Fear (not)

Fear that removes fear

2009-02-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

Heb 2:14-15 - Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

If we boil down our fears or polled the masses of what they fear most, the answer that is always in the top 5 is death. And rightfully so, that unknown stop of all life can be a terrifying and paralyzing slavery. If our goal in life is to not die, than life will be lived with caution and and absence of risk that is required to live to the glory of God. But, if the fear of death is eliminated, somehow, and the future life looks better than this life, if there is confidence that we were made for the next life and that God is very much in control of this one, than we can be delivered from this fear and live well. Jesus did just that when he became man so he might destroy the power of death and the power of the devil so that we could be delivered. And if death isn't worth fearing than there should be nothing else either than leads us to fear. God has taken care of the biggest fear-producer and so the rest should be easy.

Ps 139:14-16 - I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

When we consider the human body, with all its intricacies and complexities, it should lead us to awe. We fear God because we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We fear him because he saw before we were. He created us and knew us and every day of our lives are written in His book before one of them came to be. So, not only did he remove the power of death, he also knew us before we were alive and knows how many days we will be alive. Our God is worthy of fear because he took away our fear. He has given us confidence and peace because He is already there.

Fear that changes everything

2009-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Heb 13:5-6 - Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Wow. This is timely verse for this time and age. I have found myself becoming anxious in the past few weeks with all this talk of recession. I have found that I am never anxious when I think about God and how He promises that He will provide and care for me, but I do become anxious when I think about what could be, and how will I get what I need and what if things get worse. This I have always known. But, what surprised me in this passage was that the worry and fear is born out of a love for money and continual desire for more. Our fear is born not out of just surviving and making it, but losing money and losing stuff. God says, love me more than money, be content with little and like Philippians 4:11-13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Fear God and grow through this trial a fear and love for God that money can't touch. Use this time to dig deep the roots of trust and you will become rich in faith. Hebrews 11.6 says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God..."

Ps 128:1-4 - A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.

The difference between blessing and lack of blessing is what and who you fear. Here the blessing is on the one who fears that Lord and walk in his ways. You will be blessed in the fruit of your labor, and prosperity and peace and joy will be yours, regardless of the amount of money you have. You will experience prosperity despite the amount of money you have. Your children will learn to trust God and experience a dynamic relationship of seeing God provide. You will grow rich in faith. It's who you fear that changes everything.

Fear that encourages

2009-02-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

Php 1:14 - And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Why would someone be more bold to speak about God as a result of imprisonment? You would think logically that it would be the opposite. You hear someone gets thrown in jail for speaking about their faith, and most people would be tempted to turn and run. But, I believe there is something that is both inspiring and confirming when someone suffers for Jesus like this. It inspires and confirms because you realize that, maybe, just maybe, that God and this Heaven thing is really real. If someone is willing to risk his life for it, than it must be worth living for with all your heart. And if it worth living for because it is worth dying, in that Heaven is our true home and our most beautiful reality, then there is really nothing to fear. It may not be prison for you, but it could be a loss of job that you trust God through. It may be a loss of a loved one or a difficult trial you are going through. Your courage in the face of fear brings encouragement to others.

Ps 40:3 - He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

When there is a song in your mouth in hard circumstances and a hymn of praise to God when there should be fear and curses, it causes other to see and fear the same God. Fear of God leads others to put their trust in God. If God isn’t big enough to handle our circumstances, then God is not big enough to fear. But, if He is, and He is, than fearing God is sharing Christ in the most natural and beautiful way. Fearing God encourages fearlessness which leads to courageous risk taking and bold living.

Fear that makes God worth obeying

2009-02-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ga 2:11-14 - But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

I don't think I would have like to be at the receiving end of rebuke by Paul, but I guess he deserved it. Peter, the great Peter, was fearing what people would think of him so that he would not eat with the gentiles for fear of what the Jews would say. Fear does that. It raises the value of someone or something over God. Simply put, he feared the Jews rebuke more than he feared God's rebuke. It is possible that Peter could have justified it as trying to reach more Jews for Christ or something like that, but in reality, his fear of man, at that moment, was greater than his fear of God.

Ps 33:8 - Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.

The whole purpose of Paul's ministry was to bring the gentiles into the kingdom of God. He was a Jew who had been sent to minister to the gentiles that God was welcoming them into eternity through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And here was Peter, fearing what the Jews would think, when instead, he should have been fearing the Lord that the whole world should be revering. This is a great wake up call to all who fear man over God. Turn your eyes heavenward and let the greatness of God make the weight of your friends or co-workers or family seem small.

Fear that humbles you

2009-02-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

1 Pe 5:6-9 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

This passage shares that their will be anxieties. Their will be things to fear from the world, things to fear from Satan and things to fear in your own flesh. Fear is real. But fear is not right. And in this passage, Peter gives us the way out of fear. He doesn't say, "Just don't fear!" but instead says, "Humble yourself under God's mighty Hand" and cast your anxieties on Him and Resist the Devil and he will flee. We will all suffer and go through things that can bring fear, but the proper response is to humble ourselves under God's mighty, powerful, sovereign, loving hand and fear Him only, and that will bring the peace you are looking, despite the circumstances.

Ps 118:6 - The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
The answer is nothing. Not man, not the Devil and not the world. No one can do anything to you when your fear is in the Lord. We need to apply this to our lives, and we need to meditate on this thought. This needs to be appropriated to our daily struggles so that our fear doesn't keep us from the will of God.

Fear that guards your heart

2009-01-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

Php 4:5-7 - The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace is from God and peace will guard your heart and mind so that it will stay in Christ Jesus. That is the end goal. That through all of life's struggles and difficulties, our heart and mind would remain settled and sure in Christ Jesus as we trust Him and allow Him to be Lord in all life's circumstances. Why in Christ Jesus? Because Christ is our strength to make it through the difficulties and fearful realities. He is our joy which can be to the full despite circumstances. He is our caretaker, who will be with us forever and will help us overcome the world. The worst thing we can do is left anxiety upset our intimate relationship with Jesus. Above all else, cling to Jesus.

Ps 103:17 - But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
The love of the Lord is with us and our children and our children's children.. This is a given. But, it remains on those who fear God. Fear God and know His love. It seems like a contradiction, but these two in fact go hand in hand. Love and fear, peace and joy... In all your anxieties, fear God only. You will be at peace, you will know His love and you will live unshakable in very shaky times.

Fear that ends in spirit-filled peace

2009-01-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Jn 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

In this comforting statement to his disciples, Jesus offers them peace instead of fear. It is as if he defines them as opposites, declares them as enemies and says this will be a sign of their trust in Jesus. If they ever experience trouble in their spirit or fear, they don't have the peace of Christ that he is offering them. In the verse before, Jesus tells them about the Holy Spirit and how he will not only bring to their minds all the teachings of Jesus but also teach them as well. That is a clue to how to have peace when you are fearful. We need the words of Jesus and the Words of scripture in our hearts, allowing the Spirit to replace fear with truth. But, it again is also a clue for us that if fear is first, that Jesus is not, because he promises to give us peace to replace our fear.

