LOVE PERFECTED.

DAILY DEVOTION.

DAY EIGHTEEN.

1 JOHN 4:18.    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.
So, how can we know that we have been made perfect in love? We know that God is love, and that He is perfect and that love is the fruit of the Spirit. So is being made perfect in love something that will happen over night or is it a process. It is vitally important that we understand how this works. We see there that John says that there is no fear in love, and that perfect love will actually cast fear out of our lives. Why is this important? because as he says there fear involves torment. Fear is one of the major weapons that Satan will use against us. He uses it to stop us from walking in the will of God. Fear of what people will say or think of us, fear of failure, what if it doesn't work, fear is never of God, remember God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. The word torment that John uses there actually has to do with punishment. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, when we fail to walk in obedience he come in with all his accusations and finger pointing, Tries to make us feel guilty and that we are going to be punished by God. Yes if we miss it we need to repent straight away, don't allow Satan to become your accuser, if we repent God's grace is always there to forgive us and His love will strengthen us to go on. If we are struggling with fear in our lives, then it is obvious that we have not been perfected in the love of God in certain areas of our lives.We must understand this, the concept of being perfected, is maturing in the love of God, remember it is the fruit of the spirit, and like fruit on a tree it has to grow. We all need a greater revelation of the love of God, we all need to grow in this, this is why Paul prayed for the Ephesian church that they would have a comprehension or working knowledge of the love of God, and as he said it passes our natural understanding, we can only truly know the love of God through spiritual revelation. So, how does the process of maturing in love work? obviously firstly we must know that God loves us and that His love is unconditional, we cannot earn the love of God, We can only love God because He first loved us, it is His love shed abroad in our hearts that gives us the capacity to love God. In John 15:9 Jesus says, "As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you, abide in that love." Jesus knew that His Father loved Him and He lived in the knowledge of that, He is saying here that He loves us with the same love that His Father loved Him with, and He wants us to know that and to remain or live in that revelation. Jesus in the next verse gives us the key to remaining in that love, obedience. As He said, He kept his Father's commandments and so He was able to abide in His love. He demonstrated His love for the Father by His obedience, The truth is, if we truly love God then we will want to walk in obedience to His will and His word. Jesus goes on to show us the result of walking in His love and in obedience to His will. He says in John 15:10 That he has shared these things with them that His joy might remain in them and that their joy might be full. Jesus takes great pleasure when we walk in obedience to His will Zephaniah 3:17 says that He rejoices over us with gladness and that He quiets us with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. The amazing thing is this, because that joy that Jesus feels is in the Holy Spirit, we have the Holy spirit in us and we experience that joy, His joy becomes our joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. What we experience goes far beyond the emotional feeling of happiness, There is a sense of this amazing joy that wells up in our spirit and there is a feeling of great strength that come with it. As we walk in this we are empowered more and more to do the will of the Father. If we will step out and begin to walk in this we will get a greater revelation of the love of God, both for us and for the love of others, especially if we walk in this towards those who are outside of Christ. As we take that initial step, stepping out in love, the fear will go, because where there is love there is no fear, remember love casts out fear. The more we walk in this, the more our love will grow, we will find that the fear no longer has any influence in that area of our life,we are being perfected in love, we are maturing and growing in the fruit of the Spirit. We will come to the point where it is just natural for us to reach out and love people, because the love of God compels us. This is what the Church needs right now, not greater music, fancier light shows and whatever, but a greater revelation of the love of God, it is only as we do this that we will take our eyes off ourselves, and do what Jesus said, look unto the harvest, for the fields are white, ready to be harvested. My prayer for all of us, myself included, that we would get a greater revelation of the depth, the width, the height and the length of the love of God which passes all our natural understanding and that we would walk in it, because as we do this God will be able to do through us far more than we could ever ask or think, all by His power working in us, for His glory, in the church, in this generation and into the generations to come, and on into eternity. AMEN.