A fear of God

[Guest Called]

This is something that has been on my heart and I wanted to bring it up here. First, I have three questions:

Do you think that the church today has lost it's fear of God? What do think the fear of God is? How do we fear God?

The Bible says in Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

I want to show a few reasons why we should fear God.

His holiness creates fear in us:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:1-5

God's greatness:

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. Deuteronomy 10:12-17

We receive many blessings from God and this creates fear in us:

But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24

God's forgiveness creates fear for Him in us:

But with you there is forgiveness;

therefore you are feared. Psalm 130:4

God's deeds of wonders create fear for Him in us. (Josh. 24: 1- 24).

The coming judgment creates in us fear for Him:

He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." Revelation 14:7

It seems that the church for too long has been content to keep straddling the fence. Because we no longer fear God, we abuse His grace. We place the Almighty God of the universe in a little box to fit our lives. We have forgotten that He is the God who parted the sea for Moses, who walked on water, who calmed the storm, who destroyed Soddom and Gommorah, who created the world with just His words. He is the God that we will all answer to one day. God deserves our fear and our reverence.

I would like to hear others thoughts on this. Mods if I posted this in the wrong forum I am sorry.

[Jacqueline]

Fearing God? For a long time I would have answered that with a question of my own. How can I fear someone that I love? But for the past year what I throught and what is true seemed to have crashed head on leaving my beliefs in peices. The past year has been an eye opener for me. Do I now fear Him? Oh Yes... I do. Do I still love Him? Oh so much.

I love Him for so many different reason, to many to list here and yet in the same time I fear him for the same reasons that pulls my heart toward Him. I will say that one of the things that I fear the most is standing in front of God when I leave this world without Jesus standing right next to me.

This is going to sound weird, but I fear God, but I don't fear Jesus. I know that Their the same, Their One. Maybe it's because I feel as if I know Jesus? I don't know. It just leaves me to the understanding that I still have a lot to learn.

God Bless

Jacqueline

[Dad Ernie]

I praise God for you Jacquiline,

You are indeed showing your development in Christ. We can identify with Christ, because He became "one of us", yet without sin. He is also the one that intercedes on our behalf before the Father. I certainly do NOT want to be found alone, by myself, without Him next to me, when I meet the Holy God and Judge. Christ is my advocate with the Father, and Jesus is going to say to Him: "I took His punishment and He has eaten of my flesh and drank my blood, therefore, he is as pure as the winddriven snow. See his "white robe"?, I have put that on him and now he is one of us."

Boy I want that more than anything this life has to offer.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[jesussaves]

Very good subject.

As a matter of fact, just this morning I was sitting in the pew waiting for prayer meeting to begin and I turned to the book of Malachi to read for a moment. What I read kind of grabbed my attention.

Here is what I read.

Malachi 4:1-3

"For the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. BUT UNTO YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME SHALL THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISE WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS; AND YE SHALL GO FORTH, AND GROW UP AS CALVES OF THE STALL."

The fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of knowledge.

What happens when someone fears the name of the Lord? They realize He is God. They realize they are men of unclean lips like Isaiah did and fall on their faces asking Lord be merciful to me a sinner.

There is a verse in the song Amazing Grace that says it very well.

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears releaved. How precious did that grace appeared, the hour I first believed."

[Marilyn777]

Hi Called

What an awesome topic! It really makes you think doesn't it? Yes I do think we have lost the fear and reverence that God deserves and demands. And we as His church really do put Him in a box and take Him out on Sunday morning and then back in the box for the week.

But all you have to do is look around at what He created for us, the veins of a leave, the intricate detail of a feather, the complexity of our weather systems every little detail is so perfect how can you not stand in awe of this. We forget He is a jealous God who expects the very best from us even though we screw up constantly.

He is a forgiving God, we can fall on our knees before Him and He will cradle us in His arms and take away the pain. But at the same time He is a vengeful God who will take to task those who oppose Him, I would not want to be on the other end of His wrath and anger, would you? He is all things and putting limits on God not only diminishes His power but puts Him in a box.