Is 11:1-3 - A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

I thought this was an amazing verse that describes how a Spirit-filled person will not only fear God, but will delight in the fear of the Lord. What a beautiful statement. When we are filled with the Spirit, we will delight in the fear of the Lord. It is a delightful thing because when you fear God, you will fear nothing else. It protects and purifies your soul and your mind from fearing anything else. It focuses us and centers us and frees us from the worries of the world. If we are to be like Jesus, we will, too, delight in the fear of the Lord, because His Spirit is in us.

How fear turns to worship

2009-01-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

Lk 24:36-53 - As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

This is a beautiful picture of the transformation of fear, from the fear of something that can hurt them to a fear of the One of who loves them. We know from the other gospel accounts that the disciples ran away and left Jesus, and then after He died, they hid for fear of the authorities. Here in the midst of their fear, Jesus shows up, and speaks to that fear with reassuring and loving words, "Peace be to you." Peace is the absence of strife and inner conflict, doubts and trouble. When we truly fear God, we will be at peace. We are only not at peace, when we give something or someone else more power than God. Jesus wants them at peace and when they are not, instead of rebuking them, shows them his body, eats with them and than speaks words of blessing to them. This change from fearing something to fearing God is described in the last line, "And they worshiped him and returned with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God." This describes a person who fears God only. A person who fears God will worship him as they are the only One worth worshiping. They will have great joy. They will bless God. Where fear ceases worship, joy and blessing, fearing God is the way to worship, joy and blessing.

What is it in your life that you have given more power or strength or worship to other than God? Do you fear the economy collapsing? Do you fear sickness or being hurt? Do you fear anything more than God? Press into Jesus, and let him replace your doubts with joy, and your fears with worship.

Fear that provides

2009-01-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

Lk 12:25-28 - And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

If we can’t add an hour to our life, which we can’t, than there is nothing else we should worry about. If we could add an hour to our life, if we could change any circumstance with worry, than we should worry. But, since worrying changes nothing, since fearing things changes nothing, than, we should worry and fear nothing. God cares for us, and that should always be our antidote to worry. God cares and will care for every detail of my life. That is our solution to worry.

Ps 111:5 - He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.

God will provide food and clothes and everything you need to those who fear him. The big question is: what do you fear more: Circumstances or God? It seems here that it is an either/or. I can fear God and he will take care of all my needs or I can fear circumstances and experience the discipline of the Lord of not receiving the things that I do need. This seems to be the opposite of this verse: He doesn’t provide food for those who don’t fear him.

Trust in God for all your needs. Pour out your heart to Him and be satisfied in Him, alone. Fear him only and let go of your worries and your fears from on earth and you will experience God in new and amazing ways.

Fear that moves from temporary to eternal

2009-01-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Lk 12:25 - And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

There is nothing that anxiety, a form of fear, can do to add an hour to a life. Anxiety can fix nothing. Worrying changes nothing. It enslaves you to this world by chaining you to the temporary and not freeing you to see the eternal, true perspective. When we think about it, fear and worry is as temporary a sin can be. Fear is wrapped up in this world.

Ps 111:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

I like this verse in contrast to worry because in it one recognizes that all wisdom begins with God, that those who follow God and not their own flesh and thus their own worry, have good understanding and perspective. And, so instead of spending a situation worrying, they can spend it praising God in whom belongs eternal praise. Fearing God frees you from the temporary prison of earth and allows you to see and know the reality of something which go beyond earth. That is the answer to worry. That is the solution to worry. Spend time thinking about eternity and your worries and fears will slowly dissipate.

These are the two distinct opposites. Worry and praise. Worry and fear spends time stuck in problem on earth. Praise sees a God who is in control, bigger than any problem and faithful to help, despite any perceived silence and greatness of the situation. The words eternal praise are the answer to fear and worry. He is both eternal, and worthy of praise.

How we need to spend time in praise of our eternal God when the all too temporary worries and fears press in on us.

God thinks your valuable so don't worry

2008-07-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Lk 12:22-24 - And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

This passage has some real great insights. First, it declares how valuable we are in God’s sight. We have more value than birds and yet God values birds enough that God feeds each one. God is going to take care of his children. Second, life is more than food and clothing. It is ironic that life revolves around these two extremes: for some, life is about spending exorbitant amounts of money for food and clothing and for others, life is about finding enough food and clothing to survive the day. God says that we are not to be anxious about our life in any way because regardless of your status, he will care for you if you fear Him more than anything else.

Pr 19:23 - The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

This verse seems the perfect counterpart to the previous verse. When we fear God only, we rest content and untouched by trouble. When God is all we fear, and we believe that he values us enough to care for in all situations, it leads us to a content life of rest in the midst of daily life, regardless of our place.

Fear that teaches us how to overcome anxiety

2008-07-06T07:11:00.001-07:00

Lk 12:11-12 - And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

When a verse is repeated in the different gospels, you know it is important. This verse or at least renditions of this verse are found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is so important because it is so revolutionary. One, you are predicting something difficult is about to happen. Two, God is providing both a command, do not be anxious and a promise, the Holy Spirit will speak through you. I love that we are not to defend ourselves. God doesn’t need our defense. The Holy Spirit is more than capable of communicating his message in his timing for his purposes. He just needs us to fear Him more than anything else and trust that He is capable of doing what he wants through us if we just trust Him.

Ps 34:11 - Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

I have been feeling like this verse is written for this occasion. These verses are teaching us the fear of the Lord so we can fear God and not man. When we fear the Lord, we will not need to be anxious, we will believe the Holy Spirit will speak and we will not need to defend ourselves. How do we learn the Fear of the Lord? Well, according to the next verses:

Ps 34:12-14 - Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

We recognize that our God hates sin and we choose to obey Him because we fear Him. Anxiety is sin. Worry is sin. It is feeling and believing that God is out of control. Thus, we must turn from evil and turn to Him. Fearing God is the solution to killing anxiety.

How Anxiety destroys our relationship with Jesus

2008-07-02T07:05:00.001-07:00

Lk 10:38-42 - Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Like a small cloud blocking a large sun, anxiety chooses control or pride or selfishness and blocks out the good portion of a simple, uninterrupted relationship with Jesus. Where Martha was trying to get some points for serving and doing good things, it led her to anxiety and a troubled spirit. Mary chose to sit and listen. It was true fear because she understood there was something better there than anything else. True fear realizes the greatness of God and it changes everything. It was not wrong for Martha to serve, but it was wrong to be anxious over her serving and to resent her sister. There are a lot of reason for anxiety and all of them are bad because they take us out of a simple and pure devotion to our Lord. Martha could have had the same devotion in her serving as Mary had in her listening if she would have understood Jesus.

