New Bible

A friend of mine gave me a sweet gift certificate for my birthday for a Christian bookstore here in town. I finally visited this store, where I could have spent many more hours than I did, and settled on buying a new Bible!

It's called the New Spirit-Filled Life Bible for Women and while there are many things I love about it, one of them is the various thoughts and letters written by godly women, which are interspersed throughout the Bible itself. These letters are reflections on the particular passages next to which they are placed.

Today as I read 1 John, I read the letter (parts of which are excerpted below) by Lisa Bevere, a noted author and speaker, who has a son named Arden! :-) I am facing two challenging personal situations in my life right now and these words really struck my heart as they are reflections on 1 John 4:18 which says, "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."

Oh, don't we all long to be made perfect in love?!

Here are Lisa's thoughts in part:

"The love of God drives or casts out fear. This description confirms that fear is a spiritual force that must be dealt with spiritually. We are to cast out spirits and deny our flesh. Fear is conquered when we resist the base human tendency to preserve ourselves.

"The spirit of fear wants to prevent this from happening, so it tries to trick us into believing we must protect our selves. But the very nature of love opposes the nature of fear. Love lays down its life while fear tries to preserve it. I have learned that I am incapable of protecting myself. I have tried and failed. But love never fails.

"Fear and love both operate from belief in the unseen. Love challenges us to doubt what we see and believe what we cannot. Fear urges us to believe what is seen while doubting the unseen. Fear displaces love, and love casts out fear. Fear is the spiritual force that is in direct opposition to God's love and protection in our lives."

Good food for thought!