In 1 John 4:18, John wrote “Perfect love casts out fear.” The truth is we fear many things. We could put these in two categories: Things we talk about and Things we do not talk about with just anyone. Let’s take this a little further.

Group #1: Things we talk about (several examples)

• Mice
• Snakes
• Escalators
• Elevators
• Spiders
• Heights
• Being found out
• Guns
• Evil people
• What might be

Group #2: Things we do not talk about

We really need not elaborate much here because these are things we do not talk about. These might include the fear of dying, the fear of having a serious disease, etc. The only time we might talk about things in this group is when we are with a very close friend, a counselor, or a doctor in professional setting.

But Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power love, and a sound mind.” So, these fears are coming from someplace or someone other than God. Couple 2 Timothy 1:7 with 1 John 4:18 and we have a powerful combination.