1John 4:18 says “…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” The word fear originates from the Greek word “phobos,” from where we get the word phobia.
Our text says “fear hath torment” which means that “fear possesses torment.” The Webster dictionary defines torment as “severe physical or mental suffering,” Thus signifying that fear possesses severe physical and mental suffering.
In other words, fear is crippling, it brings with it the thought of punishment and always contains some of the torture of feeling guilty.
Fear will prevent you from becoming all God intends for you to be; it will limit your potential, even ruin and devastate your hopes and aspiration.
Often you hear people say it is good to have little fear. No! It`s not ok to have a little fear – Fear is destructive force.
You see, fear is not of God, it`s an inversion of faith, fear was introduced to man at the fall – after Adam wilfully disobeyed God. “… And he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I feared because I was naked and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:10)
Fear in the above text, is derived from the Hebrew word “Yarah”, it actually means “flowing of the gut,”
Have you ever been so scared that you could feel it in your gut?
This “feeling” is the meaning of “yarah” Its Greek equivalent is “phobos”
It is a spiritual force that affects your emotions, and causes you both physical and mental suffering.
However, God does not want you live a life filled with fears. That is why He spilled, shed or poured out his love “agape” into your hearts, when you became born again (Romans 5:5)
The love of God is the antidote for fear.
You may have been taught that faith is the antidote for fear, but it is not, faith is the reciprocal of fear, but the antidote for fear is “agape” or God kind of love that has been shared abroad in your heart.
Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, which seeks the welfare and betterment of others regardless of how you feel.
Before, I go further, I would like to share with you some things about reciprocals.
You see, for every law or principle God created, there is a reciprocal for it.
A reciprocal is something which corresponds to something else, but is reversed or inverted.
Remember that Satan is a fallen angel, he has no creative abilities, all he does is invert what God created and make it look opposite.
To bring this home to our daily life, in mathematic, you use the word reciprocals when dealing with fractions.
As stated, reciprocal is simply an inversion, the reciprocal of 3/4 is 4/3.
Both of them are fraction but one is just inverted, the opposite version of the other.
Similarly, North and South poles are points on the compass, but are the reverse or opposite of each other.
Faith and fear are spiritual forces that are reciprocals or opposite of each other, Faith activates God same way fear activates the devil.
Faith is the substance or assurance of things hoped, the evidence of things not seen, without faith it impossible to please God. In order to obtain the promises of God, you must have faith.
While fear is the substance of things you do not want to happen to you, it is the evidence or proof that what you fear will eventually occur. Fear gives devil access to your life, same way faith allows God come into your life.
A classic Bible example of man ruled by fear is Job.
He was a rich man who had ten children, seven boys and three girls. He was righteous in the sight of God and always tried to please God.
However, he allowed Satan gain access to his family; Job was constantly afraid that his children would sin against God and cause something bad to happen to them. As a remedy, he continually offered sacrifice on their behalf. But, the problem was that these sacrifices were motivated or driven by fear. They were fear based. Consequently, his fears came through, he lost all his children and goods…. “For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me.”(Job 3:25)
To those of you who reading this piece and can relate to Job`s saga, If your actions are fear based, you need to repent and allow faith rule, because if you don`t those things you fear will eventually manifest.
To be continued !!!
Pastor Emmanuel Emeke Asiwe can be reached at info@jointheirsint.org : Joint Heirs International, #441 Crescent Street, Brockton,MA 02302:
Worship Hours: Sunday:10am, Wednesday :7pm
