I wrote this
study a long time ago. It was actually when we first started www.GodsLovingKindness.com. I just posted it here to help get things
kick-started for the forum. I might post the rest of the studies on our site in the coming days, depending on how well this works out.
"How Do I Fear A Loving God?
Submitted by: David Andrew Moore
"Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth:
and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD." Joshua 24:14 (KJV)
In this study, I want to go over just what it is to fear the Lord. Take a look at the above scripture and
notice that the scripture, wants us to serve the Lord, in truth and sincerity. God, doesn't want us to fear Him in a way that we want to run and hide from
Him.
One of Webster Dictionary's meanings for fear is: 3 : to have a reverential awe of and reverential means: 1 : expressing or having a quality of reverence .
If you have reverence for God, you have honor and respect for Him. If you stay at someone's house and want to be respectful, you will abide by their house
rules. If you respect God, you will abide by and follow His commandments. This is how God, wants us to fear Him. He wants us to fear Him, by obeying Him.
"The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and
the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." Proverbs 8:13 (KJV)
This scripture backs up my point. The fear of the Lord, is to hate evil and if you hate evil, you will go
out of your way not to do evil. Some people say,"I fear the Lord!" However, after you hear them say that, you might find them running wild in sinful
ways. You may find that that person, loves to sin. If you love to sin, you do not fear God! We have some puppies, we are trying to train. We want them to fear
us, where they don't want to disobey us. However, we don't want them to fear us, where they want to keep away from us. There is that perfect balance
and that's the balance the Lord, wants us to have.
"The fear of the LORD [is] a fountain of life, to depart from the
snares of death." Psalm 14:27 (KJV)
The snares of death, is sin. If we continue in the law of sin, we will find death. If we obey God, we will
have life and obeying is the fear of the Lord.
"Better [is] little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure
and trouble therewith." Proverbs 15:16 (KJV)
Have you ever wanted to rob a bank, but didn't because the Lord, wouldn't be pleased with you? If
so, that's the fear of the Lord. You might still be poor, because you won't rob that bank, but it's better to have the fear of the Lord, instead of
having His wrath abiding on you! Not only would you have His wrath on you, but you would have the law after you, if you robbed a bank. You would have great
gain, but much trouble to go with it.
"The fear of the LORD [is] the instruction of wisdom; and before
honour [is] humility." Proverbs 15:33 (KJV)
The fear of the Lord (Keeping away from sin.) is the instruction of wisdom. Wisdom, tells you to listen to God and when you do listen to God, you are being
wise. It's wise to listen to God, because God, has what's best in mind for us.
"The fear of the LORD [tendeth] to life: and [he that hath it] shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with
evil." Proverbs 19:23 (KJV)
If we don't have fear of the Lord and we continue in sin, we are opening doors for the devil. We are
opening the doors to depression, guilt and many other oppressions of the enemy. If we don't fear the Lord and listen to Him, everything will go wrong. Why,
you ask? Because the Lord's commandments are for our best and when we disobey His commandments, we will find out why He has made those commandments. God,
hasn't made any commandment to be bossy, but He made them all for our best interest.
"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD
[men] depart from evil." Proverbs 16:6 (KJV)
By mercy and truth our sins are purged, meaning we are free from them. We are forgiven and our guilt is
gone. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. They turn from evil (They repent) it's when we repent, that we are forgiven. We must ask for
forgiveness and turn from our sin by doing it no more. We turn from our sin, by the fear of the Lord.
Before this study, you might've asked, "How do I fear, a loving God?" The answer is simple, just depart from sin!
That's the end of this study, I hope you enjoyed it!"
