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Some people say that fear is an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” But that’s not necessarily so. The evidence you’re looking at may be very real. What isn’t real is your interpretation of the evidence. I can prove that to you from scripture.

If a child sees a jacket hanging on the closet door, they may think it’s a man standing there, so they are afraid of it. Is that evidence false? No, the evidence is real. They’re seeing something, but it’s their interpretation of the evidence that isn’t real. Therefore, what they fear is not real. It’s not that they don’t see that jacket. It’s there. But what they’re fearing isn’t real because they are interpreting the evidence wrong. They are believing a falsehood about that jacket which causes them to be afraid.

I’m not saying that you may not be going through something. You may see evidence right in front of you or feel it in your own body. What I’m saying is, you are misinterpreting the evidence. You are not seeing it in light of Jesus. Therefore, the evidence in front of you may be real, but you’re misinterpreting it, and that’s why you may be afraid. In truth, there is no fear, worry, or anxiety that you can ever have as a born-again believer, that has any basis.

Before we go any further, that should comfort you immediately — to know that no fear or worry has any basis for a believer. Before you even see the reality of your situation, it should relieve you to find out that your fear is not based in reality. God just wants to show you your reality in Christ, so that you don’t have to fear anymore.

Just like a parent would come into a child’s room and flip the lights on, to expose that what the child was fearing was never real, so we will show you today that none of your fears have any basis whatsoever. So, how about we flip those lights on? 

Psalms 34:4, 6 (NKJV) I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears… This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

This verse is referring to the provision of Jesus. It says that Jesus has delivered us from all our fears. That means that whatever it is that you could possibly fear or be worried about, Jesus has already delivered you from it. And if Jesus has truly delivered you from everything that you could possibly fear, then how could your fear be based in reality? If Jesus delivered you from everything you could possibly fear, that would mean that you’d have to believe a lie to feel any fear at all.

The word of God has said that Jesus delivered you from all your fears. So, if we fear, either God isn’t living in reality or we aren’t. If you think you have something to fear and God says Jesus delivered you from it, someone isn’t realizing the truth. And I don’t think it’s God. 

The shortest way for me to show you that Jesus delivered you from everything is to tell you that all your problems can be categorized as either sin or death (Romans 5:12), and when Jesus “died for sins,” He was actually delivering you from every problem you could ever fear (see our Exit Earth article for more).

Some examples are below (these are just examples. Jesus provision encompasses every single problem, without any exception).

Sin problems:
Broken relationships (lack of love)
Addictions
Wrong desires
Debate
Envy
Unforgiveness
Any lack of godly actions, thoughts, or emotions 

Death problems:
Lack or loss of finances/possessions (because it is lack of power – Deuteronomy 28:30-32, 30:15)
Injury
Pain
Sickness or disease
Aging 
Mental illness
Fatigue
Decease
Any lack of power or inability

There is scriptural proof for everything above, but suffice it to say, whether your problem was listed there or not, all your problems fit under sin and death and Jesus came to defeat sin and death.

Do you realize what this means? That means there’s nothing you go through that Jesus did not provide deliverance and a solution to. This pulls the carpet right out from underneath your fears. You’re not trapped, you’re not stuck, and your problems are not inevitable. Jesus provided protection, safety, and the cure to everything. He’s given you access to all this grace, so you can partake of as much as you want (Romans 5:2). 

If Jesus really delivered us from everything we could fear, the only possible way we could still fear is if we have some lack of knowledge of how well Jesus already delivered us. It is lack of knowledge of His deliverance that fosters fear. In fact, let me put it this way: You cannot fear something without lacking knowledge of what Jesus has done. It is the only cause of fear. The second you get a glimpse of how Christ already delivered you, that fear will dissipate faster than you can pronounce it. It is genuinely that easy, but you need to start learning it (or continue in it).

If you’ve been struggling for years to get rid of certain fears, it’s not because the fear is hard to get rid of. It’s because you’ve been trying to get rid of it the wrong way. It is knowledge of Jesus’ deliverance that will dissipate that fear completely. You do not have to live in that anxiety anymore. You can live completely free of it. It just takes a healthy dose of knowledge of your Deliverer. That’s exactly what 1 John explains to us here. 

This is important: Notice how John describes God’s love. He says that God’s love for us is manifested in how Jesus was sent to provide life and a payment for sin. (or you could say, righteousness).

