Freedom Through Love

God has been continuing this revelation of love in me. A verse that keeps being spoken to me is 1 John 4:18 “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” (NLT).

The question remains, what is this love?

What I have found is love is not an emotion. Love is not a thing. Love is a person, Jesus Christ.

This is spoken about in two verses up: 1 John 4:16 “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”

People are hurting all over the world. A lot of them are so full of fear that it cripples them, sometimes physically, but a lot of times mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Many turn to drugs, alcohol, or sex to ease the fear and hurt. 1 Timothy 1:7 says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” Fear does not come from the Lord, but is an old and commonly used tactic by the enemy to keep people in bondage. Just doing a quick search on Amazon.com for the word “fear” in the “Religion & Spirituality” section of books brings up 2,258 hits alone. People are constantly in such bondage from fear, that it keeps them from living out their true identity. There is freedom available for those who turn to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” What a lot of Christians fail to realize is the Holy Spirit is already present and within us at all times! A common prayer I heard, and prayed myself, as I grew up in the church was “I need your presence God”. Something God showed me besides His presence always being already available is that all of Him is available to us as His sons and daughters. What Jesus did on the cross gave us more than just fire insurance. God made available all of His riches and blessings, the full banquet of His power. If we look at Mark 3:16, it says “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” Notice that the Bible never says that the heavens were ever closed. All of this is to say that we have full power and authority through Christ. He lives in us and through us, and when we realize this, we can experience freedom. When we allow Him to love us, we are given freedom from fear. When He loves on us, we have the revelation of who we are in Christ. We are loved and cherished. Our lives have meaning, and are significant. We find that we have a purpose. We are valued. We can realize the truth: we are God’s children. He made us royalty. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Realizing our true identity in Christ gives us the freedom to love others. Being freed from the bondage of fear gives us the ability to see other people for who they truly are as well. Realizing you are loved enables your eyes to see how much God loves everyone, individually and personally. We need to realize that there is no separation between us and Christ. We have the full ability to live freely through the knowledge of our identity. So go out and love someone today! God’s love for them will free them as much as it has done for you!