"Fear God?"

When I became a believer in Jesus Christ at the age of 23 there were a lot of foreign concepts related to how we are to view God. One of the things I most misunderstood about the scriptures was the concept of Fearing the Lord. To me fear seemed like a bad word in a lot of ways and why would God want us to fear Him. We all have fears and there would be no courage without fear. In fact courage is to do something even though we fear it...The more fearful something is the more courageous the act of doing it would be. So to have courage is a great attribute but it's because we are overcoming something worthwhile but challenging or unfortunate.

The fear God is talking about perhaps is more about the something worthwhile and challenging...It certainly isn't about something unfortunate. It's challenging to follow what He asks of us on our own will or by ourselves. Of course salvation is a deep real event someone goes through but is such a simple act to do it. To pray to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and accept Him as your savior can take less then a minute. If it's sincere then it's real...God starts working in that persons life...To follow after Jesus the way He wants is not so simple though.

As I've grown in my faith over the years I have realized more of what it means to really fear the Lord. Fear has to do with a deep respect for who God is and His power. He created us, intimately cares for us as our ultimate father, has an ideal plan for us that can only be realized by following Him and has influence on how things turn out in our lives. It's a respect that is true so it impacts the choices we make each day. If it doesn't influence our choices then it's not a real respect for God's Authority.

When we surrender to Gods authority we start to make sure our choices reflect things God approves of. We care more if our life is honoring to Him then catering to our every desire.

I think of a true fear is to fully realize how in tune Christ is with our lives. That he's always present, He always knows our thoughts, our choices, our actions.

We can't visibly see Him which may lead to a lessened fear for many. See He wants our fear to be based on faith. Faith is believing in something you can't phyically see.

Can you imagine what it would be like if Jesus was Physically walking with us every minute of every day. If God was looking at you as you made every choice every moment of every day. Would that impact our behavior, choices, or thoughts? Would His visible presence impact our business decisions and priorities? Would that influence how seriously we take our walk with Christ?

What's amazing is this is true. Jesus is present with us every minute of every day, but we just can't see him. So if that's true, and we don't act the same way as if we could see him then we may need to step up our faith. Fearing the Lord is directly related to our faith in Christ.

The greater our faith the greater our fear.

The bible says that you can tell a persons faith by the fuit their life bears. The more we fear God the greater our faith is...Faith acted upon bears good fruit.

Dig into the scriptures and walk closely with Him, develop that strong fear that holds you accountable to staying on the best path God has for your life. How do we know what He wants for us? We surely will see his splender in our lives if we obey him each day and live a life that is honoring to God. No matter how much we Fear Him we will still make mistakes. Actually we will most likely make them daily but that's why Christ Died on the Cross for us...to forgive us in advance for all the mistakes we make.

But to have the most impact we can on earth for His kingdom and to live the most productive life possible takes having a healthy fear of God.

Proverbs 14:26 "He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress and for his children it will be a refuge"

Proberbs 14:27 "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life turning a man from the snares of death"

Proverbs 19:23 "The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble"