Perfect Love includes Loving Myself 2/29/2012

This is the 3^rd time I’ve written to you since the last post.  The first I was working on and got writer’s block.  I was stuck…gave it up at bedtime…and proceeded to write again last night (Feb. 28, 2012).  It disappeared when I copied  and took to paste…only part saved.  I was feeling discouraged, so I closed down the computer…and here I am again, today.

The message for today is here and I will write it to you! It may be a combination of the 3 times…or it may be brand new.  I trust the LORD to write through me exactly what we need to hear. 

I’m hearing , Perfect love casts out all fear.  


I googled to find the scripture, but I knew there was more…so I looked up in my Bible to read in context (very important).  The verse is  1 John 4: 18.  




⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ We love Him^[b] because He first loved us.²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can^[c] he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

 I went back and read from verse 1 of chapter 4, but I’m going to begin with verse 4, which we know well.

Wow! There is so much here, and, yet, it is one message LOVE! 

I mean, even the question, how can we say that we love God, who we’ve not seen and yet, we do not love our brother. 

Today, there are many problems between siblings in families, but this Word is teaching us much more than to love our blood brothers and/or sisters.  This scripture is speaking to the body of Christ!

Look at all the splits in churches!! Look at all the denominations! I never will forget the LORD tapping me on my shoulder and telling me I was a Pharisee. When I wailed at Him, saying that cannot be…that John the Baptist called them vipers…and they crucified Jesus…and the good Samaritan helped the man who had been beaten and robbed while the Pharisees passed over.

I remember when the LORD told me that I had an idol! What idol LORD? Haven’t I given them all to You? He said, “being right” was my idol.  It was an inherited stand…yes, the Word was right…and Jesus was right…all righteous…but I could not force it down the throat of others.  I need not have the last word. 

Funny, huh? And, the loving of my brother…when I have only sisters…lol! Well, the unlovely I’ve had the LORD to me send me just to test me.  I’ve had family members..in-laws…etc., in my face, cousins…shouting…even if by email, fb, or text..or in person…testing my Faith…definitely questioning my position on things…and trying to cause me to waver.

To love…to allow them to spew…and not take my protective stance…even protecting my God…my beliefs…myself…and praying God to bring them to the repentance that He so desires…not to apologize to me…but to submit to Him. My stand was positioning me between them and God and blocking their entrance.  I had to move…to eat crow sometimes…to move over and out of the way…to shut my mouth…and to ask the LORD to show me how He sees them.

Funny again…the LORD loves them…family, in-laws, Church members, other denominations, and even the world…just as much as He does me. He died the same for each of us! It’s not about me…but Him!

Now, the hardest to love was me! In order to love your neighbor as yourself, you must love yourself! For me, that was a challenge.  I saw myself unworthy…rejected..denounced…in so many ways.  My self-esteem was very low.  The LORD had to quicken His Word in me to let me know who I am in His sight.

Today, I know:

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

I believe He is who He says He is!

I believe that He will do what He says He will do!

I believe that I am who He says I am!

I believe that I’m whososever!

I believe that I am an overcomer because of the Blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony!

I confess my sins and He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness.

I abide in Him and His Word abides in me, that whatever I ask in His Name He will do for me.

I align my Word with His Word, and He gives me my petitions.

I delight myself in the LORD, and He gives me the desires of my Heart.

I believe I am His friend because I do what He commands me to do.

I believe that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I believe that the 2^nd is to love my neighbor as myself.

I believe that His Word is alive and active in me!

I believe that I lay hands on the sick and they recover!

I believe that no weapon formed against me will prosper and that every tongue raised against me in judgment I condemn…show to be in the wrong.

I believe that my children are a heritage of the LORD and the fruit of my womb is His reward!

I believe I wrestle not against flesh and bone but against the enemy!

I believe that I withstand in the evil day by taking up the armor of God!

I believe that I am armed and dangerous to the enemy…praying always with all prayer and supplication for all the saints!

I believe that my weapons are not carnal but are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments…imaginations...and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. I bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience, when my obedience is fulfilled.

I believe that the washing of water by the Word transforms my mind and that I have the mind of Christ.

I let…I practice daily…my mind dwell on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. I willfully and obediently capture and cast down all negative thoughts about myself and others…and I willfully and deliberately think only on what God tells me to thing on.

I am a soldier of Christ! I am a prayer warrior!

I am an intercessor…called to stand in the gap for myself, my family, my community, my church, my nation, and the world!

I fervently and effectually pray...at all times…and know that my prayers avail much!

I am the beloved of God!

I am created in the image of God!

I am redeemed of the LORD and I say so! 


I pray the solution…the Word…not the problem. The LORD knows the problem…and the enemy need not have me spell out the problem giving him power and authority to tread over me!