Pr 19:23 - The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Is there any better description than the heart of Mary than this verse? She was content and untouched by trouble because her fear of the Lord led her to true life. I just think that Mary is the solution to so many of our problems, that if we would just sit at the feet of Jesus, in trials, hard times, and even in our busy, stressful times, we would find the perspective and the wisdom to see us through all our trouble.

How fearing God transforms anxiety

2008-07-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

Mk 13:9-11 - “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

It is one thing to fear when tragedy or difficulty happens suddenly and quite another when you know ahead of time that it is going to happen to you. The disciples were promised abuse, beating, and imprisonment. But, they were also promised something even greater, which is the Holy Spirit speaking through them to the glory of God. The one thing that they were commanded not to do was to be anxious beforehand, but to fear God only, and to trust in Him so that he would say what He needed to say through the disciples. It is amazing how we can interfere with God’s using us when we allow anxiety to interrupt us. Anxiety is essentially a lack of trust in God that He is big enough in the situations to do what he desires to do. All he needs is some people who will trust Him at his Word so that He can accomplish what He desires through our lives for His glory.

Ps 60:4 - But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.Selah

This verse seems to really be appropriate in light of Mark 13:9-11 because of it s approach against the enemy. The banner of fearing God is all we need against the enemy. God will fight the battle. Our battle is to remain in the fear of God, fully convinced that He is not only in full control, but will use the situation for His glory. When we start to worry, we must boldly unfurl that banner in the face of evil by coming back to this understanding that fearing God is our first defense and our only defense against the enemy. He will keep us in perfect peace, in His will and living for eternity in the temporary as long as we understand that greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world.

Anxiety replaced by true Fear

2008-06-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Mt 10:19-20 - When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

I think this is probably the clearest example of the power and intimacy of God working through our lives when you might be tempted towards anxiety. God commands us not to be anxious and the reason we are not to be anxious is because the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you. Don’t worry about what you will say because God is in control. The opposite of this though, if they chose to worry, God would not be able to speak through them, because they lack faith and thus are not controlled by the Spirit but are in essence controlling themselves and quenching the Spirit. God is always the answer for anxiety. We are anxious because we are trying to control the situation. Anxiety happens when we realize that we are not in control. Jesus reminds us that He is in control of the situation and thus we need to solely depend on Him. When we do that, we will not be anxious.

Ps 40:3-4 - He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

I like this verse because it is God who puts the song in our mouths, it is He who glorifies Himself through our words when we fear God instead of fear man. When we trust God, others will learn to fear Him as well. It is God who puts the words in our mouths when we commit to fearing Him only and others will learn to fear.

Fearing God and Blessing

2008-06-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Mt 6:33-34 - But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We are not to be anxious about tomorrow. We are not to be anxious about anything. Anxiety is fearing trouble upon yourself. Jesus said that we are not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. There is enough trouble in the day that each day is enough to worry about. But, what is amazing about this command is that before it, it isays to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we seek God and fear God, we will not be anxious about anything. When we consider God and his power, and holiness and goodness and faithfulness, all our anxieties will fade away.

Ps 115:11-13 - You who fear him, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the Lord— small and great alike.

The result and reward of fearing God is blessing. Fearing and trusting in God results in help, a shield and overwhelming blessing. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Therefore, fearing God brings blessing. When we are anxious, when we fear situations more than we fear God, we will not experience his blessing. This couldn’t be any more clear of a warning for us to not be anxious and an initiation to fear God unto blessing.

Fear that fulfills

2008-06-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Mt 6:25-33 - “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Anxiety and fear, I think, are sisters. They both feed on the same thing, which is God is not in control and I want to be in control or I am in control or I need to be in control. Anxiety is a lack of trust in God and the recognition that the situation is to big for me to control. Anxiety is fearing harm or loss of something valuable, and thus fear fears the unknowable. Anxiety is merely our body sounding an alarm that I am trying to control something I have no business or ability to control. Someone may say, "I am not fearful. I am just anxious." They are basically the same thing and thus it is necessary for us to treat them as the same evil distraction which seeks to displace the sovereignty and goodness of God from His rightful throne in our lives.

Ps 34:9 - Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.

Anxiety worries over a lack of something or losing something, whereas fearing the Lord leads us to a place of provision and peace so that we lack nothing. It really is one or the other. And the promise awaits fulfillment if we walk in faith and fear of the lord.

The break is over...

2008-05-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

For those who read this blog, thanks for your patience as I have take a half time break and am now ready to resume... Thanks for your prayers.

Fear that hopes

2008-04-29T06:22:00.001-07:00

Ro 8:14-17 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Slavery produces fear. Serving produces trust. When we don’t fear God, we will fear something else. Those who fear God receive a Spirit of Adoption that allows for an intimate relationship where instead of a cold, dead relationship, there is an intimate fatherly relationship. The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God, who have all the rights of being a son and a heir to all that is ours for inheritance. It is true that we will suffer, but it isn’t nothing to be afraid of, because we have the promise of a God who cares for us and a future inheritance awaiting us.

Fear works

2008-04-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ac 10:1-8 - At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

This is a great story of fearing God and then being in terror of God. Cornelius gets both. Look at the description of him, a gentile and centurion. He was a devout man who feared God in such a way that his entire household had been influenced by his faith. And his fear of God worked itself out in works, as he gave money to the poor and prayed continually to this God. When he was praying he saw and angel and he was terrified. But, the angel spoke good words to him. The outworking of this faith that he had, which he didn’t fully understand at the time, the alms and the prayers, had become a memorial before God. And now he was going to be rewarded by sending Peter to teach them about the faith that he would come to know. This story is important on many levels. Faith should lead us to works. Fear leads us to faith. We will be influenced by our faith if we fear God honesty and personally.

Fear doesn't matter...

2008-04-22T13:01:00.001-07:00

Ac 27:21-26 - Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.”

I have always heard that the safest place to be is in God’s will, and this verse kind of proves that point. It really is about God’s purposes for us. We will live as long as he wants us to live and no more. God wanted Paul to stand before Caesar and Paul was going to stand before Caesar. There wasn’t any storm that was going to be able to change the plan of God.

Ac 9:31 - So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the church was being built up when it was walking in the fear of the Lord. And I think the comfort of the Holy Spirit is a direct result of walking in the fear of the Lord. When we fear God, meaning when we consider him above all fears, and obey him because of our fear of Him, we will be built up and comforted.

Ps 96:4-5 - For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Our God is to be feared above all Gods. There is no God as great as our God. He has made the Heavens and the earth and all that are in them. He is sovereign over all the earth. Therefore nothing can happen outside his control. Though you may not have an angel come down today, be encouraged that God has a plan for your life. Nothing can keep you from that plan except yourself.

