The Perfecting Church

Fear is the most destructive force that we will ever encounter here in the earth. Fear caused Adam and Eve to distrust and disobey God. Fear gave way to anger which gave way to jealousy instigating the very first murder when Cain killed his own brother Abel. Fear brought on insecurity, inspiring Sarah to encourage her husband Abraham to sleep with their maid to fulfill God's promise of giving them a child. Fear, given the chance, destroys destinies, families, marriages and promises. Jesus faced fear in the garden of gethsemane. It tried to keep Him from giving His life to fulfill God's plan. But Jesus had a greater fear than any other fear He could face. He feared God and that got Him to the other side. His fear of God made every other fear shrink when compared to the awe, reverence, trust and loving worship He had towards the Mighty God. The fear of the Lord is -- The One Good Fear.

Fear can cause us to dishonor God by giving more respect to negative experiences, things and people than we give to Him. Fear by itself is not sin but it leads to sin when we allow it to dictate to us more than our relationship with God. Fear of things and people will shape us if we allow them too, by setting limitations and placing boundaries on our lives that God never set. But as we catch glimpses of God, truly seeing who He is, we turn from all others to Him. Our fear (love, awe and reverance) of Him drives out all other fears. Uncommon Love pushes out all fear!

It's not enough to simply be in a relationship with God. We must choose to walk in His love. When faced with adversity, temptation, and inexplicable hardship, the answer is trusting in His love and plan for our lives. Fear's desire is to turn us away from depending on Him. It wants to conform us into its image. We must know and trust He's in control even when what we see and feel tries to tell us He's not. Uncommon love overcomes fear!

The two most frequent commands in the gospels are: 1) to love God and our neighbor and 2) to not be afraid. The commands relating to not being afraid are mentioned 3 x more frequently than those commanding us to love God and our neighbor. God knows if we don't overcome fear we'll never receive or give real love with any consistency or intensity. Fear is life's only real opponent. Among all of the enemies known to man only fear can defeat the life we were pre-destined to live. A person surrendered to fear takes Jesus, the giver of life out of the equation willingly turning themselves over to the tormentor. A life full of fear becomes it's own self-fulfilling prophesy. Fear takes the intellect, imagination, will and emotion that was given to bring about God's will and gives it to satan allowing him to destroy what God had in mind. Fear must be faced and it must be overcome. Only Love can overcome fear.

When fear is in control it prevents us from Taking Our Place in His Love Story. It makes living His abundant life an absolute impossibility. Fear robs us of our present peace by threatening us with a hopeless future. Fear destroys people. It pulls apart families. It makes God given dreams jokes. It forces us into submission making us accept life on its terms. Fear is a selfish and relentless master. It wants to grab our minds and hearts so we can't focus on anything else. Certainly we have good reason to fear in this demon-infested tragedy filled world. So what are we to do? We are to follow love – God is Love. Love is the only remedy for the relentless attacks of fear. Only a complete surrender to Love can get us take our eyes off of ourselves long enough to see our real enemy. Perfect Love or dare I say Uncommon Love, casts out all fear!

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When we are born again we take residence in Christ and He takes residence in us beginning the greatest transformational journey we will ever experience. Our lives become much like those disciples getting into the ships and journeying to the other side. The storm appeared to be physical and external. But the biggest and most threatening storm was the internal one. What we experience is never the biggest determiner in reaching the other side but how we react to our experiences. Their fears, judgments, opinions and previous way of life raged as Jesus led them. Every scene in life is like this. We are always living out an internal conversation. That conversation is inspired by His love and our faith or it's inspired by satan’s fear and our judgments. We must choose which story we are going to be a part of. Today I want to invite you to take your place in His Love Story.

Uncommon Love - Pt. 4 "Rooted and Grounded in God's Love"

At the finale2012/launch2013 gathering we saw how God desires to take us beyond all boundaries to reach and love others on His behalf. He's the God who chose the cross not a side. But there's another facet of Uncommon Love. On the one hand there's following Christ beyond our fears, judgments and previous boundaries -- living His life by loving without conditions. But on the other hand there's the supernatural, miraculous ministry of Christ. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit using us as His body to accomplish Jesus' miraculous works. This is the side of Uncommon Love where greater works are accomplished through us as He wills.

At the finale2012/launch2013 gathering we learned how God desires to take us beyond all boundaries to reach and love others on His behalf. He's the One who chose the cross not a side. But there are two facets of Uncommon Love and going to the other side. On the one hand there is following Christ beyond our fears, judgments and previous boundaries -- living His life by loving without condition. But on the other hand there is the supernatural, miraculous ministry of Christ. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit using us as His body to accomplish His miraculous works. This is the side of Uncommon Love where His greater works are accomplished through us as He wills.

God did not choose sides. He chose the cross. When He looks He sees the entire human race with exactly the same problem -- sin. Not one of us can claim we overcame that problem on our own. It was Jesus who came from the other side to rescue us all. He didn't come to accuse us. He didn't come to condemn us. He came to become one of us and give us what we needed the most and deserved the least -- Uncommon Love!

We’ve looked for people, places and things to give us the love, joy and peace that only God can. We've been hurt and disappointed and we have hurt and disappointed others looking for love, joy and peace in all the wrong places. We've even misunderstood our relationship with God thinking His primary purpose in our lives was to help us get the things we want so we can finally experience some love, joy and peace. But the reality is God is not here to help us get something or someone He is that something and someone we've all so desperately longed for.

We’ve looked for people, places and things to give us the love, joy and peace that only God can. We've been hurt and disappointed and we have hurt and disappointed others looking for love, joy and peace in all the wrong places. We've even misunderstood our relationship with God thinking His primary purpose in our lives was to help us get the things we want so we can finally experience some love, joy and peace. But the reality is God is not here to help us get something or someone He is that something and someone we've all so desperately longed for.

There is no one in all of creation that is as compatible with you as God the Holy Spirit. No relationship you've ever had or can ever have with anyone else has the ability to give you the love, joy and peace that He can. Your relationship with Him produces the highest quality of life that you can possibly experience. You were created by Him for Him. He knows and has the blueprint to your life, the one you were designed for and long to live. He has the ability to restore your soul bringing you back from every hurt and destructive disappointment you've experienced prior to and outside of Him. He's here to give you life and then teach you how to live it.

God demands righteousness from us but then He turns around and gives it to us in Christ. He's so focused on and confident in our relationship with Him right now that He declares the end right from the beginning; anyone who steps out of the lineage of Adam and is born again into Christ is righteous. As sure as we were born in the flesh after Adam's likeness as sinful male and sinful female we are born into Christ and His likeness -- righteous. The moment we are born again the Holy Spirit comes and takes residence in us giving us the ability not only to know God's will but to carry it out. He causes us to desire and then give us the ability to do exactly what pleases God.