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Post by Jasmine on Jan 30, 2006 15:32:41 GMT -5
I'm not the normal topic starter but this scripture was given to me, as I touched and agree with another individual over one situation, she gave me a scripture.
1 Jo 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Now just alittle history about me. I had been in a place where fear had gripped my heart so strong that, doing anything would almost cause an anxiety attack. I have long come out from under fear's grips. However I do realize that in some areas of my life i am not as productive as I should be, and I hold back. If someone was to ask me, why would I be afraid, I wouldn't have answer because I personally dont know. I am not afraid to bring a message, Im not afraid to witness to a person, Im not afraid to embrace people, but certain things every now and then, causes a fear to rise up.
I remember maybe 4 years ago reading Joyce's Meyers book called "Do it afraid! This was the first time that even in the midst of the racing heart beat, choked up throat, sweaty palms, and etcs..that I actually begin to disregard people, the nervousness, and just do what God had instructed to do.
Through this scripture it would appear that fear itself is not the problem, but Love. Now, I really wouldn't say that i have issues with love, because i am known for going out of my way, over and beyond to help individuals in need. I believe that I create a loving and nurturing atmosphere, that anybody can approach me and talk to me about anything. Now on the flipside, because i am the way i am, people somehow gather the idea that its ok to misuse my kindness. I don't have the mindset that everyone is out to get me, but I do know that I have enemies. I know that it is a struggle for me to pretend to love people, who willfully try hurt me, or my family, and individuals as such I will place before the Lord as welll as my feelings toward.
I dont know if I have a question, but I may just be looking for your thoughts regarding this scripture, and how it applies to me.
Thanks,
Jasmine
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Post by krazeeboi on Jan 31, 2006 1:23:56 GMT -5
I'm going to have to study this one...
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Post by elderbeck nsi on Feb 6, 2006 12:15:51 GMT -5
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; {15} And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
Sister Jazz... Use this scrpture to further understand what that passage was talking about...
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Post by keita on Feb 10, 2006 20:59:04 GMT -5
I'm learning that fear can wear a lot of different faces. It doesn't always or only look or feel like sweaty palms, knocking knees, and heart palpitations...
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Post by jasmine nsi on Feb 11, 2006 1:27:32 GMT -5
I agree keita.
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Post by nina on Feb 11, 2006 7:21:06 GMT -5
These are just a few thoughts, coming from my own experience(s). I believe that it is OK to ask questions and to trust that God's Holy Spirit will guide us to the right answer, in due time.
One of the things I found is that there is a difference between fear and anxiety.
Fear, if we look at it as in "being afraid of..." has a known cause. So, in that sense, it's identified. We can - I'm not saying it's easy - face it and be victorious over it.
Anxiety is different. It's that "feeling" which comes over us, it seems out of nowhere. We don't know consciously what triggers it, however it is very real and can be overpowering. Because it impairs, so to to speak, our ability to think rationally and analyse it, often the only thing we know is that we don't want it to happen again. And so, then, we "fear" anxiety itself....
There is a cause to anxiety, but it can trigger such confusion that the last thing we can do is identify it.
A scripture that we all know is we did not receive a spirit of fear, but of love, of power and of a sound mind.
Again, from my own experience, it seems to me that the first thing anxiety does is make us feel like we are not in a "sound mind" because we cannot rationolise it. Then, we have to rely on the spirit of love and power to regain our ground in the "sound mind" part, because it is part of the whole of the spirit that we have received.
Also, I have come to realise that being a "perfectionist" can and will often cause that fear or anxiety feeling. Why do we become perfectionist?
I think it can come from two extremes: either we were told that we could not achieve anything, or we were always thought of as being able to do anything and everything and succeed.
In the first case, very often, people at some point in their lives set out to prove that indeed they can over achieve and be productive and overdo it.
In the second, they keep doing what they are expected to do at the highest level and very often, in the process, become burnt out.
However, by the time all that takes place in one's life, the individual him/herself is the only one keeping that terrible pressure on his/herself, nobody else.
They constantly move the bar higher for themselves, and often also for the people around them.
In other words, they basically never allow themselves to take a break in anything.
I think that it can translate in our daily spiritual walk also, and it's a real challenge because then, we have to let go and let Him make us what He wants us to be...
Sometimes, and again this is my experience, the good old "What if?" can rise up again. But He is the one transforming us from glory to glory, and teaching us to be content in and at every stage of the transformation. And in that sense, His perfect and eternal love does cast out all fears... Over and over and over again
Finally, from what I have seen, you always have a song in your heart and are always ready to sing it. I believe that as long as you keep singing His song, fear can't and won't prevail. Just like praise keeps bursting out from your heart, love will keep springing into life in and around you.
I thought that these were interesting, maybe triggering more questions and also bringing some answers:
"We're to serve God out of love and fear
"Loving" and "fearing" God comes to an intense relationship to Him that’s expressed either by an ardent yearning for Him, or a stunned dread of Him.
But it turns out that there are two sorts of love, and two sorts of fear. A "lower" and a "higher", depending on the intensity involved.
The "lower" sort of love of God would entail wanting to make Him "proud" of you much the way you'd like your parents to be proud of you. And going the proverbial "extra mile" for Him.
The person expressing that sort of love, "would act as a loving son would to his father and would do more than his father would ask for." He'd even do things "his father only unobtrusively hinted at" rather than asked for straight out. And "he'd deduce that such-and-such-- something beyond what he was told-- would make his father happy", and he’d set out to do just that
One who loves God this way would go beyond the common expectations, and would want nothing better than to please Him. This sort of love of God is rooted in respect and admiration.