1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV) 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… and sent His Son to be the propitiation [amends maker] for our sins.

First of all, remember how we said every problem can be categorized under sin and death? Well, no wonder God loved us by giving us life (which is the opposite of death) and righteousness (which is the opposite of sin). Here this very carefully: John is defining God’s love for you, in that He sent Jesus to defeat all the problems in the whole world (sin and death). 

Knowing this, let’s keep reading:

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love…

Pause for a moment… John says that there is “no fear in love.” What does he mean when he says “love”? It’s more than God’s affection. It’s how he demonstrated that affection. Verses 9 and 10 defined God’s love as Jesus fixing every problem. So, when he says that there is “no fear in love,” he’s actually saying, “There’s no fear in Jesus’ provision!” There’s no fear left, because God loved us and delivered us from everything we could ever fear! That’s what he’s really saying, if you define the word “love” correctly.

Let’s keep reading:

Verse 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.

This is vitally important. This says “perfect love” cast out fear. That’s not talking about God’s love being perfect. That’s talking about your understanding being made perfect in His love. When he says “perfect love” that’s talking about a maturity in your understanding of the love of God. It might be better said, “perfected love casts out fear.”That’s why he goes on to say that “he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” In other words, if you’re afraid, it’s your mind that has not been made perfect in the love of God. Your mind is not perfectly seeing what Jesus provided.

Knowing this, when he says, “perfect love cast out fear,” he’s not just saying that if God loves you, it will cast out fear. God loves everyone. God provided for everyone. And there’s a lot of people living in fear, even believers. Why? Because it’s not God’s love and provision that casts out fear. It’s our understanding being perfected in it that casts out fear! Fear will not leave because Jesus delivered you. Fear will leave when you realize it. And while you are still fearing, you have still not realized it. That’s a principle that applies universally to every person, in every situation.

But you may say, “How am I already delivered from this thing? I see it in my life. I feel it in my body.” You’ve been delivered from that because Jesus already took that problem on Himself, at the cross. He felt your problem. He made it His own. You’re already delivered on God’s end, but it takes us learning these things for us to experience them in our life. God is waiting for you to understand what He did, so that you can start living in it. With some learning, that problem would disappear out of your life, and you’d see protection from it in the future as well. That’s what it’s like to be delivered.

Why should that sound too good to be true? We say we have an Almighty God. We say He loves us so much. We say that he accomplished a finished work, through Jesus, at the cross. But what’s the use in having all of that if we’re only going to expect natural results for our life. You could’ve done that without Jesus! God really has defeated all your fears. You can truly start experiencing that victory in your life. 

If you’re afraid, you’re not afraid because of the evidence you see. You’re afraid because you’re misinterpreting it, not seeing it in light of Jesus’ victory. You’re not seeing that physical evidence in light of what Jesus has done for it. 

If you sensed pain, but saw it in light of Jesus, you’d be confident that it’s finished and on its way out, instead of fearing it. 

If you saw aging in light of Jesus, you would laugh at it, knowing it’s defeated, with an excitement for all God is working in your body!

If you saw a family member suffering, but saw it in light of Jesus, you wouldn’t approve of it, but you’d realize that the provision of Jesus is so great, their problem is not worthy to be compared to it. 

If you saw financial lack in light of Jesus, you would rise up in confidence of the power of God, rather than shrinking back, knowing this is not staying the same. You’ve already been provided for. It’s too late!

Fill in the blank. If you saw it in light of Jesus, you wouldn’t be afraid. He’s delivered you from it and you can see that reflected in your life.

You’re not afraid because of the evidence you see. You’re not afraid because of the circumstance you’re going through. You’re afraid because you’re not seeing straight. There’s something you don’t know about Jesus, and you need to find that out. But before you even find out, it’s pretty amazing to know this fear has no basis in reality. We just need to know why.

You may be seeing that jacket hanging in the closet. You may think it’s some formidable foe. But when your Heavenly Dad comes in the room and turns the light of Jesus on, it turns out it’s just a jacket. It’s not the big deal you thought it was.

You know what’s a big deal? The cross is. Until you can look at your problem and know in your heart and confess with your mouth that, “This is not a big deal,” then you haven’t seen it in light of Jesus yet. It only looks like a big deal when you look at it in the darkness. The solution? Flip the lights on. 

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