Love casts out fear

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 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" 1 John 4:18.

Fear and love never stay together. One casts another out. People throughout centuries feared God. In a wrong way. They did not know Him. They saw a distorted picture of Him. They were scared to be punished and sent to hell. Some have the same image of God today. A picture of an angry God is a wrong picture. Apostle John confirms that. He says that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Not fear judgment, but have boldness in that day. You have been justified by faith in Jesus, and you will not be punished for your past sins. 

Your love for God draws you closer to Him. You know that He had forgiven your sins, and this knowledge removes fear from your heart. The fact that He loved you so much that He gave His only Son for you does something even more. It breeds love for God/Jesus in your heart. 

No more slaverish fear of judgment and of God. You love Him. Yes, there is a different kind of fear of God that the Bible talks about. That fear means you shun everything that God does not like. That type of fear is not a feeling. It is your desire and a decision to behave in a way that God likes. It's just like when you love somebody, you don't do (at least try not to) things the person does not like. It is the same with our relationship with God. You don't do things you don't like because you love Him. 

He loves you and you love Him back. The slaverish fear pushes us away from God. The love that we have in our hearts for Him, pushes us closer to Him. You cannot have both. God loves you, Jesus paid price for you sins. He was punished for you. Punishment does not belong to you. If you meditate on that, this will cast away fear. Who or what should you fear if the creator of the Universe loves you and is on your side? Trust Him. 

Obeying God Rather Than Men

„Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men“ Acts 5:29. 

When human authorities put themselves above the Word of God and tell Christians that they must obey those kinds of laws, any Bible believing Christian can state like Peter and other apostles did when they were told by the priests and Pharisees to shut up. We must tell them that we ought to listen and obey God’s commands more than human ones. Word of God is above any other law that humans have ever made. And all of us will have to answer before God on the day of Judgment how we followed the Word. In some cases we will have to disobey human laws and God will bless us for that. This we should keep in mind when people want to force us to acknowledge that sin is ok. It is not!

Do not be afraid

Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?”

Apart from ‘healthy’ fear of the Lord we do not have to be afraid of anything. Nothing and nobody should scare us. If you are his what you should be afraid of? God is your protector. He takes care after your problems and worries. People of the world have no hope and they are scared of multitude of things. They are afraid of diseases, getting fired from work, marriage problems, death and etc. If you are a Christian you are in the hands of a good and merciful God who loves you and wishes you all the best. Do not be afraid!