The Lord is a personal God. He desires a personal relationship with each and every one of us. Jesus, God’s Son, was the Lamb who was slain so that we may have a personal relationship with the Father.
If you did not have a healthy relationship with your earthly father, this may be a difficult concept to understand. However, the Lord desires to show His unconditional love as a perfect Father to you.
The Lord desires for us to be so intimate with Him that we run to Him when we fail or experience trauma in our lives. Yet more often than not, our inclination when we’re in distress is to run away from God.
What causes us to run away from God?
Fear.
“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” (1 John 4:18 NKJV).
Fear torments us and separates us from the Father and His love. Fear tells us to hide. Hiding is a form of avoidance and we avoid God with the distractions and the cares of our world.
What did Adam and Eve do after they ate the forbidden fruit?
They hid.
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’
So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’
(Genesis 3:8-10 NKJV)
Why did Adam hide?
He was afraid.
We want to hide from God when we’re afraid. Since Genesis the enemy has used fear to separate us from the love of God.
Thank God that He does not leave us bound up in the fear, but He comes looking for us. Just as the Lord called to Adam, He calls out for you.
He is calling you to come out of hiding. Will you respond to Him?
Adam answered the Lord and had dialogue with Him. The Lord wants to speak with you too.
God made a way for us to draw closer to Him and not be separated from Him.
The Lord sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live a sinless life and be the Lamb who was slain for our sins. A debt we could not ever pay has been paid for us. All we have to do is reach out and accept it.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17 NKJV).
You see my friend, God loves us so much He gave His only Son so that we can have everlasting life. Jesus came to save us, not to condemn us!
So how do we receive the love of God? We humble ourselves before Him and admit we did wrong.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9 NKJV)
Confessing our sins draws us closer to God, and that confession allows us to receive God’s perfect love that pushes out the fear that torments us.
For the past four years, the Lord has shown me to confess my fears to Him. When I confess my sin and repent for it, the Lord’s love perfects me.
The word “perfect” in 1 John 4:18 means “to bring to an end, to complete, perfect.” (Strongs 5048)
Little by little I have been set free from the tormenting thoughts that previously consumed my life regarding my son’s imprisonment. I am experiencing freedom from fear due to God’s perfect love for me!
God desires for you to experience His perfect love today and to set you free from all your fears.
Let’s pray:
Lord, thank You that You are calling me and seeking me. I come to You as I hear You call my name. I thank You for Your perfect love and You made a way for me to receive Your love through Jesus Christ, Your Son. Lord I admit I have allowed fear to torment me and I am ready to be perfected by Your perfect love. Lord, I’ve been afraid of _______ (list your fears here). I ask You for Your forgiveness in participating with fear by dwelling on those fearful thoughts. I ask You to deliver me and set me free from the tormentor. I thank You that Your loves saves me and does not condemn me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
