Are we living in a house of fear or the house of love?

"Put bluntly, the American church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we believe...but our lives refute our faith...Too many Christians are living in the house of fear and not in the house of love."

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel 

Jesus, please rescue us from the house of fear and take us into your house of love. Please set our hearts, our souls, and our minds free from the paralyzing weight of fear and the suffocating grip of guilt. Please fill us with a fresh wave of understanding of your love that knows no bounds and has no end, so that it floods through our entire being, reaching to the deepest, darkest, and most wounded places of our soul.

Thank you for loving us when it seemed like no one else did. Thank you for being there even when we turned away from you time and time again. Thank you for never giving up on us and always believing in us even when we had given up on ourselves. Jesus, thank you for accepting us just the way we are--free of judgment, free of expectation. Thank you for loving us not for anything we've done or not done, not for who we are or who we might become, but for loving us just because...right here, right now.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear."

1John 4:18 (NKJV)

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

1John 3:1 (NIV)