Fear of God?

[KimN]

hi

I am fairly new here. Having a hard time 'finding' god again after many years. I have to admit that I still harbor some anger at the world.,. God, someone...but mostly, it is not the anger that bothers me...it is the emptiness. The aching of nothingness. Sigh...anyways...I am taking it a day at a time and trying to look for the good. So a good is I had not been sleeping well at all for awhile....but for 2 nights in a row...with a brief meditation/mantra that David (boyfriend)suggested, I have slept..hard. Feel so much better just because of sleep

Someone from the boards here, "man", suggested to study Proverbs and chapters 5,6,7 in Matthew. (He also said to post on the boards to get to know people, so here I am)

anyways...I have a question. In the first chapters of Proverbs it talks alot about the fear of God. This may seem like a strange question...but what exacelty is meant by fear of God? My boyfriend was reading with me (He does not believe in God) but has been trying to be supportive as I struggle with reestablishing my relationship with God. David (Boyfriend) asked why we had to fear God, and I just couldn't answer in an intelligent way. I feel a great weight on me most of the time....a curtain of darkness it feels like, and as I was trying to explain fearing God, the darkness got darker.

Gets heavier when I try to study the bible...so maybe it is the 'fear of God' that is missing in me...I don't know. But when i couldn't answer this question, that seems so basic...there may be a lot that I am missing. In Proverbs it talks about Fear of God and knowledge....to get knowledge you have to fear God? Can someone explain Fear of God?

thanks

Kim

[Floatingaxe]

There is reverential fear, awe, and also terror.

Most all who know Him experience all the kinds of fear God evokes in us.

Psalm 63:2 exemplifies awe and reverential fear:

I have seen you in your sanctuary

and gazed upon your power and glory.

while Hebrews 10:31 reveals the other:

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Welcome to Worthy, Kim, and may God bless you with great revelations of Himself!

[OneLight]

The word fear, found in Proverbs 1, is the Hebrew word יראה, which is translated into yir'ah. The meaning is found here, but to save you time, I will show you what is on the page.

1) fear, terror, fearing

a) fear, terror

b) awesome or terrifying thing (object causing fear)

c) fear (of God), respect, reverence, piety

d) revered

As you can see in "c", fear is to respect Him, holding Him in reverence, and piety.

As for meditating with a mantra, this is new age and is against His word. As a Christian, we are told not to turn to other religious means. The mantra is:

1. Hinduism. A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.

2. A commonly repeated word or phrase.

Here is a couple of scriptures to direct you.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy

[glorywatch]

Kim, the more you study and learn about God you will learn to fear Him. Not in the way that you stand around shaking, but in the way that you KNOW HE is the creator of all. That the power of life and death are in HIS hands. When you learn how awesome God truly is, your fear is a fear motivated by respect and honor. Scripture tells us not to fear man, but to fear HIM who has the power to cast our souls into eternal damnation.

God is a just God. He gives us chance after chance after chance to come to Him, to repent of our sins and to be made clean before Him. He proved his love through Jesus. Once you wrap your mind around God's divine nature, you will fear Him. Once you see how truly we are unworthy and undeserving of His love you will fear Him. Even though we are unworthy HE LOVED US ANYWAY!

I pray that you will continue searching the Scriptures. God will not have you lack understanding. If you are truly seeking with your heart, the wisdom and understanding will come. God said that in the day we truly seek Him, HE will be found.

[mead]

It is good to have you sister. For you and your boyfriend.

[Jorge S]

... I struggle with reestablishing my relationship with God.

... I feel a great weight on me most of the time....a curtain of darkness it feels like, and as I was trying to explain fearing God, the darkness got darker.

Gets heavier when I try to study the bible...so maybe it is the 'fear of God' that is missing in me...I don't know. But when i couldn't answer this question, that seems so basic...there may be a lot that I am missing.

Hi, Kim

Your current situation might not be entirely your fault. What I have highlighted out of your opening post seems to me like a spiritual attack. Now, ask yourself who can benefit from your walking away from God.

The solution is on the way and that's why Satan is trying to scare you off, for he knows you're walking back into the realm of divine protection and you'll be unreachable to him while in there.

When I was searching for the Lord I experienced relational problems, work problems, financial problems, illnesses, persistent headache and an oppressive sense of weight at the back of my head and neck. It only took to kneel down and invite Jesus into my life as Lord and Saviour. Everything went away with no medication, no counselling, no external help, nothing but faith and the supernatural influence of the Lord.

Jesus is all you need. Make even a stronger commitment to HIM, visit a church, have the congregation pray for you. I'm praying deliverance here in the Mighty Name of JESUS OF NAZARETH.

... to get knowledge you have to fear God?

Maybe it's all the way around. Fear of the Lord (in the sense of respect, obedience, dependability, trust, concern about not disappointing Him, thrive to please Him according to His standards and make Him feel proud of us) is born out of knowing Who He Is, what He has done and what He is capable of.

Cheer up, sister. He Is Coming!

[Honeybee88]

Don't feel bad for not knowing what something means. The Christian life is a growing process, and we must all start somewhere. Seek the Lord and get into His word, and you will slowly grow, but don't stress if you can't answer every question.

[KimN]

There is reverential fear, awe, and also terror.

Most all who know Him experience all the kinds of fear God evokes in us.

Psalm 63:2 exemplifies awe and reverential fear:

I have seen you in your sanctuary

and gazed upon your power and glory.

while Hebrews 10:31 reveals the other:

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Welcome to Worthy, Kim, and may God bless you with great revelations of Himself!

Thank you Axe and Onelight. Reverent fear makes sense I guess I just couldn't verbalize or feel that the other night. I have to go with head knowledge for now because I certainly don't feel him within me right now...but I know I will

As for meditating with a mantra, this is new age and is against His word. As a Christian, we are told not to turn to other religious means. The mantra is:

1. Hinduism. A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.

2. A commonly repeated word or phrase.

Here is a couple of scriptures to direct you.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy

[OneLight]

OneLight, I am concerned with what you wrote about meditating...I used the word Mantra, David didn't...he was just concerned with me not sleeping and thought it would help me as it had him. He is not a Hindu, so I am confused. He says it is just a way to relax the mind and have it be free to allow sleep. We had been aprt for a few days as things weren't well between us...but it was my fault, I wasn't sleeping and therefore a little grumpy anyways, he emailed me the short meditation...and it worked..nothing else was. It is the one time during the day or night that I feel free and relaxed...that I don't feel the heavy darkness. Not sure what I should do????

Dear Sister,

I was not implying that he was of the Hindu religion. I was trying to show you where meditating with a mantra came from. Since I am not privy to the email, I can not truly understand what his instructions were, nor can I know what form of meditation you used and what the "mantra" was.

As I mentioned above, we are to meditate on Him, whether it be His words or what He has done in the lives of someone. Scripture tells us what to meditate on.

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy

[Floatingaxe]

We don't need to "feel" God to know He is near. We choose to believe by faith. The feelings follow!