A fear that rules...

2008-04-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ac 18:8-11 - Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

These are encouraging word from Paul who after a difficult experience with the Jews, was going to the Gentiles. I am sure Paul was both discouraged and depressed. His own people not only rejected Jesus, but also threatened Paul. The encouraging words to Paul are that God has chosen some in the place to believe in Christ and that he will be free from attacks for a period of time. As it is, he stayed there for a year and six months teaching the Word of God to them. When Christ said in a vision, “Do not be afraid,” he was basically saying, “Don’t fear them, fear me.” It is really one or the other. If Paul feared them more than God, he would not have been obedient to the command to stay and preach. Fear keeps us from obeying God. Therefore, fear rules our lives. Which fear will you allow to rule your life?

Fear that is elminated by peace

2008-04-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Jn 20:19-23 - On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

It seems that Jesus has told the disciples countless times to fear Him only, but with Jesus now gone, and with only rumors of his resurrection, they are locked in a room because the fear the Jews. It is hard to blame them. After seeing how Jesus was brutally murdered, the disciples wanted none of it. Jesus had to prove that he was the only one to fear, and he first started with the physical barriers, a locked door. Jesus came and stood among them. Then, he said the words that eliminated all fear – peace. The word peace is a the Hebrew word shalom which is a word that both secures composure in difficult trouble and dissolves fear. He said it twice. Peace be with you and then he said that he is sending them out to do what he had done. And to give them the security and the assurance and the power, he breathed on them the Holy Spirit. Jesus would not always be with them, but the Holy Spirit would be, and the results would be the same: peace and not fear.

Fear that stays above ground

2008-04-16T04:10:00.001-07:00

Jn 19:38 - After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.

This verse really stuck out to me. A disciple of Jesus but he was a secret disciple because of the Jews. It is admirable that he came and took the body of Jesus and buried him, and maybe this was his breakout time, where he didn’t care what anyone thought anymore. But it is clear that when we fear something more than we fear God, it drives us underground. We are not witnesses as we should be when we fear something that is not God. Fearing people or circumstances or religion or reputations can lead people to be less than disciples of Christ. Fear is detrimental to being a disciple of God because we allow something with more power to earn our worship. Is there anything you fear more than God right now that is causing you to go underground?

Fear that brings peace

2008-04-15T04:09:00.000-07:00

Jn 14:25-27 - “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Peace and fear cannot co-exist. In order to have peace, there needs to be an absence of fear. The fear of God is the only thing that can replace the fear of man or the fear of the unknown or fear of loneliness. You can’t un-fear what you fear so that the only solution is replacing fear with a greater fear. In this case, Jesus is replacing the fear of losing Him with a Helper, the Holy Spirit. The reason they do not have to be afraid is because someone greater than fear will bring peace and with help you in time of need. When we fear our hearts are troubled and afraid. God’s peace assumes control in our chaotic life and hedges us in with love.

Fear that rules

2008-04-14T04:07:00.000-07:00

Jn 12:15-19 - “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Jn 12:42-43 - Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

The moment of truth has come. Which fear will win? Will it be the fear of God or the fear of Men? The same people who saw Jesus heal the dead man Lazarus were told not to fear, because their King, God, was riding in on a colt. Later, as the evidence was building, many authorities believed as well. But, they chose not to confess it because of the fear of man. There really is only room for one fear in your life, the fear of God or the fear of man. Whichever you fear more will ultimately rule your life.

Fear that get us where we are going...

2008-04-13T03:15:00.001-07:00

Jn 6:16-21 - When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

It is amazing how circumstances can breed such fear. It was dark, Jesus had not yet come, the sea was rough, a strong wind came blowing, and they had rowed and rowed and yet had not reached their destination. Then to top it off, they see a man walking on the water. No one would fault the disciples for their fear. But, look how quickly their fear dissipates, when they hear the words of Jesus, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Fear turns into gladness and they got where they were going. This story placed 2000 years ago is not unlike our situations now, where darkness and stormy seas can lead to fear. May the words of Jesus calm our fear and right our perspective that God is in control.

Fear that leads to faith

2008-04-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

Lk 23:39-43 - One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

What great timing for the “other” man to understand the fear of God. Whereas the one man was railing on Jesus, the other was fearing Him. That fear led to faith and salvation. This verse underscores the absolute necessity of fear. It was the fear of God that led Him to faith in God. The reply by Jesus is basically, “Do not Fear! You will be with me today in paradise!” That is the encouragement for all of us! We will be with Him today in paradise, too, if we fear Him as God and Savior. And if the end result is true, than there should be nothing for us to worry about all the rest of our days.

No fear in the Future

2008-04-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Lk 21:5-9 - And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

As the signs appear for the end times, do not be terrified of them. Don’t worry about what other people worry about. Don’t be afraid of sign and destruction. Don’t go after them. These things are all part of what must take place. In short, fear me and don’t fear anything else.

faith and fear made practical

2008-04-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

Lk 12:32-34 - “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This command to fear not comes on the heels of the passage commanding the disciples to not worry about food or drink or what they will wear. We are commanded to not fear where our money will come from or how we will eat. God will take care of us. But, fear God by trusting Him. Fearing God requires faith. And as we fear God more than our needs on this earth, he will give us not only our daily bread but also the kingdom.

faith and fear and persistence

2008-04-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Lk 18:1-8 - And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

When we fear God, we will have faith. Faith produces godly fear. This will win out so that we can approach God in faith. This judge didn’t fear God, but didn’t want to be worn out by the lady. But it was her persistence that enabled her to keep going. Persistence is faith in action and if faith is the opposite of fear, this should be a great lesson for us.

The eternity of fear

2008-04-05T12:56:00.001-07:00

Lk 12:4-7 - “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

We are not to fear those who can kill the body. We are only to fear the one who has authority to cast into hell or heaven. Our eternal destination is a lot greater than our life here on earth. Therefore, we can lead a fearless life if we have understood and believed in Christ for eternal salvation. The God who knows the number of hairs on our head is very much involved in our lives. We will not be forgotten. So, we need to fear God only in the difficult times. Nothing on this earth should make us fear.

A fear wrongly diagonsed

2008-04-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Lk 8:26-39 - Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

The people in village were afraid of this demon-possessed man. He was bound with chain and shakles and left by himself to be tortured by these demons. When Jesus came and cast the demons out, the fear of this demon-possessed man was now a fear of this man who had cast the demons out. Where the man who was healed and made whole began to go throughout the city to proclaim the goodness of God, these people in the village missed it. They had the wrong fear of God and thus missed (forever?) knowing the God of the universe. Sometimes it is common and easy to fear God wrongly. Instead of a fear that draws us in and teaches us how to live, they feared God and sent him away. We send God away as if he was some bad-luck charm and we don’t understand that that the fear of God is beginning of wisdom.

