How Do You Fulfill Your Dreams When You Are Afraid? Part 2
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In the post, “How Do You Fulfill Your Dreams When You Are Afraid?” we talked about how our excuses are fear. And, that fear is stopping us from fulfilling our dreams.
We learned that perfect, or mature, love “casts out” or removes the fear. But, how do we mature in this love? If you missed the blog post, click here to read it.
To mature in God’s love, we need to understand the truth about that love.
If we don’t understand the depth of our Father’s love, we won’t understand our identity–who we are and who we’re called to be. We also won’t ever be able to fulfill the dreams God put in our hearts.
Love is defined in different ways to different people. For most of us, love has been defined by our past or current experiences.
When we look at how human’s love, there is a wide range. We see beautiful, faithful love. We see tender or selfless love. We also see “love” that is manipulative or domineering. We see conditional love. And, we see everything in-between.
Love that requires conditions to be met before it’s bestowed is not love at all.
“I will love you as long as you do or don’t do __________.”
“If you really loved me you would do __________.”
If someone requires you to do something for them or they won’t love you, that’s not love. If someone manipulates you do what they want, that’s not love either.
Our best example of love is the love between the Heavenly Father and the Son, Jesus.
John 3:35 NASB
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
Matthew 3:17 NASB
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Beloved is the verbal adjective derived from Agape, a divine love. So, Beloved can be read “divinely-loved-ones."
There is also a contrasting emphasis on beloved. This means not just a little bit divinely-loved-one but REALLY, REALLY DIVINELY-LOVED-ONE.
The beautiful thing about seeing the Father’s love for Jesus in this scripture is that Jesus had done nothing in ministry at this point. He hadn’t preached a sermon. He hadn’t healed a single person. He didn’t even feed 5,000 or call the disciples.
Yet, the Father’s love was solely based on who Jesus was and not on what He did or didn’t do. The Father was proud of Jesus that He had realized His true identity.
It’s the same for us.
The Father loves us because of who and whose we are, not because of what we do.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Jesus wants us to understand how much the Father loves us.
John 17:26 NASB
and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
We are in Christ. We are beloved children of our Abba Father.
Don’t miss this–the Father loves us even if we don’t love Him back.
Romans 5:8 NIV
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Our love for the Father flows out of His love for us.
1 John 4:19 NIV
We love because he first loved us.
How do we receive this incredible Divine love?
John 15:9 NASB
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
We receive our Father’s love by Abiding.
When we abide in the Father’s love for us, when we spend time with Jesus, we begin to understand how much we’re loved, how deep this love goes. We then learn to receive or embrace His unconditional love for us–this is Grace.
Right now, take a moment to still your mind and visualize the love the Father and the Son have for you.
I love to imagine myself sitting in the Father’s lap and Him enveloping me in his embrace.
Abide means to remain. So, take time to sit with Him each day. Meditate on this unconditional love He has for you.
Photo by Aung Soe Min on Unsplash
You can also take time to abide in the Word of God.
Read it through the lens of the Father’s love for you. Remind yourself as you read of His unconditional love.
Let go of the need “to do” or the illusion of perfection and just receive.
As you do this, you are maturing in God’s love. And, remember, fear is cast out when you mature in the love the Father has for you.
1 John 4:18 NASB
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
You, beloved, are His REALLY, REALLY DIVINELY-LOVED-ONE!!
Discussion
Do you ever struggle believing you’re unconditionally loved? What step will you take to start receiving our Heavenly Father’s love for you?
Resources
Books*:
The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews
The Seven Decisions: Understanding the Keys to Personal Success by Andy Andrews
(These Andy Andrews books are my all time favorite books for helping me finally start taking steps to the dreams God put in my heart)
Grace Revolution by Joseph Prince
(this book really helped me learn to rest in my Heavenly Father's arms instead of being overwhelmed with all the things I needed to do for Him)
Grace Revolution Companion Study Guide
(I enjoyed having this study guide while going through the above book. It asked me questions and helped me think through things I may not have on my own.)
Blog Posts:
How Do You Fulfill Your Dreams When You Are Afraid? Part 1 blog post by Heather Bunch
The Christian Woman’s Foolproof Way To Bear Fruit blog post by Heather Bunch
Does Pursuing My Own Dreams Make Me a Bad Christian? blog post by Heather Bunch
*Books are Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase a book, I will receive a small commission on the purchase from Amazon.