The "higher" sort of love for God is depicted in more romantic, quickened terms.
One enjoying it would "literally desire and long for closeness to God" and "pursue" Him much the way "one would pursue anything" or anyone "he longed for". It's said that "even the mere mentioning of His name, enunciating of His praises, and being occupied in His Word and Godliness would become a treat and a delight“ to such a person
The "lower" sort of fear of God is marked by the fear of going against His wishes because of the possible reprisals.
It's very easy to come by this sort of fear since "everybody has an instinct for self-preservation" and because, after all, "there’s nothing more likely to keep you away from doing something harmful to yourself than the fear of injurious consequences".
Nonetheless, this sort of fear doesn't befit intelligent and inquisitive spiritual seekers, we’re told. Since it’s rather primitive.
The second, "higher" sort of fear (or "awe") is referred to as "reverence for God's Grandeur".
It’s rooted in the realization of two truisms: "that God's Presence is found everywhere, and that He involves Himself in everything, great and small";
in the teeming appreciation of the fact that "nothing is hidden from God, either... great or small, scant or imposing"; and in the idea that "wherever you are, you stand in His Presence."
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Post by Jasmine on Feb 13, 2006 13:35:54 GMT -5
Nina,
I appreciate your post! I just want to say that Im not looking for anyone to give me some profound insite, because this is what i have God for, but I thank you for just taking the time to share your experience with me. I know for a fact that its not anxiety, and it was indeed fear. While your post to hit on some key things that have already been revealed this statement was a breath stopper:
If I had time to tell my story. You would truly understand how this statement took my breath away. Maybe the Lord will allow me to share later.
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Post by keita nsi on Feb 13, 2006 14:01:58 GMT -5
Amen Jas! That's a good example of what I meant when I posted: I'm learning that fear can wear a lot of different faces. It doesn't always or only look or feel like sweaty palms, knocking knees, and heart palpitations... Sometimes fear looks like perfectionism, sexism, misogyny, denominationalism, pride, sarcasm, drug addiction, promiscuity, depression......... |
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Post by Jasmine on Feb 13, 2006 15:48:02 GMT -5
Indeed Keita!
Can I share one more thing that God showed me. I work for a property management company and I have went through the manager's courses, passed by certification exam, and now they are ready to give me my own properties to manage. I knew this day would come, but the closer it gets, (that day is here, today) I could feel "fear" rising. I could see the questions, what if Im not a good manager, what if they dont want me managing their property because im black, what if, what if.
But Thanks be unto GOD, for in that moment, sent my manager to me and she said. Don't be afraid, You are going to be a great manager, and Im here to assist you with any questions, problems that may arise. I will help you until your comfortable in taking them over yourself.
Also, at the same time, I was dissapointed at myself, because it appeared that I needed someone else's validation remarks, instead of knowing that I can do this job, with out doubt.
And it all goes back to "my" story. Yes, when i was a child, i was told that i was sorry, and i wasn't gone be nothing, I was called just about every name in the book. BUT GOD!
So i sing because im always reminded about God's love for me. God has give me a song for every burden, every emtion, and every situation. he'll put that song in my spirit and I'll run with it!
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Post by Beck on Feb 13, 2006 16:06:15 GMT -5
Sister Jazz, you would be amazed at the number of people that go through what you have just explained silently and ultimately never being fullfilled in life because the things of the past has become way to familiar to them, and to accept something that goes against familiar ground challanges everything that the fear is built on. Sometimes we dont want that ground troubled because of the "what ifs" (we always need something to fall back on just in case what seems like a better situation turns out to fail). Basically our past becomes a stronghold... the words( you will never be, you're just like your..., No one will ever love you...) But as you said.. GOD!! He has given us a something better which is established upon better promises... It losses us from the strong hold of I can't and allows us to walk in the liberty of "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!
Thank you for sharing just that short portion of your "story" it has trully encouraged me
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Post by keita on Feb 13, 2006 22:08:34 GMT -5
Go 'head on Sista Jas!!! ;D
Doin' it all in "perfect LOVE" bka...GOD!
Praise God and Congratulations to you!
"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson
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Post by krazeeboi on Feb 13, 2006 23:06:40 GMT -5
Kieta, that quote is so POWERFUL.
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Post by keita nsi on Feb 14, 2006 4:25:06 GMT -5
I think so too, kb!  So i sing because im always reminded about God's love for me. God has give me a song for every burden, every emtion, and every situation. he'll put that song in my spirit and I'll run with it! Amen! That's a powerful weapon! What a gift to you and blessing for the Body! To me, your words express exactly what much of the book of Psalms really is about. "O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth..."
"O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things..."I think there are also some powerful and timeless "David encouraged himself" songs recorded in there too. Like this one The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumbled and fell.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to enquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion:
in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;
he shall set me up upon a rock.
And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:
therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD! |
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Post by nina on Feb 14, 2006 5:32:00 GMT -5
Praise His holy name! Our God is an awesome God! I read this this morning: "Only through having our own role models and recognizing who we ourselves can be will we be impelled and inspired to follow the path of the lions before us. " The Lion of Judah, Judah always going out first, Praise always going first... Me gone |
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Post by Jasmine on Feb 14, 2006 12:37:39 GMT -5
Amen keita! Amen Nina! That statement was POWERFUL, i have printed it out and plastered it on my bulletin board..lolol I wanted to say that today must be a Lion of Judah day, because I was sho'l hailing Jesus earlier after reading an email  |
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