Faith must win over fear

2008-04-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lk 8:40-42 - Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him.

Lk 8:49-56 - While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

The fear of his daughter dying led him to Jesus because He feared God more. But, when the news came that the daughter was dead, he must have given way to fear and sorrow. Jesus replies to him, “Do not fear!” He encourages him to have faith in Him and if you do, she will be well. Fear is cured by belief in the one who is worthy to fear. Jairus went from fear to faith because the one worthy of fear commanded it. How important it is that faith wins out over fear!

Fear makes Him bigger and me smaller

2008-04-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Lk 2:8-18 - And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

The shepherds experienced fear when they saw the angels. They were told "fear not" by the angels. And then they feared the angels and did not fear what society would think of them when they went and told the message to Mary and Joseph. Fear of God and no fear of man should be the norm in our lives. The shepherds who were the bottom rung of society were chosen to tell the greatest news ever. But, without a command to not fear God and an experience of fearing God, they wouldn’t have been the messenger. The more we fear God, the greater witness we will be. We need to grow in the fear of God by focusing on growing in the knowledge of the Holy one. The bigger he becomes, the the less about ourselves we will be.

Fear that leads to worship

2008-04-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Lk 8:22-25 - One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

The disciples were in fear of the water and the waves and of dying. They didn’t fear the God who was in the boat. God rebukes the wind and the waves and then basically equates faith with fear. If you have fear, you won’t have the faith required to believe in me in the storm. If we have faith, we will fear that which deserves to be feared, namely, God. When we have faith, our fear changes and instead of fearing the storm, we fear the one who can calm the storm. Our fear leads to worship and God is glorified.

The blessings and curses of Fear

2008-04-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Lk 5:1-11 - On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Again, a great example of how fear of God leads to a fearless (eventually) life. Peter recognized his sinfulness in light of the miracle of Jesus and was told “Do Not Fear” and then given a purpose for his life. Jesus said, “You will be a catcher of man!” What was it that Peter was fearing? He was fearing God because of His sin, as if someone were standing near you who could read your mind, who was perfectly holy and was powerful enough to do the impossible.

This example of how Jesus turned fear into purpose is astonishing. It should serve as an example to us that the more we fear and repent, the greater that God will use us. Instead of being crushed in his sin, Peter is elevated out of his fear with a new purpose and reason for living. The recognition of our sin leads to fearing God. The command to not fear is God calling us to live with power and security and joy in this world. The more we fear God, the less we will fear in this world to do that which God has purposed for us to do. Fear keeps us from doing the purposes of God.

Fear that obeys

2008-03-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Lk 1:26-50 - In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

This is another example of the evolution of fear. Mary was greatly troubled by seeing Gabriel, she was told “Do not be Afraid” and then during Mary’s Magnificat worship she says, “His mercy is for those who fear Him!” Again and again, we see this through the gospels of this relationship between fearing God and not fearing anything else. We see the awesomeness of God and his angels and yet the consolation of not needing to fear anything. I think our generation is missing out on the blessing that comes with fearing God only. We fear so much because we don’t understand the fear of God. If we understood the fear of God, the fears of this world would become less and less.
Jas 4:5-6 - Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Fearing that leads to obedience

2008-03-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Lk 1:11-17 - And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”¹⁸And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

Here is a classic case of fear and doubt being stronger than the fear of God. As a result, Zechariah is mute for nine months. I am sure he had a lot to think about over the nine months that John was in his wife’s tummy, and he probably learned a fear greater than he had ever known. What a privilege to both see an angel and then have such a direct consequence. Often I wonder if the point of discipline from the Lord is used to build our faith and our fear in God. Zechariah did go against all common sense and tradition when his tongue was unloosed when he said, “His name will be John.” And you bet it affected the way he parented this young man in the Lord. Hebrews 12:5-6 say “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Fearless to a fearing world

2008-03-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Mk 16:1-8 - When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

This is situation where fear of God and fear of man clash and it looks like the fear of man wins. They are supposed to tell the disciples and Peter that he is going to Galilee. But they told no one. One wonders why they told no one, but you have to wonder if it was because she was a woman, that she was even at the tomb, and that she had a spotty past. Why would Jesus show up first to her? And yet the fear of God had consumed her with trembling and astonishment. We can’t be afraid to do that which the world doesn’t understand, and it will only be a true fear of God and the Holy Spirit’s enablement that will help us be fearless to a fearing world.

Fear that breaks hard hearts...

2008-03-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Mk 6:45-52 - Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Could it be that it is our hard hearts prevent us from fearing God? They shouldn’t have been utterly astounded by walking on water because they had seen him feed five thousand. I am not sure which is easier: breaking loaves or walking on water. I think they are both the same in degree of difficulty. So, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, if there hearts were hard, they wouldn’t have been so astounded. But, they were astounded because they didn’t have the proper fear of God, yet. God said do not be afraid because I am the only one worthy of true fear. But, this is a great insight into what keeps us from true fear, namely, heart hearts.

Fear of God follows faith...

2008-03-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Mk 5:35-43 - While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

It seems that there are two options when it comes to fear. Either you fear or you have faith. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus commands people not to fear, but to have faith. The natural default seems to be fear and so we must actively have faith for faith to win out. After Jesus healed this daughter against the face of adversary and opposition, they were overcome with amazement or awe or in essence, fear. When we have faith and we see God work, it leads to a correct fear. The more we fear God, the more he can do through us. The previous chapter was about a woman who was bleeding for many years and she had faith that even an indirect touch would heal her. Her faith was rewarded and when Jesus discovered who had touched her, she fell down with fear and trembling. Fear of God follows faith but fear of man hinders faith. Faith requires risk as in this situation where the ruler of the synagogue had put his reputation at risk as the mourners laughed at this desperate man, he trusted Jesus and was rewarded with the life of her daughter, brought back from the dead.

Faith that dissolves fear

2008-03-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Mk 4:35-41 - On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

Again, this is a great example of God teaching true fear through nature and miracles. The disciples are at first fearful of the boat being capsized by the water. Than they are commanded not to fear anything. And then after seeing a miracle, they naturally fear God. They move from fear of creation and death to fear of God who is greater than both death and creation. It is interesting that Jesus asks them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” It seems that these are two mutually exclusive. You can’t fear or be afraid and have faith, too. Such a simple statement with far reaching results. If we have a faith in an almighty, in control God, we will not need to be afraid of anything.

Fear unto worship

2008-03-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Mt 28:1-10 - Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

What a great story of fear in all dimensions. The guards became like dead men when they saw the angel, but the same angel said, “Do not be afraid!” So they depart with fear and joy only to see Jesus who says, “Do not be afraid!” We see in the passage the awesomeness of God and his angels that well up fear in our bodies, and then we also see the care and love that we are commanded not to fear. Fear God and fear no one. God is to be worshipped above all.

