God's Love is Perfect!

1 John 4:18-19  "There is no fear in love.  But perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

Wow!  Am I sure not perfect!  Overcoming fear of punishment is something I continually struggle with.  Whenever I do something wrong, I think I'm more concerned and scared about whether or not I will get in trouble with people than I am about the wrong thing I did and displeasing Him Whom I love.  That is not right!

Not that I am not sorry for whatever it might be.  But, I get all worked up because of the fear of punishment.  I'm supposed to not be worried about what 'man' can do to me.  Hmmm.

I am trying to get to the bottom of why I do this, with the Lord's help.  I know all the intellectually correct answers, but I know the truth hasn't found its way throughout the deep recesses of my heart yet. 

Today, as I've been thinking and praying about this, I realized it is a symptom of unbelief.  I am not believing God's Holy Word as I should.  It is His promise that I am forgiven  (1John 1:9; Eph. 1:7-8).  It is His promise that He will never leave me or forsake me (Joshua 1:5,9; Hebrews 13:5b).  It is His promise that He will help me (Hebrews 13:6; Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 121).  He never said he would only help me if I never sin or make a mistake.  So I should be able to walk in CONFIDENCE.  

I need to whip out these promises and stand on them when the accuser plagues my mind w/ my sins and/or mistakes.  Or, when I'm beating myself up, which I have a bad habit of.

I hope, as I get into the new study, that I will grow in all these areas.  That is my sincere prayer.  I'm on a journey, and it's in progress.  I'm so glad He's promised to see me through to completion (Phil. 1:6)!!!

I am intent on VICTORY and FREEDOM!!!

So many Christian blog posts seem to be about how a problem concluded and is over.  I don't find that mine get 'over' so much as that I just keep growing.  But I press on...

Confidence

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised."  Hebrews 10:35-36

As believers, we do not need to live in doubt.  We need to live in HOPE, hope in our God and in His good purposes for us.

Isaiah 49:23b says, "Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed."

This does not mean we will have no trouble or that all life is pleasant.  However, He will be with us and bring us through every trial.  To maintain hope in these times, we must cling to His promises as laid out in His Word as being more true than anything we think, hear, see, or feel.  This base of trust and hope will flush away doubt and anxiety. 

We can pray His promises and have confidence that these prayers are in His will and, therefore, will be answered.

In A Confident Heart, Renee Swope says, "We'll do the most important thing first:  spend time digging deep into the heart and character of God so we can learn to depend on His heart toward us."  (p.24)

A Confident Heart - on-line Bible study

Soon, over at Proverbs31 Ministries, I will be starting their upcoming on-line Bible study.  The book, The Confident Heart, is by Renee Swope.  The formal study runs from October 13th-December 14th.  If I can't keep up, it may take me longer.  But, that is OK.

Some of the chapter titles that I'm most intrigued by are:
       Finding Love That Won't Fail Even When I Do
       When Doubt Whispers, "I'm Such a Failure"
       The Woman I Want to Be

I hope to put gleanings from my study on here, if I can find the time.  It may not be much, but...