In a vision recently, I saw a tempest, dust clouds and thunderclouds. And the Lord quickened to me what I was seeing.
"Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." Isaiah 29:6
And with that sight came the fear of the Lord. It was literally awesome. I realized that the Lord was gracious to impart such a feeling to me--He was gracious to help me understand what it means to fear Him, what it means to stand in awe.
Now, there is no fear within God's perfect love (John 4:18), but we need to realize that this does not exclude a healthy kind of fear of the Lord. If we fear God--if we come before Him in submission, reverence and awe--then we will not be fearful of anything else. We can take from the below verse a strong exhortation and understand that a biblical fear of God will drown out anything else:
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
That's a strong message, but we can look at the context and realize that it's truth is meant to make us share God more boldly among others. It's meant to motivate us to shine from the hilltop (Matthew 5:16) and speak whatever the Holy Spirit prompts us to say. Fear of the Lord is not meant to make us timid--it's meant to spur us on to boldness and power evangelism! It's meant to make us know that we really only have to please just One.
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." Philippians 2:12
Here's another strong exhortation, and it's not meant to make us fearful. Instead, we need to have reverence and respect towards the commands God has given us. We need to work towards obedience so that the salvation of our daily life is attained to. (Note that our souls have already been saved--but God wants to save our works also!) We need to reach the fullness of salvation, and this verse says that we can do it by continuing in obedience. Now, usually it is Christ's love that should compel us. (2 Corinthians 5:14) And usually, it does! But sometimes, situations get harder--more intimidating-- and we need to be motivated out of reverence and fear of God.
I think that fear of the Lord is a concept lacking in the Church today! It doesn't seem as fun as other topics. But we need to understand that it's a command of God that He made for our own good. We need to understand that God is good, His law is good, and His motives are good. And He has laid down precepts--fearing Him is one of them--that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalms 119:4)
"My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws" Psalms 119:120
"Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." Isaiah 29:6
And with that sight came the fear of the Lord. It was literally awesome. I realized that the Lord was gracious to impart such a feeling to me--He was gracious to help me understand what it means to fear Him, what it means to stand in awe.
Now, there is no fear within God's perfect love (John 4:18), but we need to realize that this does not exclude a healthy kind of fear of the Lord. If we fear God--if we come before Him in submission, reverence and awe--then we will not be fearful of anything else. We can take from the below verse a strong exhortation and understand that a biblical fear of God will drown out anything else:
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
That's a strong message, but we can look at the context and realize that it's truth is meant to make us share God more boldly among others. It's meant to motivate us to shine from the hilltop (Matthew 5:16) and speak whatever the Holy Spirit prompts us to say. Fear of the Lord is not meant to make us timid--it's meant to spur us on to boldness and power evangelism! It's meant to make us know that we really only have to please just One.
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." Philippians 2:12
Here's another strong exhortation, and it's not meant to make us fearful. Instead, we need to have reverence and respect towards the commands God has given us. We need to work towards obedience so that the salvation of our daily life is attained to. (Note that our souls have already been saved--but God wants to save our works also!) We need to reach the fullness of salvation, and this verse says that we can do it by continuing in obedience. Now, usually it is Christ's love that should compel us. (2 Corinthians 5:14) And usually, it does! But sometimes, situations get harder--more intimidating-- and we need to be motivated out of reverence and fear of God.
I think that fear of the Lord is a concept lacking in the Church today! It doesn't seem as fun as other topics. But we need to understand that it's a command of God that He made for our own good. We need to understand that God is good, His law is good, and His motives are good. And He has laid down precepts--fearing Him is one of them--that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalms 119:4)
"My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws" Psalms 119:120
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