Prophetic Calendar: The Feasts of Israel

This is how much He loved us, that He came to the cross and suffered greatly for us to have life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10b).

Pray

Jesus, my Yeshua, You did so much for me. Today I trust in what Your blood did for me at the cross, and because I trust in it I receive every blessing that Your life paid for me to have. I receive healing, I receive Your provision, I receive the promises You spoke over me and I open my hands to You. I receive every good thing that You would have for me, knowing and trusting that You want to give to me more than I could ask or imagine. Thank You for what You did for me, I love you, because You loved me first. Amen

Do you know how much He loves you? Do you know how complete you are in Him? Keep your mind fixed on His great love for you, and know that He bought and paid the incredible price for your freedom, for your promises, for your life.

You were worth it to Him. And you still are today.



With joy, Jessica