Chapter 14
In The Fear of the Lord
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
When
I talk about our Heavenly Father making Himself real unto me, the only thing
that has been missing from that is not being allowed and enabled to actually
see Him. For aside from being in almost constant communication with Him
in one way or another, which is all part of what it truly means to pray without
ceasing [1 Thessalonians 5:17], there have been times when I have
felt Him actually holding me in His arms [John 14:18].
In
fact, there have been times when His presence has been so intense, I have felt
myself starting to shake as if sorely afraid. Hence, what it means to
truly be in the fear of the Lord.
No,
that is not what has been widely taught. For according to religious
traditions, being in the fear of the Lord is supposed to be about being
literally afraid to do anything to upset Him.
It
makes sense—does it not? For we are talking about the One [Deuteronomy 6:4] who can erase all memory of an
existence [Exodus 17:14] whenever He feels like it [Job 9:12], but what about what He actually
says? For it is written: Dear friends, let us
love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of
God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God
is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one
another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know
that we live in him and he in us, because
he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the
love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and
God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will
have confidence on the day of judgment,
because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But
perfect love drives out fear, because
fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love
God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love
his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And
he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. [1 John 4:7-21 NIV]
Yes,
the last part of that passage provides clear written confirmation of the
absolute truth of the matter truly being that a great, great many really do
have good reason to literally be very afraid if they continue along the path
that they are now on [Ezekiel 18:30-32]. For it is written: Then He said to me, "It is done I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end I will give to the one who thirsts from the
spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit
these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the
cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death." [Revelation 21:6-8 NAS]
On
the other hand: Little children, let us not love with
word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we
are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart
condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
and whatever we ask we receive from Him,
because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His
sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who
keeps His commandments abides in Him, and
He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He
has given us. [1 John 3:18-24 NAS]
The
key to it all is truly hiding His Word in our hearts [Psalms 119:11], which is to have and to hold onto
the witness of His Holy Spirit [John 14:26]. For far too many in the
Christian community are living a lie [Isaiah 29:13], and this grieves our Heavenly Father
deeply [Jeremiah 5:30-31].
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