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Thursday, March 26, 2020
Perfect love casts out fear (of Corona)
Perfect love casts out
fear (of Corona)
We live in
times where people “faint from fear and the expectation of the things which
are coming upon the world” as
the Lord Jesus prophesied in Luke 21: 26. Of course, as responsible citizens, we need to take all the precautions
against this pestilence with all caution, care, carefulness and concern.
But unhealthy fear and panic would only weaken our immunity and thereby deteriorate
our mental and physical health.
The Word of
God says in 1John
4: 18 that “Perfect love casts
out fear”. A simple example of a cup can be used
to explain this verse even to little children. When you say a cup is empty, you
know there is air in it. That air is like the fears, anxieties, worry and
timidity in our hearts when our heart is empty. Lord Jesus warns in Matthew 12: 43-45 against our heart
being unoccupied or empty.
How can we simply dispel all the air
from the cup? Just pour water into the cup till it overflows. Like that, when
the love of God floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5: 5),
love is perfected (filled) in us (1John
4: 16, 17), and that perfect love
casts out not only fear (1John 4: 18), but also all other negative
feelings and thoughts of anxiety, worry, low self esteem, low confidence,
bitterness or unforgiveness, anger, impurity, dishonesty, jealousy, laziness,
complacency, indiscipline and every other sin.
But
the question now is: how can the HOLY Spirit fill our impure hearts? Just like we clean a cup before we pour some
drinking water into it, our hearts need to be cleansed by the precious blood
which our Lord Jesus has shed on the Cross, taking the punishment of eternal hell
fire for our many sins. And only if we truly repent of (turn away from) all our
sins, the blood of Christ can cleanse our hearts.
Even
after being cleansed, the cup has to be yielded to be filled. Like that we need
to yield ourselves and surrender and open up every area of our whole being (like
our relationships, possessions, self-love, reputation, career, future etc –
what we are and what we have) to the Lord Jesus in simple, childlike faith and
thirst for His love to flood us (John 7: 37, 38). Then He will definitely fill every part of our whole
being with His heavenly, indescribable love, joy and peace through the
Holy Spirit! (Gal. 5: 22, 23). And that perfect love of the Lord
casts out all the anxiety and fears from our hearts in these uncertain times…
When
our hearts are filled with His love, we will be able to love Him with all our
heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12: 30), which indeed is His
greatest commandment, or in other words, His greatest longing for us. And
that love for the Lord through the Holy Spirit will empower us to keep His commandments
(John 14: 15, 23).
“The yoke (or bondage or trap) will be destroyed because of the
anointing oil” (Isaiah 10: 27b NKJV) of the Holy Spirit! And the trap and chains of the
fear of any kind will be broken off and we will be exalted (or safely set on
high - as we see in Proverbs 29:25). That means, we will fly high like
an eagle in the heavenlies with our Beloved Lord! (Isaiah 40: 31; Song of
Songs 4: 8).
And
that Holy Spirit will make us well aware of a loving Abba Father (Romans
8: 15; Matthew 6: 25-
34) in heaven, Who
is the sovereign, blessed Controller of this whole universe!! The Holy
Spirit will witness in our hearts that nothing can happen in our lives without
His knowledge and permission. He will reassure us that the Lord has made a
hedge around our life, our family members and our property (Job 1: 10), and
that without His knowledge and permission, no Corona virus can break that
hedge! Nothing and no one can take our life until “our hour has come” (John
8: 20), if we live surrendering our own will to Him daily.
Our
Lord has not just counted, but has given a number to each one of our hairs! (Luke
12: 7). Such is His care for even the minutest detail of each one of our
lives, because he who touches us, touches the apple of His very eye (Zechariah
2: 8)…
Lord Jesus Christ says: “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love” (John 15: 9).
“These
things I have spoken to you so that My
joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15: 11).
“Peace
I leave with you; My peace I give to
you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be
troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14: 27).
“Are not two
sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart
from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do
not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matthew 10: 29-31).
“Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest”
(Matthew 11: 28).
“Cast
your burdens unto Me, because I care for you” (1Peter 5: 7).
“My grace (My power) is sufficient for you (for every situation you can ever face)” (2 Cor. 12: 9).
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to Me.
And the peace of
God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Me” (Philippians 4: 6,7).
“For I have not given you a spirit of timidity, but of power
and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).
“I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. So you can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I
will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”” (Hebrews 13: 5, 6).
“For I am the LORD your God, Who upholds your right hand, Who
says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you’” (Isaiah
41:13).
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O
Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have
redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame
burn you... You are precious in My sight; you are honoured and I love you (Isaiah
43: 1,2, 4).
“Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no
compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not
forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls
are continually before Me” (Isaiah 49: 15, 16).
“Behold, I extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will be
nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. As one whom
his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in
Jerusalem (the true Church) (Isaiah 66: 12, 13).
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness
(Jeremiah 31: 3).
For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD,
'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a
hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen
to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart
(Jeremiah 29: 11- 13).
And
the Holy Spirit, the blessed Helper would remind us all that Jesus has taught
us (John 14: 26): “And
we know that God causes ALL things to work together FOR GOOD to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8: 28).
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to
man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape
also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10: 13).
Even after being filled, we can
lose the fullness of the Spirit with our own carelessness and pride, which are
like holes in a vessel. We need to repent and plug those holes daily and ask
the Lord to fill us with His Spirit again and again. That is the exhortation in
Ephesians 5: 18 in the original language – to be being (continually) filled with the Spirit.
So,
let us look to the Lord Jesus like this continually (Hebrews 12: 1, 2),
so that we can hear His voice (like the sound of many waters – Rev. 1: 15)-
which will fill our hearts again and again with His tender love beyond measure (John
3: 34) …
And the more we humble and yield ourselves and die to our own reputation, name, ambitions and choices, the mightier would be the in-filling and the out-flowing of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to dispel the fears and anxieties not only from our hearts, but also from the trembling hearts around us through our words and lives which impart His grace to others (Eph. 4: 29).
And the more we humble and yield ourselves and die to our own reputation, name, ambitions and choices, the mightier would be the in-filling and the out-flowing of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to dispel the fears and anxieties not only from our hearts, but also from the trembling hearts around us through our words and lives which impart His grace to others (Eph. 4: 29).
“You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows
(to bless others) (Psalm 23: 5). Let it be so.
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