...And His I'll be

Did you know that perfect love casts out fear? Of course, this is hard for us to grasp as humans. We love imperfectly, and we are afraid a lot.

But lately, God has been speaking about how His love is perfect—and this perfection is more than just a state of being. His perfection is an act of completion, of fulfillment. When God perfects, it is a fulfilling kind of completing act, which, really, leaves no room for anything else other than the fullness and completeness of whatever He is perfecting in us. It’s like—He’s redeeming so FULLY that anything else but His will and presence must go.

So this is the kind of perfect love that He’s been speaking about. The kind that makes fear go.

At the 'When God Dreams' conference this weekend, we talked all about fear and courage and encouragement and discouragement… and how there is a war RAGING for a generation upon which God wants to re-release His anointing of “why-not?” dreaming and also His anointing of ENCOURAGEMENT. We talked about how fear and discouragement are two of Satan’s primary weapons and how he tries to frighten and disarm us out of our intimately-connected-to-God dreams!

As we were talking about all this, I just couldn’t get out of my head the fact that perfect love casts out fear. We talked about fear, and we talked about courage—we talked about discouragement and we talked about encouragement. We talked about a community of encouragement, and how very important it is for us all to be both cultivating and surrounding ourselves with such a community. We also talked about God’s presence… and how in God’s presence, encouragement reigns… and if God is calling us to dream things that are scary, to dream things that are BIG, to dream things that have never been done before, or…just that we have never done before… we WILL face fear… so we will need to learn how to have courage in the face of that fear... we will need to learn how to get in God’s presence, let Him speak, hear His voice, feel our fears leave… we will need to learn how to be God’s…

That is what I’m learning—through all this romancing and calling and encouraging that He has been doing in my life—I’m learning how to be His. And I’m convinced that in His perfect love, I am His more fully than any fear could ruin. Because if I let Him draw me into His perfect love, than I must also let Him drive out fear… I must allow Him to love me so fully and completely that there is no room for fear anymore. I must allow Him to cast out fear, so that His love may be made complete in me… and through me, His love may be made more complete in others. It is my desire to be encouraging to others in this way—to put COURAGE in others in this way—but He is speaking so clearly that I must first allow Him to put courage in me… By His presence, by His truth, by His voice, by His grace, and by His perfect perfect love… Mmhmm, I must allow Him to put courage in me by His perfect love…
And in EVERYTHING, I must remember that He will cast out my fear.

…then I can more fully be His.
…then I can more fully live.
And then I can more fully live His DREAMS…

Of course, if I’m going to enter into this kind of love with Him, it means that I have to let go of some things... some things that are surface probably, but mostly some things that are deeply, DEEPLY rooted in me (which, the surface things are usually just reflecting). I am going to have to let go of what God's love casts out. I am definitely going to have to let go of what God's PERFECT love casts out... that is, this fear—this fear of man, this fear of inadequacy, this fear of failure… This fear of not “having what it takes”… Because HE says I have what it takes. Because He has chosen me, because He has called me, I must assume that He thinks I have what it takes. And I am going to have to let go of these fears.

But what encourages me a lot is that I don't have to do it alone. HE, of course, is the "caster." HE, of course, is the completer. He started it, He finishes it. He calls me, He wants me. If I let go of what He's casting off of me and out of me, He will finally have me... and His I’ll finally be.


I wrote all of this because He's romancing me right now (like I said in my last blog). And I was thinking about how, though He is acting and calling and inviting and completing... what is my part? How do I respond? It's funny that even MY part has something to do with His part. Even what I do is inextricably dependent upon something He will be doing.

Kristene Mueller sings a line in "Jamie's Song" that won't leave me alone… which, makes sense, because GOD won't leave me alone either. He wants me to be His. He wants me to keep coming into perfect love with Him. And I desperately want that too.

I know it will take time. I know I am on a journey. I know it’ll be a process...yes, God’s acts seem to be such long-bearing processes sometimes... And who can say when God's processes end? But I do believe He'll keep sweeping my fear away, so I think I'll just keep letting it go and keep being His...

Here is “Jamie’s Song”…
You can probably figure out what line won’t leave me alone…

JAMIE’S SONG

She's a sparkle in her Father's eye
Kind of like the moon tonight
She's destined for divinity
Her portion is His purity
And a glance His way comes across her face

He sheds a tear, oh oh
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
Amazing love
Oh she's been found
A sparkle in her Father's crown

Holy Love come raining down
Come storming in, be jealous found
Come violent love
Come stormy seas
Sweep fear away and Yours shall be

And even if He had ninety-nine
That stayed at home and stayed in line
He would not be satisfied
He would still go out to find
The one who's always on His mind
And bring her back, arms opened wide

He sheds a tear, oh oh
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
Amazing love
Oh she's been found

Holy Love come raining down
Come storming in, be jealous found
Come violent love
Come stormy seas
Sweep fear away and Yours shall be...