Tag Archives: Fear of God

YOUR NAME HERE

Posted on by Standard Reply
YOUR NAME HERE - WRITTEN IN SAND

YOUR NAME HERE – WRITTEN IN SAND

For the follower of Christ, every accomplishment, acknowledgement, and acclaim – every entanglement- in this world presents the risk of spiritual death.   Every time we want our self to count in this world, we have diminished the purposes of Christ.  When Scripture speaks of separation from the world, most believers think bars, nightclubs, casinos, brothels, etc. However,  the entire world system lies under the domain of Satan – politics, education, commerce, trade – all that is in the world opposes the divine authority of God, and is culminating into a powerful anti-Christ domain.  We cannot sanitize any aspect or minimize Scriptural declarations:

“…don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”   (James 4:4)

Our highest and only ideal in any area, work, school, community – must be aligned with the Lord’s call for us there.  The loftiest arenas such as medicine, politics, science or education have the greatest potential to overshadow the presence of Christ in our lives if we pursue high worldly standards and miss the mark for holiness and humility.   God’s authority does not acquiesce to the ‘good’ of this world but calls us to obedience and surrender.   Christian ministries are not immune to worldly influence and trappings – the ‘self appointed’ will count for nothing when presented on Christ’s altar.

Often and aptly said, with Christianity ‘everything up is down’.   While those in the world strive to make a name for themselves, we as believers gain the greatest treasure – intimacy with the Lord – when we live as strangers, aliens, and foreigners in this world.  “…you do not belong to this world, I have chosen you out of the world.”  said Jesus, John 15:19

Divested, treading lightly, grasping loosely…..

“Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.” (I Peter 1:17)

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” (I Peter 2:11)

“I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.”  Psalm 119:19

For Christians to petition unbelievers in Hollywood, government, or education to represent Biblical values is futile and, moreover, misses the mark of Christ’s demonstrated life.  Strangers, aliens, and foreigners typically do not make demands of host countries, nor do they have rights to do so, they are merely passing through.  Moreover, our power against the enemy does not come from ourselves employing worldly tactics, but are spiritual, through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  If we are commissioned by God we are backed by heaven. Too often though, we are quick to protest but slow to separate ourselves unto the Lord, to fast and pray.

Without the Holy Spirit, most miss the inevitable truth, “Your life is just a vapor…” written in sand in a windy world. 

YOUR NAME HERE - WRITTEN IN STONE

YOUR NAME HERE – WRITTEN IN STONE

“At every turn of your life, keep the end in view; remember that you will have to stand before a strict Judge who knows everything….”    Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ.

Except for careful planners, most of us will not actually see our ‘final destination’,  yet we could be scheduled to reach it tomorrow.   The most profound transition of our life is the moment of our death .  Rather than meditate upon it, even savor the moment we see Christ, we reject and dismiss such thoughts and go to great lengths to deny, delay and avoid the possibility of death.    Our predecessors did not live in such a way, they ‘loved not their lives in this world’…believing that “to die is gain”.  The Psalmist beckoned the Lord, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Numbering our days, meditating upon the great transition, is a deeply humbling influence to overshadow daily decisions, reactions, and priorities.

While harsh and devastating, death is often the quickening fire set to mature and separate  believers unto Christ.  It changes our focus from the temporal to the eternal – not just for our soul but for those eternal souls around us.  Contemplating eternity undergirds the great commission, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News…”  The reality of death should stir us with the passion and urgency of the Gospel.

YOUR NAME HERE - OMITTED OR WRITTEN FOREVER

YOUR NAME HERE – OMITTED OR       WRITTEN FOREVER

Sovereign, Almighty God has a divine and fearful Book of Life.  Such was supernaturally revealed to the hearts of God’s chosen throughout the ages; Moses referred to this Book of Life in his pleas for mercy, Daniel’s prophecies point to the preeminence of this Book,  the Apostle Paul speaks of this Book, and the aged Apostle John sees this majestic Book of Life in Revelation.  Man’s attempts to capture life, drama, and truth in books or literature are less than dust and ashes next to the book of all books, God’s Book of Life.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it….And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life… If anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”   (Revelation 20, excerpts)

One day soon the façade of this temporal world will fold and the majesty of God’s everlasting Kingdom will be established.  It has been said,

“The believer’s life on this earth is his only arena for change and fruitfulness…the nature of eternity is changeless.  Therefore, the time to become like Jesus, being conformed to His likeness, is during this earthly Christian experience of trial and faith”

“You and I will never be any closer to Christ, throughout eternity, than we are when He comes.  That’s the point of judgment”.

Paul exhorts us, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Why so, if the cross of Christ is sufficient for our atonement and eternity?  God declares judgment for the complacent.   Unlike unbelievers, lukewarm ‘Christians’ misrepresent the majesty and awesomeness of God, attempting to weave Him into the world and that He opposes. God is a “consuming fire”.   If we rightly discern and anticipate His coming judgment and Kingdom, we will have godly fear and trembling, and a deep grief for the lost that are without hope at His arrival.

