Fear has whispered a story to you that maybe you have believed. When you believe things never work out for you, when you believe this too will all fall apart, when you believe you will never be good enough, you have no other option but to operate from that belief.

You present yourself to the world as a person operating from their beliefs. If you walk into a job interview believing you would never be good enough for the job, that’s what they will see … a person not good enough for the job. It’s not their fault, it’s what you showed them. If you look in the mirror believing you can never change, your mind defeats the miraculous potential of your body before it even has a chance. Power is sacrificed, strength is surrendered, and change is forfeited, all because of the story fear whispered to you, and you believed it to be your truth.

What story has fear whispered to you? What scenario of your future has it painted in it’s colors of dark gray and matte black? What light has it drown out? What possibilities has it darkened and tucked away in corners? Will you allow this to continue? Will you, the priceless, precious, chosen, set apart, fully equipped, dearly loved, fully forgiven, redeemed, destined, purpose filled daughter of the Almighty … will you allow this treacherous thievery of your truth to continue?

1 John 4:18 tells us “perfect love casts out fear.” That perfect love is only Jesus Christ. Fear will whisper it’s ridiculous stories, fear will render you incapable, fear will pick you apart piece by piece, fear will turn every blessing into a burden, fear will paint every possibility as a threat, and that fear can only be cast out by the perfect love of Jesus.

Whatever the stories of fear are in your life, your answer is Jesus.

Fear tells me I’m a fraud, an imposter, a fake facade that will fall one day to nothing but shame and embarrassment. Fear tells me my beautiful young daughter will never return to the love of her family. Fear tells me all that is good right now is withering away to a scary future of loss, grief and hardship. Fear tells me I can’t keep going. Fear tells me I will fail again, and this time that failure will be fatal. I know it’s stories well. I’ve rehearsed them in my mind, they’ve filled my dreams as I sleep, I’ve seen them all play out.

How about you? What are the stories of fear whispered to you? Have some of those stories turned into realities even because you have operated from that place of fear for years?

Oh, but there’s a song called “Fear Is a Liar” by Zach Williams that says it so well:

Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear, he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
Cause fear, he is a liar

Ahhhhh, why cast your fear in the fire? Because the fiery pits of hell is where it came from in the first place. Send that fear back to its Daddy. Perfect love removes that fear, and you are the direct, intentional and personal recipient of that perfect love through Jesus.

When that fear comes creeping in again, the fear that speaks so intimately about your wounds and dark spots, you remember this truth … the truth of Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Who can stand against God? Who can defeat his power? Who can stop his will? Who can possibly hold back his movement when he has decided to move? NO ONE and NO THING.

But, what if God isn’t for you? I know that’s what you’re questioning. You’re looking back at your past failures, offenses and shortcomings, and you’re reasonably thinking maybe God isn’t for you at this point. I know you’re questioning it, because we all do. What is the qualifying factor for God being FOR us? Are you thinking you missed that cut off? Thinking you’re too far gone? Too screwed up for God to still be on your side?

It’s easy to take a single sentence out of an entire chapter, then shoot holes in it. If God is for us, who can be against us? Well, how do I know God is for me? I’m glad you asked!

Go back to the beginning of the chapter. Read all of Romans 8. There you will find there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You have been set free and no longer guilty. Because of Jesus, you no longer have to live according to the flesh, you can be guided by the Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells within you and whispers truths to you. The Spirit directs your eyes to see things you were overlooking before. He prompts your thoughts, he gives you gut feelings, and he directs your steps to be in the right place at the right time and stumble right into his greatest plans for you. His Spirit changes your desires to be in alignment with his desires.

And here we go, the grand finale, Romans 8:15 “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again…”

Jesus has cast out that fear. When fear comes knocking on your door, invading your thoughts and whispering it’s lies, STOP BELIEVING IT. Stop entertaining it. Stop giving it space in your life. Stop posting about it. Stop talking about it. Stop playing out its scenarios in your head. Cast it into the fire and send it back to it’s original author!

Let fear be a boomerang that always returns to the one who threw it in the first place. Don’t catch it and hold on to it. Back to the fire it goes. This fear is not my story to carry.

These bad endings you imagine have GOT TO GO! Just because you can’t see how this all plays out doesn’t mean you have to fear it. You can’t see what God is doing, but you don’t have to see it to benefit from it. You don’t see how my voice is coming out of your phone or your computer or your car stereo at this moment, but you’re receiving it. You’re not questioning that’s it’s really me talking to you right now, you just believe that it’s me, this is my real voice and my real words. Well in the same way, God’s real love, his real power, his real hand is at work in your life right now, all around you. You don’t see it, but you can receive it.

Fear has been telling you of a future that doesn’t even exist. A future that God has never planned for you. A future that only happens if you allow fear to invade your heart and mind, then operate from that fear. That fear is distracting you from your purpose. It is draining you of the very thing God is trying to fill you with.

AND IT’S TIME FOR THAT FEAR TO GO.

There’s not room here for both fear and Jesus. The perfect love of Jesus wins, and fear has got to go!

God is for you. Not because of anything great you have ever done, not because of anything great he ever expects you to do. He is for you because you have accepted the sacrifice of his son Jesus. Plain and simple, done deal. That’s it. And this perfect love of Jesus takes the stories fear has whispered to you, and casts them in the fire where they came from!