2021-05-16
1 John 4:18 NKJV
You would be surprised how many people, even successful ones, struggle each day with unexpressed fears. Maybe you’re one of them. The Bible says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Now if our fears don’t come from God, where do they come from?
Different sources: (1) The way you were programmed growing up in your family. (2) Overdosing each day on the news, 99 percent of which is negative. (3) Satan. The point is, your fears don’t come from God.
Recognizing the true source of your fears is the first step to overcoming them. And God has given you a powerful weapon with which to defeat them: “Perfect love casts out fear.” You say, “Yes, perhaps if I loved God more perfectly, I wouldn’t be so afraid.” No, you’ve got the cart before the horse. Try as you might, you could never love God perfectly. There’s only one “perfect love,” and that’s His love for you. And it’s unconditional, bought and paid for by Jesus Christ when He died for you on the cross.
Having a revelation of the unmerited, undeserved, unearned love, grace, and Favour of God toward you will enable you to rise up and begin to “cast out” fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, condemnation, and worry. God’s love for you is not based on your performance, but on Christ’s. When you trust in Christ’s performance instead of your own, you are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). And when you have the assurance of that, you know you also have the power to “cast out” your fears.
Soul food: Exo 17:1-7; John 4:1-42
1 Johannes 4:18 AFR83
Jy sal verras wees om te weet hoeveel mense, selfs suksesvolle mense, elke dag met onuitgesproke vrese worstel. Miskien is jy een van hulle. Die Bybel sê: ‘Want God het ons nie ‘n gees van vreesagtigheid gegee nie, maar van krag en liefde en selfbeheersing’ (2 Timoteus 1:7 AFR53). As ons vrese dus nie van God af kom nie, waar kom hulle dan vandaan?
Van verskeie bronne af: 1) Die manier waarop jy geprogrammeer is in jou grootwordjare. 2) ‘n Daaglikse oordosis nuus, 90 persent daarvan wat negatief is. 3) Satan.
Die punt is, jou vrese kom nie van God af nie. Die eerste stap om jou vrese te oorkom, is om die ware bron daarvan vas te stel. God het jou ‘n magtige wapen gegee om hulle te oorwin: ‘…volmaakte liefde verdryf vrees …’ Jy sê: ‘Miskien as ek God volmaak lief gehad het, sou ek nie so bang gewees het nie.’ Nee, nou span jy die wa voor die perd in. Jy kan soveel probeer as wat jy wil, maar jy sal nooit God volmaak kan liefhê nie.
Daar is net een volmaakte liefde en dit is sy liefde vir jou. Dis onvoorwaardelik; gekoop en betaal deur Jesus Christus wat vir jou aan die kruis gesterf het. Wanneer jy ‘n openbaring van die onverdiende liefde, genade en guns wat God teenoor jou voel, ervaar, sal jy kan opstaan en alle vrees, angs, skuld, veroordeling en bekommernisse kan verdryf.
God se liefde vir jou is nie op jou optrede gebaseer nie, maar op Christus s’n. Wanneer jy jou vertroue in Christus se optrede, in plaas van jou eie, plaas, is jy God se kind (sien Efesiërs 1:5). Wanneer jy die versekering daarvan het, weet jy dat jy ook die mag het om al jou vrese te verdryf.
Sielskos: Eks 17:1-7; Joh 4:1-42
1 John 4:18 NKJV
So many people struggle every day with unexpressed fears. Even people who we think have everything they need, and who seem to have it all together, have fears that we don’t know about. The Bible says, ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Our fears don’t come from God. So where do they come from?
There are lots of different sources of fear, such as: 1) Things we picked up from our families as we were growing up. 2) Things that are happening in the world. 3) Negative experiences that we’ve been through. 4) Satan. Recognising the true source of our fears is the first step to overcoming them. And God has given us a powerful weapon to defeat them with: ‘Perfect love casts out fear.’
We might think, ‘Maybe if I loved God more perfectly, I wouldn’t be so afraid.’ But if we think that, we’ve missed the point. We’re imperfect people, so we could never love God perfectly, no matter how hard we tried. There’s only one ‘perfect love’, which is God’s love for us. It’s unconditional, bought and paid for by Jesus Christ when He died for each one of us on the cross.
When we realise the undeserved, unearned love, grace, and favour of God towards us, we’re enabled to rise up and begin to ‘cast out’ fear, anxiety, doubt, guilt, condemnation, and worry. God’s love for us isn’t based on our performance, but on Christ’s. When we trust in Christ’s performance instead of our own, we can rest assured that we also have the power to lean on God and let His love ‘cast out’ our fears.
Exo 17:1-7; John 4:1-42
2021-05-15
Ephesians 1:5 TLB
In the Bible God commands us to love one another. Interestingly, He doesn’t command us to like one another. And that’s a good thing because you can love someone and not like certain things about them.
Paul writes, “We are his workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). The word “workmanship” comes from the Greek word poiéma from which we get the word poetry. And poetry is a diversified and creative thing; it comes in many forms. That’s why the Bible says God works through different people in different ways (See 1 Corinthians 12:6). He uses all kinds of people, including the ones we may not like or want to work with.
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT), and it’s up to us to discover and develop it. “Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving” (Ephesians 4:12 NCV). The word “prepare” is also interesting. It comes from a medical term in the original Greek. Doctors used it to describe the process of setting a broken bone.
Stop and look around you today. Have you ever seen so many broken hearts, broken homes, broken dreams, and broken lives? And if we who claim to be followers of Christ do our job right, they will find help and healing. God uses us to minister to one another, love one another, honour one another, and carry one another’s burdens.
When you think about it, the church is God’s treatment center for everything that ails us. And if you keep that in mind, it will help you to love and get along with people you don’t necessarily like.
Soul food: Heb 5-8; Mark 9:30-37; Ps 18:30-50; Prov 11:22
Ephesians 1:5 NLT
In the Bible God commands us to love one another. Interestingly, He doesn’t command us to like one another. And that’s a good thing because you can love someone and not like certain things about them. Paul wrote, ‘We are his workmanship’ (Ephesians 2:10 KJV). The word ‘workmanship’ comes from the Greek word poiéma, which is also where the word ‘poetry’ comes from. And poetry is a diverse and creative thing; it comes in many forms.
That’s why the Bible says God works through different people in different ways (take a look at 1 Corinthians 12:6). He uses all kinds of people, including the ones we may not like or want to work with. ‘A spiritual gift is given to each of us’ (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT), and it’s up to us to discover and develop it.
‘Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving’ (Ephesians 4:12 NCV). The word ‘prepare’ is also interesting. It comes from a medical term in the original Greek, and doctors used it to describe the process of setting a broken bone. When we’re broken and hurting, our own God-given gifts are one of the things God uses in our process of healing and recovery. And we can use our gifts to help others around us who are also feeling broken and unloved. Doctors don’t think about whether they like someone before they treat them – their focus is to heal the injury or cure the illness. And we should try to have the same attitude – whether we like someone or not, we should show God’s love to them by helping them find healing and recovery through Him.
Heb 5-8; Mark 9:30-37; Ps 18:30-50; Prov 11:22