“Oh Lord, help us to put our name – our reputation, our possessions, all that we are and have – into your Hand.  Launch our lives out as Your vessels in this world that Your Name might be glorified and honored above all.”

THE GREATEST FEAR OF ALL

Posted on by Standard Reply

…is not the one you run from.  It is the fear to enter into and embrace.  There is no stronger protection, no greater wisdom, no deeper treasure to be found outside of the fear of God.

                     “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life”                         

 “The fear of the Lord leads to life: then one rests content, untouched by trouble”

“The fear of the Lord adds length to life…”

 (Proverbs 14:27, 19:23, 10:27)

“He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”    

(Isaiah 33:6)

‘Fountain of life’, ‘the key to God’s treasures’…yet, why so seldom preached? 

Entering into a true fear of God begins to empty us from self sufficiency, self satisfaction, and self determination.  It is a place of relinquishment – all that we are, all that we have, may be required on God’s altar.  We are so willing to sing, “I am a friend of God!” but do we count the cost of this ‘friendship’?  Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command”. (John 15:14)

Abraham, friend of God, obtained this privileged and honored place after demonstrating his fear of God, obeying His command to sacrifice Isaac.  For our benefit, God declared, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”  (Gen 22:12)   God knew what was in Abraham’s heart, his willingness to sacrifice and obey, but through this chosen vessel, God reveals to us the desires of His heart.  If we fear God, we will obey, “…all nations on earth will be blessed, because you obeyed Me” and therein is great reward…costly great reward.

Nearly three quarters of Holy Scripture is the ‘Old Testament’, establishment of law, the outpouring of prophecies,  revelations of God and His ongoing outreach to man.  Page after page reveals the power, majesty and sovereignty of God, self described as ‘a consuming fire’ whom alone should be feared and whom alone owns the word awesome.    The grace and love of the New Testament, manifested in our Savior, was bestowed upon those who, for generations, lived knowing the fear of God.  The revelation of God’s love completed their deep cry for the awaited Messiah, one who would atone and rescue them from certain and otherwise inescapable judgment.   Knowing the fear of God prepared their hearts to receive the love of God.

Basking in God’s love alone is wading in shallow waters….it may seem safe, but never yields the flow of living waters availed to us from God.  Worse is man’s inclination to fashion God in his own likeness, tailor His ‘love’ by our emotional standards, and live in the false security of God’s easy friendship. When life grows dark, when hardship and tragedy strike, from these shallow waters come the accusations, “Why this if God loves me!”

The one who knows God fears God and takes His Word seriously.  “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word”.  (Isaiah 66:2)  Is there any greater honor than being esteemed by the Creator of the Universe?

Unlike the terrors of the world, our own deep anxieties and fear of man, the fear of God does not paralyze us but rather motivates us to serve Him, to do His will and offer ourselves as His vessels.  “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men”, said Paul in II Corinthians 5:11.  At great cost and sacrifice unto the Lord, the Apostle Paul faithfully served the Lord – a ministry that propelled the Gospel throughout the world.  When God is awed, magnified in our hearts, we are bowed low to the place of humility.  It is there where He exalts and raises us to worship and serve Him.  In friendship, the Lord shares His heart and grief for fallen man and engages us to represent Him to the world.

Spiritual greatness, wisdom, protection from temptation, even springs of life come forth from this right standing.  Motivation and inspiration to serve and sacrifice are grounded in this powerful place of acknowledgment.  Yet, while it is common to be plagued and tormented by worldly fears, can we generate a fear of God within us, the fear that delivers us from all others?

Fear of God comes from knowing God – we know Him through revelation from His living Word.  It is not a natural inclination, we are not predisposed to fear and obey God.  It must come from willfully seeking the presence of God, waiting upon Him to reveal the truth as we read and meditate upon scripture.  It must come from a willful decision to obey what He reveals toward us.  When the Lord calls us to a task or correction it may well be out of our capacity…often the desire to obey is beyond us.  Therein our relationship grows, matures, and yields fruit as God Himself enables a surrendered heart to obey and accomplish His will.

Satan is not the greatest enemy to our faith – our own complacency lulls us into spiritual death and uselessness.  The ‘complacent’ fail to fill their oil lamps, they bury their God given talents.  They are not ‘esteemed’ by God but risk their place in His Kingdom.  It is the fear of God that compels us to draw near to Him and there in His presence we rightly view our smallness, our sinfulness, and the brevity of our life.  Under His shadow, He who never sleeps will fan the flames, even the embers, of our faith for His glory.

woman praying

Lead me out of shallow waters Lord, and teach me to ‘serve you with fear and rejoice with trembling’.