Fear transfigured

2008-03-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mt 17:1-8 - And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

In this account, the fear of God and the command do not fear are placed side by side. Jesus said, “Have no fear” after the three disciples had experienced the fear of God. In this account we see both the awesomeness of God as well as the tenderness of God. May we live within the tension that is illustrated for us, revering God and his might, but also obeying God’s command to not fear.

The fear that can('t) walk on water

2008-03-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Mt 14:23-33 - And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

This passage so clearly and graphically details both how the fear of things destroys us and the fear of God builds us up. The disciples feared what they thought was a ghost and Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.” Than Peter not only isn’t afraid, but walks on water. But, he sees the wind, and becomes afraid and Jesus rebukes, “Why did you doubt?” And when Jesus got back in the boat, and the wind ceased, the fear of Jesus fell upon the people. This passage shows both the heights we can soar with a proper fear of God and how desperate we can become when we fear anything but God. This should encourage us to no end that if we keep our eye on God, we will by faith be able to conquer things that are impossible, fears that are rational and hearts that are impassable. Our God who is control of everything is also our Father. But, we need to, to by fear, step out of the boat and come to him, keeping our eyes on Him, only. "Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid."

Fear that leads to either sin or worship

2008-03-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Mt 10:29-33 - Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

In that time, sparrows were numberless. Yet, God used them as an illustration that he even in great number, he knows each as individuals. In the same way, even the numbers on our heads are numbered. Therefore, because of this attention to detail, we know we have a God who not only knows us intimately but also considers us valuable. And because He takes care of us, we need not fear, ever. And not only is it an encouragement, but it is also a warning. When we fear someone other than God, we are in essence, denying His power, goodness and sovereignty. When we do that, we are denying God’s existence and power before men. The result of that is his denying us before the Father in Heaven. Fearing anything other than God is a serious sin indeed.

Ps 118:1-4 - Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.”

When we fear God, we are saying, “His love endures forever.” We are saying that He is strong, powerful, mighty and worthy to be feared above any problem, confrontation, trial or issue. God is good, he is worthy of being thanked and he is above all, worthy of fear. Fear Him only and you will not only not deny Him, you will say for all to hear that “His Love endures forever.” The world needs that witness.

Fear that brings God glory

2008-03-05T19:43:00.001-08:00

Mt 10:17-27 - Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. “So have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

This prophecy of their future suffering is finished with three ‘Do Not Fear’ commands, the first one which is today. The question might be asked what causes fear and Jesus answers that: First, he commands them not to be anxious over what they will say when they are delivered up to the governors and kings. The Spirit will give them the words. Second, don’t be anxious that you will be delivered by your family and that you will be hated because those who endure will be saved. Third, they will persecute you and lastly they will malign you. Not encouraging words by any mean. But, at the end of these prophecies that did come true, are the bedrock of peace and joy, which is “have no fear!” There are two ways to look at it: These things are going to happen, so don’t worry. And when they happen don’t fear. I am in control and this is according to my plan. The world will soon be responsible for the words that I have shared with you. You will be my witnesses and it will involve suffering. But, don’t fear, for I am in control.

Ps 96:4-6 - For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

There is no need to fear persecution or people or governors or kings. God is to be feared above all, because He is the creator who made all, the powerful one who is above all, and the glorious one who is to be honored above all. Fear of man strips him of His glory. The fear of Him honors him in his glory. Even in the worst situation, do not fear, but Fear God alone.

Faith or being afraid? How the right fear changes the end result...

2008-03-04T21:34:00.001-08:00

Mt 8:23-27 - And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Where God commands the Israelites to not fear, Jesus asks the question, “Why are you afraid?” The obvious answer would be the winds and the rain and we are going to die. Jesus then does as God did throughout the whole old testament, do a miracle that gave the disciples some perspective about the sovereignty and power of God. The answer to why are they afraid is that they have little faith. We are afraid when we are not in control and someone greater is not in control. We are afraid when what we value is threatened. Therefore, being a afraid is merely an alarm to remind us that we are not in control and we need to have faith that God is in control. We must cry out like the apostles in Lk 17:5 - The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Ps 33:17-20 - A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

This is a perfect complimentary verse in that it shows how useless man’s help is but also how helpful God’s help when He is our hope and we fear Him only. He will deliver from death and keep us alive in famine. We wait in hope of the Lord and He is our help and our shield. We must trust in Him only as the antidote of being afraid so that God can work in us t accomplish all that He wants through our lives.

God is God in all our fears

2008-03-03T22:51:00.003-08:00

Mt 2:19-23 - But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

This is an interesting account of Joseph fearing and God confirming that fear by appearing again in yet another dream and sending him somewhere else. And though this verse does not say necessarily, do not fear, it gives us confidence that in our fears, God can either confirm them or reject them. Obviously, Joseph has been communicated to very clearly over the past few months in regards to this baby Jesus. And so he has to feel that His life really isn’t his own and that their was a divine presence guiding his life for the purpose of the little baby. This is a great example of how we should view the hand of God in our lives. Though God may not speak as clearly as He does to Joseph, we should still have that same sense that God is very much in the middle of all our dealings.

Ps 25:12 - Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

It was Joseph’s fear of God that enabled him to be instructed. When we don’t fear God, either our pride or our fear will control us. When we fear God and God only, we are able to be instructed. And like Joseph, our fears will be confirmed or rejected in light of our perspective of God in that moment. The more we fear God, the less we will fear life because we understand the power and sovereignty of God in any and every situation.

Fear that involves risk

2008-03-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

Mt 1:18-25 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

I love Joseph’s obedience here. In what will become a scandalous, embarrassing event in the life of both Joseph and Mary, he obeys God and takes his wife. It cost him his reputation, his pride and control. The thing that God commanded that would sustain him through all of this was “Do Not Fear!” Do not fear what people think of you, do not fear what do to you and do not fear not knowing what will come next. I am in control.

Ps 2:11-12 - Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

I really think this verse describes Joseph. He served the Lord with fear and obeyed him without question. And literally, in his obedience of the Father, he kissed the Son. It is so crazy to think that the one whom he step-fathered is the on who he would take refuge in. May we follow God by fearing only Him that we may kiss the son and fear not the scandalous, reputation-hitting things that our decisions may endure.

The joy of fearing God

2008-03-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Zep 3:12-13 - But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”

The prophecy of future peace assumes God’s sovereign rule. IF he can predict future peace by organizing events, he certainly can provide peace in the now. God is in control of all events for all time for His glorious purposes. Though mountains may shake and troubles may come, the doubts and fears that seem to barrage us are powerless to the great and mighty King who rules over everything.

Ps 85:8-9 - Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

God saving us is for His glory. The conduit of this occurring is rightfully fearing Him. He speaks peace to his people but we must not return to folly, the foolishness of fearing and trusting other idols to deliver or bring peace and satisfaction. Thank you Lord for providing for us the joy of being obedient to you.

