Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 14 June 2017 "Perfect Love Drives Out Fear" by Phil Pinckard - 1 John 4:7-21

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 14 June 2017 "Perfect Love Drives Out Fear" by Phil Pinckard - 1 John 4:7-21
1 John 4:⁷ Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. ⁸ Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. ⁹ Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. ¹⁰ Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins.¹¹ Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal in us. ¹³ Here is how we know that we remain united with him and he with us: he has given to us from his own Spirit. ¹⁴ Moreover, we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as Deliverer of the world. ¹⁵ If someone acknowledges that Yeshua is the Son of God, God remains united with him, and he with God. ¹⁶ Also we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them.
¹⁷ Here is how love has been brought to maturity with us: as the Messiah is, so are we in the world. This gives us confidence for the Day of Judgment. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. On the contrary, love that has achieved its goal gets rid of fear, because fear has to do with punishment; the person who keeps fearing has not been brought to maturity in regard to love.
¹⁹ We ourselves love now because he loved us first. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ Yes, this is the command we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother too.
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What does it mean to be made “perfect in love”? John Wesley notes “What is Christian perfection? The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, non-contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love.” [Works XI, 394]*
Our souls are designed for relationship with God. It is a relationship marked by integrity—of God, of ourselves, of our love. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching” is a maxim that should be true of all our relationships.
1 John 4 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Fear finds no room in a heart that is filled with love. * W. Stephen Gunter, The Quotable Mr. Wesley, Atlanta [1999-2003]: Candler School of Theology, p 31.
"Breathe on Me, Breath of God" by Edwin Hatch
1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do. 
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure. 
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine. 
4. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with thee the perfect life
of thine eternity.  Love does not gloat over other people’s sinsbut takes its delight in the truth.[1 Corinthians 13:6]
Please pray:
For the development of Christian leaders in the Congo Republic.
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