Devotions

God shows us how we can live without fear. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…” (1 John 4:18, NKJV). In short, if we are living in fear, we are ignorant of perfect love. John is not saying, “Perfect love for God casts out all fear.” He is saying that perfect love begins with abundant and generous love for one another.

It is a fact beyond doubt that we love God, but consider what John says about perfect love earlier in the chapter. “If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). According to John, the first consideration of perfect love is unconditional love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

A Christian can say that he loves God, is doing the Lord’s will and is faithfully performing the work of the kingdom. Such a person may be a worshipper and even a teacher of the Word. However, if he holds a grudge or speaks against another, if he shuts out anyone in the body of Christ, he walks in darkness, and a spirit of death is on him. All life, all good works, are out of order in this person. Consider what John says of him: “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now” (1 John 2:9).

If you are interested in living a life without fear, John tells us we must first deal with our relationships in the body of Christ. Indeed, to partake of the perfect love that drives out all fear, this is the first step we must take: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

What is meant by this kind of love? It is more than forgiveness, much more. It means to forgive all transgressions toward us and then offer our fellowship. We are to esteem the ones who sinned against us as highly as we do other members of the body. When we let God’s love dwell in us and perfect us, all fear will be cast out.

“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. 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” (1 John 4:16-17, NKJV).

Note the last part of this passage. John tells us we are now living as the Lord lived, forgiving and loving our enemies. There is nothing left in us of revenge, grudges or racial prejudice, so we can now fully receive the love of God toward us.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Do you see what John is saying? Our love for God is a given, but perfect love also means knowing and believing his love toward us.

There must be no fear or doubt in this love. If we doubt, we’ll live in torment: “Fear involves torment” (see 1 John 4:18). Believing in God’s love means knowing he is patient with our failures day in and day out. He hears our every cry, bottles every tear, feels our anguish of heart and is moved with compassion.

This aspect of God’s love is vividly illustrated in Exodus, where the Lord sought to reveal his loving nature to his people. He told Moses, “I am going to deliver Israel,” and scripture says, “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God” (Exodus 2:23).

“And the Lord said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land…to a land flowing with milk and honey’” (Exodus 3:7-8).

Do you believe God sees your need just as he did with Israel? We often glibly say, “Christ is all,” yet when we face a crisis we succumb to fear. Let us embrace the knowledge that God never forsakes his children in their time of anguish, even when things seem absolutely hopeless. We can trust him!

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Comforter.” It is one thing to know the Holy Spirit as our comforter, but we must also know how he comforts us, so we can distinguish what comfort is of flesh and what is from the Spirit.

Consider the person who is overcome with loneliness. He prays for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and expects that comfort to come as a feeling. In fact, he imagines it as a kind of sudden breath from heaven, like a spiritual sedative to his soul.

This feeling of peace may actually come to him, but the next morning it is gone. As a result, he starts to believe the Holy Spirit has refused his request. No, never! The Holy Spirit doesn’t comfort us by manipulating our feelings. His way of comforting is vastly different and is clearly outlined in scripture. No matter what the problem, trial or need, his ministry of comfort is accomplished by bringing truth. “When he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13, NKJV).

The fact is that our comfort springs from what we know, not what we feel. Only truth overrules feelings! The comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with this foundational truth: God is not mad at you; he loves you.

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). The Greek meaning here is even stronger than the translation suggests, saying that the love of God is made to “gush forth” into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

You may be carrying an unbearable burden caused by fear, shame, sorrow, afflictions, temptations or discouragement. No matter how it happened, comfort is needed. This is the moment when a voice is heard, echoing through every corridor of your soul. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit declaring, “Nothing can separate you from the love of God.”

Once you believe it, this truth quickly becomes a fountain of living water, sweeping away every stumbling block. “But the Helper [Comforter], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

The parable of the talents opens with a man planning to go on a journey. In preparation, he makes the unusual decision to entrust his money, or “talents,” to his servants. He distributes the talents just before leaving, giving each servant a different amount. In scripture, it says, “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away” (Matthew 25:14-15, ESV).

This is an interesting and layered story, but the main theme points to self-assessment. “I’m giving you a chance to express your heart in a tangible way,” the master is saying. “During this time, you won’t just be a servant who is doing what he is told. You have free reign; find a good use for this money, and bring the results to me when I return.”

The master of the house wants to find out who his servants are, not as servants but as people and as stewards of his home. “Are they merely placeholders,” he wonders, “or do they understand they are valuable members of this household?” He knows that giving them control over his assets will reveal the answer.

More than just caretaking, stewardship is about maximizing what God has given us. Our talents, skills, spiritual gifts, money, possessions, time and opportunities can be multiplied many times over when driven by the Holy Spirit, unselfishness and intentional living. In the parable, the two servants who have doubled what the master gave them are rewarded, but the third servant, who buries his one talent then makes excuses, is dealt with harshly.

As a modern example, we might ask, “What about the people stuck in poverty who never get a break? And how about my situation? I’m struggling and finding it hard to give anything, including my time.” God’s reply is the same as it was to the servant who was only given one talent. “Don’t devalue what I have given you, no matter how small.  Find a way to multiply what you have. I’m looking at the intent of your heart.”

Jesus emphasized this point throughout his teachings. We are to understand that our lives, no matter how insignificant to us, have enormous value to him, and we are to live with that at the front of our minds. The entirety of our lives is entrusted into our care so that we may serve others and bring glory to God.

Everybody loves the story of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. We’ve got all of the plagues and these dramatic signs of God’s power, then nearly two million slaves are set free. The pharaoh of Egypt changes his mind about letting them go at the last minute and chases them to the Red Sea, then God splits the sea in half, and his people escape through it only to have these walls of water smash in on the Egyptian army pursuing them.

There’s an important verse before all of that, though, which we often miss. “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8, ESV). Joseph was an Old Testament archetype of Jesus Christ, and here we have a nation’s ruler who didn’t know him. It’s a hint that there’s a whole generation of people who didn’t really know Joseph and, through him, the God that he served. We’ll come back to that. It’s important.

So the nation of Israel is set free in epic style, but then the narrative gets a little confusing for some people. God promised all of these people who had been slaves all of their lives a beautiful land that would be their own. He promised to lead them to this place; they wouldn’t even have to find it on their own. Before that, however, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years.

You see, he needed to get the culture and spirit of Egypt out of his people before they came into the place he’d promised them. If he hadn’t, the Israelites would’ve walked into the promised land with all of the habits and culture and beliefs of a generation who had forgotten Joseph and didn’t know God’s nature.

The same is often true for us as modern day believers. This life of the Holy Spirit is the life that we’ve been called to as followers of Christ. However, if we try to bring the lifestyle and ways of pharaoh and the world into our dealings with God, we’re going to run into trouble. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the early church applies to us just as much today: “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness…” (Ephesians 5:8-11).

_{John Bailey is the COO of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}