A story of fear

2008-02-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

Jonah 1:5-16 - Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

This is a long passage today but it really captures fear in many different extremes. The sailors feared the waves and the sea. They feared for their lives and called out to their gods to no avail. Jonah was sleeping and it showed that even though he was running away from God, he also was able to sleep knowing that God was in control. It is ironic that Jonah said he feared the Lord when if he truly feared him would have obeyed him. But when the casted lot confirmed the reason for the tempest, Jonah was thrown overboard and the ocean calmed down. The men feared the Lord exceedingly. Story is often a greater teacher, and in this story we see depicted the power of fearing God and nature. God once again shows that He is above all nature, powers and dominions. There is nothing to fear God but God Himself. May our fear lead to true obedience and heart felt worship.

The proper perspective of fear

2008-02-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

Am 3:3-8 - “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it? “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

The sovereignty and power of the Lord almighty scream through on this page. Though it is difficult to fully understand, nothing happens outside of God’s divine control. And because of that we must fear, not the current events, but the one who is in control of the events, working them through according to His divine plan. We are to fear the lion of Judah and we will not fear the daily events. Praise God for his goodness and His love for us.

Let all the earth Fear the Lord

2008-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Joe 2:21-23 - “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.

This is the first time that God speaks his words of comfort to both land and beasts. And the context shows that it is for the comfort of his people Israel. The early rains leads to a great harvest and it is God who controls it all. They do not need to fear because the Weatherman will take care of them. We are to rejoice because the Lord has done great things. As Romans 8:19-24 writes, “ The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. [20] For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. [22] We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” This verse in Romans clarifies that creation has indeed been subject to frustration and is moaning because of its decay. As God speaks blessing and comfort to the creation, he speaks it to mankind as well. Do not be afraid.

Ps 76:8-12 - From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet— when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.Selah Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained. Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.

This shows the reverse, the fear that the land should have of its ruler. What God says will be done and the Land will bear the result of the judgment. The lands will see that God is God, the one who is to be feared, by land and by Kings. We can’t forget the importance of fearing God the way that He deserves to be feared.

Fear that witnesses

2008-02-21T02:08:00.000-08:00

Da 10:11-19 - And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.” When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.” Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

Daniel was told twice not to fear in the presence of what appeared to be a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, and then Michael, the archangel. He was told not to fear, not only the vision of these spiritual beings in al their glory which left him totally useless, but also what was to come in terms of prophecy. When God commands us to not fear, he does so because he knows that fear eliminates peace, strength and courage. These are necessary if we are going to do what God has called us to do. When we do fear, we lose peace, we lose our strength and we lose our courage. When we lose our peace, our minds are not kept in Christ. Like Philippians 4:6-7 says that anxiety causes our hearts and mind to be infiltrated so that Christ is not in charge. It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” If we fear, we are not strong and do not have good courage. We need to strength and courage to be able to obey all that God has for us to do. Joshua is a great example of having to be prodded to not fear. Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." If he is not strong and courageous, will not go where God wants him to go. Peace, strength and courage come when we fear nothing and go when we fear something.

Da 1:8-16 - But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

Though this passage does not actually quote the fear of God, it shows how fear can change lives. The chief feared the king and thus was afraid to let Daniel do what his convictions demanded. But, Daniel feared the King and was willing to believe that He was able to make him healthy despite the lack of food that he would eat. Because Daniel feared God, the chief now understood the power and strength of God in a new way. It is a great contrast in fears, and a great reminder that fearing God is a necessary witness to a fearing world.

The beauty of an undivided heart, Part II

2008-02-19T20:51:00.001-08:00

Eze 39:25-28 - “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore.

A lack of fear always seems to be front and center as a place of promise for his people. With so much to be afraid of, God promises that for His own glory, he will keep them safe. And I think that is a great thing for us to contemplate. As father protects his own children and takes glory in protecting them, how much more the Father for his children. When we fear, we are doubting not only his strength, but also the that brings Him glory. Everytime we do not fear in the face of fear, we bring glory to the Lord of all Lords. Peace in the midst of the storm witnesses that there is a God and that He is big enough to shelter us from all our storms.

Eze 11:19-24 - I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me,

The connection between fearing God and His name and praising and glorifying God in the passage is no accident. When we have an undivided heart, it allows us to focus solely on walking in the truth of God. When we walk in the truth of God, we will fear God. Worship is in essence fearing God. It is recognizing the power and might and soverighty of God and saying, “Who is like you?” Our fear of God is linked closely to His glory. And when we fear anything other that God, we steal his glory, we give it away… So pray for an undivided heart so that God may his Glory.

The beauty of an undivided heart

2008-02-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Eze 34:25-31 - “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”

What an encouraging passage which refers to the new covenant to be put into operation in the Milennial kingdom. It goes to show how full his blessing will be that will bring peace, security, full knowledge of the Lord and a lack of fear. The promise is that they will know God is with them and we will rest in dependence on God. This is a great prophecy of not only the future, but also a reminder of what God desires now, in that we submit to the Lord our God as our shepherd now in whom there is nothing to be afraid. Psalm 23 Psalm 23:1-6 [4] Even though I walkthrough the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me… He is the answer to our fear.

Ps 86:11-13 - Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

To know the fear of God, we must have an undivided heart. We must learn the way so that we can walk in this truth. If we have a divided heart, if we don’t know the shepherd of our souls, many things will come in and cause fear in our lives. If we understand that the God we glorify, we will glorify forever, it will give us perspective in our days on earth. We must pray for an undivided heart to truly know God and fear Him only. Than weill be able to praise and glorify Him as he deserves.

Be Still and Fear God only...

2008-02-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

Eze 11:7-8 - You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God.

It seems that often the Lord’s discipline is often the result of our fears. When we fear something besides fearing God, he might discipline us with that fear itself. This discipline which came to the rebellious house of Israel shows how fear makes us do wrong things. They decided to fight instead of trust God. They feared the people and yet the thing they feared ended up killing them. What an urgent warning to us all to lay our fears down at the feet of God and spend more time worshipping Him than thinking about our problems and worries and fears. Worship Him alone.

Ps 46:10-11 - “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.Selah

What a great verses to come back to in our fears. In the midst of chaos and difficulty, we are called back to quietness and rest. God is in control. He will be exalted among the nations. He is with us. He is our strong fortress. All we need to do for God to be exalted is to be still and know, to really know, to feel the effects and understand the implications that He is God.

Fear that instructs

2008-02-13T04:01:00.000-08:00

Eze 3:8-11 - Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

Fear them not nor be discouraged by their looks… Don’t allow these stubborn people to cause you to fear nor do not allow their looks to dismay or discourage you. Don’t allow bad news to discourage. Don’t let threats or evil intentions or anything that like the cause you to fear. I am in control. I have a plan. I am compassionate. I understand these people. Therefore fear me by listening to me and obeying me. Fear me, not them.

