The love of God and his presence are the same substance. The most potent substance in the universe. When we surrender, God causes this boundless love to be shed abroad in our hearts that we be flooded with His peace and light. In such an atmosphere, fear has nothing to breathe. It gasps, sputters, suffocates and expires.

This inbreathed wonder comes not because we understand or apprehend it with our minds, but by grace we receive it into our hearts. That substance - the heartbeat of the universe - is made ours by the impartation of the Holy Spirit. He is pleased, as it were, to wear us.

Some years back the sneaker company, Nike, pasted the words ‘NO FEAR,’ on T-shirts. Many people wore these shirts. At some level the words expressed their desire or projected their attitude. But those words had no more substance then each individual might attribute to them. They merely expressed and idea with which they identified. So, in some measure, the t-shirt was their statement of confidence.

But those who embrace the love of God are actually inhabited by a glory, power and presence so awesome that even the stench of fear is obliterated. Every notion of fear is dispelled, displaced and cast into the outer darkness. Fear itself trembles and runs screaming into the night.

Now you are left with . . . the Love that abides.