Goodbye, Fear!

(8 minutes)

This is the life-giving message we heard him share and it's still ringing in our ears. We now repeat his words to you: God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him. (1 John 1:5)

What happens when you begin to see Yahweh as pure light, not having even a trace of darkness in Him?

You stop protecting yourself.

You see, as long as you are suspicious of God, questioning if you're safe in His presence, you will always have your guard up. You'll always be looking over your shoulder. You'll constantly feel the need to protect yourself. This is the darkness that we still believe is in the Father.  There is a part of Him that we still see as the punisher. He's the distant, angry dad that religion taught us about. He can't stand sin and can't even look at you when you fall down or make a mess. When you make a mistake, He unleashes His furious wrath upon us that could take the form of a flat tire, an unexpected expense, a hurricane, or a health issue. We really believe that the Father punishes us like this. When something bad happens in our life we anxiously begin to trace it back to some failure on our part that God just can't look over anymore. He tolerated the first and second offense, but grace ran out after that and the third strike means, "You're out!" Let's be honest, how many of us still think that there's a thread of this harsh, uncaring, vengeful nature left in God? This is the "darkness" that John the Beloved is referring to. We still think there's darkness in Him. And what does this belief, even if it's just a small measure or trace amount, produce in us? Fear of punishment. And fear doesn't produce freedom, it produces bondage. It produces sons and daughters that are constantly trying to protect themselves from God. And this drives us out of Abba's presence and further into the hands of religion. Religion is just our best attempt at keeping an angry God in a good mood.

As Abraham walked with Yahweh, there were still moments in his journey when he was desperately trying to protect himself. He was still operating from a place of fear. Let's revisit the story that Pastor Tim walked us through this past Sunday. Not one of Abraham's finest moments, but Abba still showed up.

At that time, a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to travel down to Egypt and live there as a foreigner. When he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Look, I'm worried because I know that you are a beautiful, gorgeous woman. When the Egyptian men take one look at you, they will say, 'She is his wife.' Then they will kill me in order to have you. Just tell them you are my sister so that they will treat me well for your sake and spare my life." When Abram entered Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai's stunning beauty. When Pharaoh's dignitaries spotted her, they went to Pharaoh and raved about her beauty. Then they took Sarai into the palace and made her part of Pharaoh's harem. Because she pleased Pharaoh, Abram got along very well in Egypt and received royal treatment: he was given sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, camels, and male and female slaves. But Yahweh struck Pharaoh and his household with terrible diseases because he had taken Abram's wife, Sarai. So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, "How could you do this to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? And why did you lie to me by saying, 'She's my sister,' so that I took her as my wife? Now, here's your wife back; take her and begone!" Then Pharaoh gave strict orders to his men to escort them out of Egypt along with everything they had. (Genesis 12:10-20)

A famine, a hardship, strikes the land where Abraham lived, and his faith was tested. And the truth of the matter is this: when storms roll in, whatever is in us comes out. Because of this famine we see a seed of fear, worry, and anxiety come out of Abraham's heart that he may have not even known was there. He allows fear to take the seat of authority and he chooses to protect himself, over his own wife. An Egyptian Pharaoh ends up having more integrity in this story than Abraham.

Why is it so important to see Yahweh as pure light with no trace of darkness?

Pastor Tim gave us the answer to that question when he said, "We don't even realize that the majority of our choices are being made from anxiety, not the peace of the Kingdom. We make choices based on our fears, instead of His goodness. And it all boils down to, 'We don't trust you, Abba.'"

If we don't see Abba as 100% good, we will end up letting fear call all the shots in our life.

Listen to the words of John the Beloved:

Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love's perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love's perfection. (1 John 4:18)

And just a couple of verses earlier, John the Beloved declares that "God is love!" Abba continually exists, being love. And when Abba comes close to us, He's not carrying a rod of judgment, wrath, and retribution. Abba, who is love, desires to drive our fear of punishment far from our hearts. And it is only when we allow ourselves to get close to Him in the secret place, in intimacy, that we begin to see Him rightly, as pure light, having no trace of darkness at all. Perfect love casts out all of our fear, suspicion, and anxiety. Our walls of protection are leveled by His goodness. We stop living in the realm of darkness, the place of fear, and begin living in the pure light that surrounds Him. We lose our broken perspective and we begin to see as He sees. This is the place Abba wants us to call home: unbroken fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Any area where fear is still the loudest voice is an area where we are still suspicious of Abba's goodness. It may be hard to face, but fear is evidence that we are still not seeing Abba's love clearly. Or as John says it, "Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love's perfection." But Abba is committed to showing up every single day to convince us of the truth. He will not stop until we see as He sees.

As we take the walk with Abba today, get close to Him and bask in the pure light that surrounds Him. Intimacy with Him is the only thing that will open us up. Vulnerability and tenderness are direct results of getting close to Abba. The consuming fire of His love will melt the hard, calloused parts of our heart like fire melts ice. We just have to get close enough. Fear has been lying to you...Abba can be trusted. He is pure light, and you won't be able to find even a trace of darkness in Him.

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Worship:  "I Lose My Ability" by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser

Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place

Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!