I'm Afraid Of God

[nebula]

I know exactly how you feel, LadyKay. I always thought of God as someone who was holding a sledgehammer waiting to hit me over the head for any and every time I do something wrong. But you want to know something that is scary about that image? Replace that sledgehammer with a lightning bolt, and you have the perfect image of Zeus. Sounds crazy, maybe, but but when Jesus talked about "Satan's throne" and "were Satan is" is Rev. 2:12-17, he was talking about the Temple of Zeus (!). The point is, the Enemy has successfully wiggled into our society a lie that confuses our image of God with the image of the true nature of Satan. (Even in paintings - look up images of Zeus and then look up images of God in the Sistine Chapel and see what I mean.)

 

But bopeep is correct. One's perception of God is influenced by one's perception of one's father. Very often people struggling with being afraid of God are likewise afraid of their father.

 

I'm still working through this struggle myself. Praying we both find a revelation of God that melts away the false image and replaces is with the true one.

[MissPlaced_56]

DEAR LADYKAY,

 

AS you can see many of us have been thru this, and some still at times go thru this,I'm no exception,

I spent decades being tortured by this,AS in GOD only show's up when I've messed up to punish me( It's only Wednesday, and Miss has already sinned 92 times this week, guess she's gonna have to be hit by a bus!!..lol)

after going around this same block for like the 10,000th time , one day i said to GOD "I don't know why you even put up with me!"....HIS answer to me was,"Because you're my child" as i stopped to think about this, i thought about the Father/Child relationship....And GODS word rang true,(paraphrasing here) "What Father amoung you will give your child a stone when he ask's for bread?? How so much more Will you're heavenly FATHER give to HIS CHILDREN?"

 

And I began to understand, now i sat BEGAN, i wasn't quite there yet..lol

from the very beginning of my Relationship With OUR LORD, He knew that my life had always been controlled by FEAR, So HE Began HIS LOVINGTHE FEAR out of me,Every verse i read it seemed,started with "FEAR NOT!!"

OUR VERY DEAR RUSTYANGEL said in another thread,that "fear Not" is in the bible 365 times...there's good reason for this i think..

 

you see LadyKay,The most powerful Weapon in satan's arsenal is FEAR...

GODS  love can be all around us,BUT if were AFRAID WE DON"T SEE IT, WE run fron GOD instead of to HIM as NeedYouLord,so beautifully said it!

 

LADYKAY,Stop and think about this,IF we as human parents wouldn't harm our children,what makes us think that GOD would??

I heard it beautifully said not long ago..IF we need to beat our child, then let it be with a string"

GODS correction is loveingly administered as with a string,,HIS Aim is to teach us right from wrong...When has it ever been that 2 wrongs make a right?

and who would ever want to follow someone that hurt them???..not me, that's for sure!!

GBU LADYKAY!!

[Guest Butero]

It sounds strange. But still after all these years of being a Christian, I am afraid of God. I am afraid that he will punish me if I don't do things in just the right way. If I don't have enough faith or if I start feeling down about things and don't thank him enough. I fear he will make things worse in my life as punishment for being ungrateful. I try so hard to have faith while I sit and watch my world fall down around me I still try hard to hold on to my faith. But I fear God will punish men for being afraid when he tells us we shouldn't be. Can anyone understand where I am coming from?

Yes Lady Kay.  I completely understand where you are coming from.  We should fear the Lord.  The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  I fear him, and I fear that if I do wrong, I will be punished.  The Bible shows a pattern of that happening to people.  At the same time, having bad things going on in your life doesn't necessarily mean God is punishing you for some transgression.  Sometimes bad things just happen to good people, and sometimes good things happen in the lives of evil people.  All you can do is examine your life to see if you are doing things God wouldn't approve of, and if you are, repent.  Try asking God to show you if you are doing anything wrong?  If the answer is no, then just accept the fact you are suffering because we are in an imperfect and sin cursed world, and look to Romans 8:28 for comfort.  Somehow God will turn things around for your good. 

[FreeinChrist]

 

 I am afraid that he will punish me if I don't do things in just the right way. If I don't have enough faith or if I start feeling down about things and don't thank him enough. I fear he will make things worse in my life as punishment for being ungrateful.

Sometimes it seems as though he's the one punishing us, but we really are the ones punishing ourselves. When we loose faith and start feeling down about things and feel like the world is falling apart, it isn't God punishing us, it is us distancing ourselves from God and therefore lowering our spirits to the world, so "the world" is what get's the best out of us in these situations. The thing is that as Christians, we live in God's dimension (as I like to call it), his dimension is filled with love, joy and goodness, and when we slip at times, and our spirit clings to the world for a while, things don't seem to go as good any longer. So don't be afraid of him, yes we should fear Him because he is greater and more powerful than all, but he isn't out to get you sister .

 

     really like this post Hall, and can really relate to after my week.

 

LadyKay, as already been stated we all have been called to fear God, in the sense that we are to relevance Him, and be in awe of His Power.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

 

But because we as believers have God's love shed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit , Romans 5:5; I Peter 1:22; we have by God's power the ability to follow Jesus commandments to love God and others, Matthew 22:37-40; John 15:12.  So we read because of this perfect love that the Holy Spirit gives us we should have no fear.

17)  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world.

18)  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.