We need the fear and reverence to make us aware that He is all powerful and if He wanted to could wipe out this planet with a simple breath. That is pretty mind blowing when you put it in perspective. We have got complacent in our worship, we take Him for granted that He will always be there to pray to when we are in a bad situation.

But He is with us 24/7 He celebrates with us in the good times as well as the bad, He is as personal as your best friend, and as mighty as the creator of the universe. WOW! To think that we can have a personal relationship with Him, that He is our Father should inspire fear as well as gratitude. Again really super topic you have made me do alot of thinking! Thanks!

Thank You God for Your Patience With Us

Marilyn

[jesussaves]

Amen

[Guest sinner2saint]

Do you think that the church today has lost it's fear of God?  What do think the fear of God is?  How do we fear God?

Interesting topic, Called

Yes, I do believe much of the Church has lost it's fear of God. Many churches today are filled with "worldly" Christians who have developed a lax attitude when it comes to sin. Yet it is because of sin that God will one day judge the world in righteousness. I am reminded of the Laodicean church in Revelation chapter 3.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (v. 15,16)

These words of Jesus were written to Christians who had obviously lost the fear of God.

What is the fear of God?

The fear of God is more than just a "reverent" fear, but it is a fear of punishment.

There are many people who would like to commit murder, rape, or rob a bank. They don't do these things, however, because they don't want to go to jail. The fear of being punished by the law keeps them from becoming criminals. So it is with the fear of God.

"....through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil." - (Proverbs 16:6)

Jesus spoke of the fear of the Lord in Luke 12:4,5 -

"....do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him."

Some would claim that it is unhealthy to fear anything, but that is not so. The fear of the Lord is both healthy and pure.

"The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever..." (Psalm 19:9)

The apostle Paul even said that he was terrified of God - "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...." (II Corinthians 5:11)

For the sake of balance, I would also like to say that God is a loving Father. A child wants to please his natural father because he loves him. We too should strive to live in a way that pleases God because he is our Father and we love him. When we fail, our Father is there to pick us up and help us when we ask him to.

How do we fear God? We can gain an understanding of who God is through reading and meditating on his Word. He is absolutely holy, righteous and just. He abhors evil and is angry at sin every day.

We can catch a glimse of the seriousness of sin and God's hatred of it by looking at the Cross. Jesus suffered and died a horrible death because of our sin. He became the object of God's wrath. This alone should cause us to fear God.

[Guest Called]

We can catch a glimse of the seriousness of sin and God's hatred of it by looking at the Cross. Jesus suffered and died a horrible death because of our sin. He became the object of God's wrath. This alone should cause us to fear God.

You are absolutely right. We cannot imagine the spiritual suffering Jesus went through on the cross and when He was forsaken by God.

[Guest kitkat]

I remember when I first got saved and gave my heart to the Lord, I had more of a child-like faith in God than I do now and I remember I used to be so careful not to do anything or say anything out of God's will at that time, because I did have a great fear of God and His chastisement upon my life for doing so.

I seem to have lost that child-like faith I used to have and I don't really know how or why I lost it, but in my opinion and experience, I think that having child-like faith has a lot to do with fearing God the way we're supposed to.

God bless,

Kat

:hug:

[angels4u]

Hi Called,

To answer your question, yes I believe the fear of the Lord is gone by many Christians, first of all can you say that alot of religions who order the Lord to do things, like prosperity teaching and stuff have a Holy fear for the Lord? I don't think so.

And even so I believe we also have to realize that every time WE do things which do not bring glory to the Lord, we dishonour Him with our actions....is there any Holy fear in gossiping and you name it...all the things we do and say which come so easy??

Thank you for bringing to my mind to be more careful what I say and do everyday so that I will live a more Holy life!!

Thanks, love you in the Lord, Angels