The bride had waited for this moment since she was a little girl. She’d be marrying the man of her dreams. And she had the perfect verse for her wedding cake, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear (I John 4:18 NASB).
She struggled with fear and wanted God’s perfect love to cast it out.
The week of the wedding came, and the final preparations were being made when she got a call from the cake maker. “Are you absolutely sure you want I John 4:18 on your wedding cake?” he asked.
“Very sure. It’s one of my favorites.”
“Okay,” the baker responded. “It’s your wedding.”
The bride didn’t have the brain space to give the call much thought, but later she wished she’d followed up.
The cake maker wasn’t familiar with the Bible. He thought 1 John meant the first book of John he came across. So, the surprised bride got John 4:18 on her cake instead, “for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
The bride was mortified. But over time, as the pain of embarrassment wore off, the cake maker’s blunder became a story of laughter for the couple. And they continued to ask the Lord to show them how perfect love casts out fear.
How Does Perfect Love Cast Out Fear?
Perfect Love
The Greek word John used for “perfect” means completed, finished, lacking nothing.
God’s love is perfect, like a swaddled child, safe and warm in its mother’s embrace. God’s presence yields a transcendent peace which surpasses all comprehension in the face of any fear [1].
Paul describes the quality of God’s perfect love, in Ephesians 3:14-19. He prays we might comprehend it, though it surpasses our knowledge.
For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.
When I read Paul’s description of God’s love, I picture a love as deep and long and wide as the ocean and as high as the sky.
God’s perfect love truly surpasses our knowledge. Paul prays that what won’t fit in our heads will come alive in our hearts, our love receptor. [2]
Disagreeing with Lies
God’s love grounds us. So, it’s no wonder our enemy uses doubt and feat to try and block our awareness of it.
As much as God is love, Satan is fear. He’s a defeated foe and his tactics don’t change. He relentlessly uses deception and empty fear to try and lure us away from resting in God’s great love for us.
But our weapons of truth and prayer are divinely powerful to demolish these fortified strongholds, destroying his work in our lives and casting out his fear.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB).
Our job is to take every thought captive. Soaking in the truth of God’s perfect love, we learn to disagree with Satan’s lies and cast away his fear.
Remaining in Perfect Love
In addition to praying for our hearts to be enlightened with God’s perfect love, and disagreeing with Satan’s lies, Jesus gives us clear instruction as to how we can continually live in His perfect love.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:9-12 NIV)
In these vital words, Jesus helps us understand the depth of His perfect love toward us. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. How could love be any more perfect than this?
Then He tells us how to remain or live in His love. To remain in His perfect love, which dispels fear, we’re to love others as He’s loved us. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
And the love we’re to love with, comes from Him. “We love, because He first loved us” (I John 4:19 NASB). (The verse after the bride’s verse).
The great cadence of our lives, which dispels every fear, is to receive God’s perfect love and give it away.
Prayer
Dear Lord, I thank You that You’ve provided a way for me to live in Your perfect love.
Please empower me to quickly disagree with any lie about Your complete love for me. When fear rises from the evil one, may I quickly give it to You. I don’t want to give the enemy a seat at my table. (From the title of a book by Louie Giglio) [3]
Please give me a love first mentality throughout each day. I don’t want to get so tangled up in the duties that I miss the people you bring me to love. May I yield to You to love through me.
I depend upon You to work these in me. I can’t do them without You.
Come what may, fear has absolutely no place in my life.
Amen.
[1] Philippians 4:6-7
[2] Ephesians 1:18-20
[3] Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, Louie Giglio, Passion Publishing 2021
Other Posts in our Rhythms of Joy Series:
Joy is Important Because it’s an Experience of God
The Amazing Connection Between Grace and Joy
Moving from Discouraged to Encouraged
Coming to Terms with Hard Things
Please Check out the Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child in a city.
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
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