I John 4:17-18

I'm with you though LadyKay, God keeps trying to teach me this, and I keep wanting to add my human ability and them as Hall, stated I start to torment myself because I see my shortcomings, but God just wants me to rest and His Son finished work and to let His Spirit do His work in me.  IMO we all (especially myself) need to just learn to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

[gdemoss]

It sounds strange. But still after all these years of being a Christian, I am afraid of God. I am afraid that he will punish me if I don't do things in just the right way. If I don't have enough faith or if I start feeling down about things and don't thank him enough. I fear he will make things worse in my life as punishment for being ungrateful. I try so hard to have faith while I sit and watch my world fall down around me I still try hard to hold on to my faith. But I fear God will punish men for being afraid when he tells us we shouldn't be. Can anyone understand where I am coming from?

 

It was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fear relieved.

 

Lady, I am still growing in the faith myself.  I have known great fear.  I have known great love.  Grace first taught my heart to fear.  I was born again from above a long time ago and as a baby I began to grow.  During my childhood I didn't understand a lot of things going on and with that lack of understanding came misinterpretations of the Fathers actions in my life.  I was sure God was out to destroy his own son that he bare.  Try as I might, I could never live up to his expectations of me as I thought they were and the rod of his anger seemed heavy handed upon me all the day long, my backside bruised continually.  There came a day where I was made ready to receive knowledge and understanding that would produce in me wisdom and grace my fear relieved.  Though the wind may blow and the storms arise around me, though I may be struck if I walk under his feet or though Satan himself falsely accuse me before God that I might be proved, I know my redeemer lives.  I know my Father loves me.  I know that I am a sheep led to the slaughter but I shall not fear the reaper.  Heaven awaits.  And while I am yet in my flesh, I use the tools I have to live a meaningful and purposed life before my Father in Heaven who looks down upon me.  

 

Be of good courage, Jesus has overcome the world!  Trust the process even when your terrified.  This too shall pass.  Satan may sift you as wheat but Jesus prays that your faith not fail and what is left when Satan is done is good edible food ready for the barn!

[iluvjesus]

He is like a loving father and only wants the best for you.  Sometimes fathers use tough love but it is still out of love and good intentions.

[mike2]

I haven't posted here for some time and I love this topic it is good to see it being discussed.

We so often think of God in terms of our worldly existence, I mean we try to understand God based on what the world teaches us about relationships. One thing that is prominent in our worldly ways is the thought of failure in the eyes of a peer or someone we have a desire to impress. So often in the world we are subject to the reaction of someone that is disappointed in our performance, whether it is at work, at play or in our personal lives and we fear the potential rejection that can come with that failure.

As a result we look at almighty God in the same way that we look at people in the world.

Something to keep in mind is that God is love (1John 4 8-10), it is very important that we take that statement literally and seriously in our understanding of Him because when we do we realize that God created us for one reason only.......to love us

So often we think He created us to love Him and worship Him rather than He created us to be the object of His affection, When I realized that, all I could think was WOW, there's no ulterior motive with God!! (unlike some people) It is a completely one way street!!!

1 John 4:18 states there is no fear in love

Don't be scared of God, respect Him for His holiness (His complete "otherness"... there is no other like Him) and realize that part of His otherness is is that His love for us is unlike anything worldly that we can imagine

Consider 1 Cor 13 as a description of God

 

He loves you greatly and definitely does not want you to be afraid of Him (He has shown us over and over again His grace in forgiveness) God is looking at your response towards Him as an indicator of how you are feeling His love and grace. Our love for Him and our worship is a response to the great love we know He has for us...we love because He first loved us

[Guest Butero]

After giving your post more thought LadyKay, a story from the OT came to my mind.  I wasn't exactly sure how God wanted me to relate it, but I think I know now?  King David had decided to fetch the Ark of the Covenant.  In doing so, they ignored the proper way of carrying it.  They placed the ark on a cart, and it appears it began to fall.  A man named Uzzah reached up to steady the ark so it wouldn't fall, and notice what happened?

 

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

 

It doesn't appear Uzzah was intentionally doing anything wrong that caused God to strike him dead?  He was just trying to keep the Ark from falling off the cart, but it led to God smiting him.  Notice how David reacted?

 

And David was afraid of the Lord that day...

 

King David wanted to bring the Ark back with him, but he failed to do it the way God said to.  He was careless, and this led to the death of Uzzah.  David's fear led him to abandon his plans to bring back the Ark, so he left it at the home of Obededom.  During the time the Ark remained at the home of Obededom, God blessed this man's house.  Word came to King David that God blessed this man's home for the sake of the Ark, and David was encouraged to go and fetch it again, but this time, the proper way.  This time he was successful.

 

It is important to do things God's way, and when we fail to follow him, there can be negative consequences.  I have no reason to make any judgment one way or the other as to why you feel like you do LadyKay, and I have no way of knowing if what you are going through is chastisement or just an example of bad things happening to good people because of the sin sick world we live in?  It could even be an attack of Satan or one of his fallen angels?  I do believe this.  If God is chastising you for something, I believe he will reveal the reason if you ask him to?  Why punish you and not reveal the reason why?  Don't despair.  Either way, whether it is the chastening of the Lord, an attack of Satan, or just the result of sin in the world, the situation is not hopeless.  Call on God, and he will show you the way you should go?  If you need to repent of something, I believe he will reveal it.  If you need help, he has angels encamped around those who trust in him to deliver. 

 

BTW, the story is found in 2 Samuel chapter 6 if you want to read it. 

[vywolf]

This is similar to how I feel a lot of the time.  I find that getting too legalistic or descending into religiosity tends to create a warped sense of God.  I have moved on from it, but there is still a part of me that thinks "if I don't start changing things, God is going to cause bad things to happen". I think that is a normal mentality to have, but just remember that God loves you and if He punishes you it is only to bring you closer to Him and improve your life..even if it doesn't seem that way at first.

[Sandyz]

I believe fear means healthy respect.  I would not fear that He is going to strike you dead for a stray thought, but we must respect him.