“Fear-Less, Love-More”

“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.” – 1 John 4:18

As we are coming up to the annual celebration of Halloween; a time where we now traditionally dress-up in costume as scary monsters such as vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches & werewolves. People decorate their houses with cobwebs, spiders, bats and other things to give it that ‘haunted house’ look, and hold ‘Halloween’ parties with food and drink to match the occasion.

On the TV and in the Cinemas there are a plethora of films and programmes all designed with one thing in mind, to give us a fright. To shock & to scare.

To make us afraid.

Fear.

Fear is the watchword of October 31st.

Fear; that feeling of dread that comes upon us when we perceive a danger of threat and gets us ready to fight or flight. However, unwarranted fear or irrational fear, which is called a phobia, can negatively impact our lives, and today, so many people are crippled by so many different phobias ranging from Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing, through Logizomechanophobia- Fear of computers, to Zoophobia- Fear of animals.  There is even Phobophobia- Fear of phobias.

Thanks be to God who has given us the solution to our modern world with all of its fears and phobias.

In the Bible, God says to us ‘Fear Not’ on several occasions; although not the 365 as is sometimes erroneously quoted to state that there is a ‘fear not’ for every day of the year; but it is still a command God encourages us with, knowing that fear will come into our lives and that He has not called us to live in fear, but to be brave and courageous.

Listen to God’s encouragement to Joshua before he took the children of Israel into the promised land; “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.“

God calls His people to NOT fear, but be strong and courageous.

How do we do this?

The scripture at the top of this post is the key.

‘All you need is love.” or more accurately “All you need’s His love.”

God’s perfect love casts out ALL fear. There is not a single phobia that God’s love cannot overcome and cast out of our lives.

The more we allow the truth that God loves us to permeate our thinking, the more we are freed from Fear.

This Halloween, let’s not let Fear have the rule of the roost, but let’s boot Fear out with God’s anti-dote; ‘Love‘.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100:5