“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.”1 John 4:18 (KJV)
The cure John prescribes for fear is not more willpower. It is a deeper certainty of being loved.
John does not tell the fearful to try harder at not being afraid. He says the answer is love, and specifically the settled knowledge that God's love toward you is secure.
Much religious fear is really uncertainty about standing: does God actually accept me, or am I one failure away from being cast off? That uncertainty produces the torment John names.
Faith is not the absence of fear. It is acting on what God has said while the fear is still speaking. Many faithful people in Scripture were afraid and obeyed anyway.
A prayer to close
Father, settle my heart in Your love so that fear loses its grip. Help me obey today even while I am still afraid. Amen.
