Fear Means " I Have To Do"; Faith Declares, "It is Done for You"

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)

John explains clearly: If we fear, it is because we are convinced that we must still do something.

John spells out the root of fear, which is torment, or punishment. If people still fear, the root of this disturbance lies in the lie that the person may do something wrong, and that for this possible wrongdoing, we will be punished.

Yet love fulfills the law:

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. " (Romans 13: 10)

Love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and by walking in the Spirit, we do not have to worry about living out of the flesh to sin, nor are we under law (Galatians 5: 16-18)

In fact, Jesus Christ's death has not only freed us from the penalty of all sin (Colossians 2: 13), but by His death He has fulfilled the Law and ended the condemnation which works against us through the law (Colossians 2: 15; 1 John 1: 7)
Fear in a believer implies the wrong belief that we lack something which we must then retrieve on our own. In Christ, everything is yours (1 Corinthians 3: 21-23). He has also promised never to leave us nor forsake us, provide for us (Hebrews 13: 5-6)

While fear punishes a person with a condemning sense of "I have to", faith looks to what Jesus does for us. When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant just be speaking the word, He marvelled at the centurion's great faith:

"And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." (Matthew 8: 13)

The Centurion's knowledge of the Lord recognized that He commanded supreme authority, that He could heal from a distance.

Faith in Jesus Christ allows us to see and believe:

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11: 23-24)

In fact, by we are saved by receiving God's grace through faith:

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

"Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 4-9)

We receive the supreme gift, God's grace, which not only cleanses us from all sin, but gives us His life, and through His death and resurrection we receive all other needs (Romans 8: 31-32; Ephesians 4: 8)

Because God's love is perfect, or rather perfected, completed, we do not need to do anything but receive His love and grace through faith, and whatever we need from Him, it will be done for us.