Ps 25:12 - Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

This verse describes so many of the saints of the Bible. God is looking for people who do not fear anything except himself so that He can use them to accomplish feats for His glory. Fearing gives power and thus glory to those with less power and glory than God. Fearing God enables us to live without regard for anything else.

How Fear leads to worship

2008-02-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Eze 2:5-7 - And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

We are not supposed to be afraid. Of anything. Period. And then God labels what could cause fear. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be afraid of their words. Don’t be afraid of their looks. He does tell them not to be afraid of their words twice. God says “Do not be afraid” because they are a rebellious house and you are going to speak my words to them. If Ezekiel were afraid, he would give have given more power to evil than to good. But, God is above all and therefore, just as important as it is to not be afraid, it is just as important to fear God rightly. We will do one or the other when faced with a hard time. Do not fear God because fearing God replaces fearing words, people or looks. Fearing God frees to face our fears with confidence and victory.

Ps 22:23 - You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

In the midst of fear, the fear of God will not only replace our fear, but also lead us to praise Him. It is impossible to truly fear God and not be moved to praise by His power, love, goodness and mercy. As we grow in fear of God, we will grow in our confidence and our praise. The fear of God leads to the worship of God!

The blessings of right fear

2008-02-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

La 3:55-57 - “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’

La 5:19 - You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.

Fearing God resolves the fear we feel. How we resolve our fear determines the result of our perspective that will either encourage or discourage us in difficult times. He comes near when we acknowledge our fear and responds with a tender command, “Do not fear!” His throne endures for ever. He is in control. But unless we go to Him in our fears, we will never fully understand that our fears will be swallowed up in His nearness. His fear is a gift. The more we seek Him the bigger He becomes and the smaller our fears become. The hard part is humbling yourself to seek Him.

Ps 33:18-22 - But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

This is a promise. Those who fear the Lord have the assurance that the eye of the Lord is on them. There is something special and unique about a person who fears God more than he fears anything else, and as you draw near to the God you fear, you will have a renewed awakening of fresh hope in his unfailing love. Fear involves an active hope and a faithful trust in God. It is that dependence perhaps, thrills the heart of the father, to keep His eye on you.

Don't be afraid of fear

2008-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Je 51:46 - Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler.

Don’t listen to the papers, the news or the gossip. Don’t listen to the predictions or the fears of man. Don’t listen to bad reports from anyone. Nothing is bigger than God. Nothing is more true than His words. Trust in God and His word as your answer and security. If we fear God as the only one worthy of fear, than you will not need to fear anything.

1 Ch 21:30 - But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

I think this is a great example of the only thing that is worthy of fear. Fear God only and be afraid of Him only. Rest in his His power, control, and his goodness.

Fear defined

2008-02-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

Je 46:28 - Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

This promise to discipline but not destroy Israel is a promise later confirmed by Paul in Romans 11. Despite their exile and the bleak future, when all seems lost, God again, gives them a promise that He will save them and so they do not need to fear! When it is true that even in discipline and bleak days that we do not need to fear, when ever should we fear?

2 Ch 19:7 - Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

If the fear of the Lord is upon us, we will have no reason to fear anything. To often our worries are upon us, or our stresses, or our fears or our burdens. We must do what Peter commands us in 1 Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Fear is believing that you are without help in the world. Fear is belief in something that is not God, that is bigger than God, that threatens God's sovereignty. Fearing God is belief in a God. Fearing people or circumstances or systems or governments is belief that there is no God.

Serving and fear

2008-02-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Je 46:27 - “But fear not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.

There is something the connects the command fear not with the phrase “my servant” that gives the command validity and assurance. And I guess the opposite is true that when we lose sight of this idea that we are His servant, when it becomes about our safety and our plans and our worries, when it becomes about us, than we fear. Submit yourself to God as His servant for Him to do whatever pleases Him for His glory, and you will not fear.

2 Ch 19:9 - He gave them these orders: “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.

I think this really gives us the other side of the connection between servanthood and fear. We must serve. Period. For us to walk in fear of the Lord, we must humble ourselves as His servants. We must be faithful in our efforts and wholehearted in our devotion. There is a direct correlation between fearing God and walking humbly as a servant before him. When we lose sight of our position we will fear.

Witnessing the fear of God

2008-02-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Je 42:11-12 - Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ¹³But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, ¹⁶then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.

Again, God gives Himself as the reason to not fear. I am with you. I will save you. I will deliver you. I will grant you mercy. If I am on your side, you have nothing to worry about, literally. But, if you disobey God by not fearing Him and by not listening to His voice, than that which you fear will happen to you. It is so clear cut, and a great principle for us to consider, in that, sometimes God would allow that which we fear to happen as discipline so we can learn to fear God, only.

1 Ch 17:20-22 - “There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God.

This is the desired result of fearing God, in that , God makes a name for himself. That is God’s ultimate desire and plan, to make a name for Himself through His people. As we fear God, the world will see our witness and they will fear God. If we do not fear God, who will? God wants us to fear Him and worship Him so that the world will see the glory of our God!

When we fear God only

2008-01-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

Je 39:15-18 - The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard: “Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.’ ”

In this case, God doesn’t command Ebed-Melech to not be afraid, but shows him God’s care in his fear, and then gives him a promise so he doesn’t need to fear. This is the first type of promise that I have seen like this, and I think it is has to be because this man wasn’t a jew, but he feared God more than the jews. I don’t think he fully understood all the ramifications of trusting God and probably had never had a the word of God to teach him about the Lord God. So, God in his compassion and care, gently encourages him with a promise that he will be saved because of his trust in Him. Ebed-Melech risks his life to care for Jeremiah and God honors that.

1 Ch 16:23-29 - Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

What an amazing passage. At the center of this praise and exaltation of God, is the truth that He is to be feared above all… The reason for this is because He is great and worthy of praise. He made the heavens, and splendor and majesty are before Him. Our response should be to bring an offering of praise before Him. When we trust God, we will be like Ebed-Melech, able to have no reason to fear because the fearful One cares of us. There is no reason to fear when the one we fear is the Lord over all…

How worship and fear consume each other

2008-01-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

Je 30:10-11 - “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

Do not fear declares the Lord. Once again, this command is followed by a promise. Do not fear for I am with you. I will save you. I will see that you will have quiet and ease and that no one should make you afraid. We do not need to fear because God is with us.

2 Ki 17:27-28 - Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD.

God commands us to fear Him. Fearing Him is worshipping Him. When the priest was required to teach the people what God requires, the result was teaching the people how to worship. We cannot worship God fully when we fear something else. Worship consumes fear of temporary things and produces a healthy fear in the eternal God.

Fear that cares

2008-01-25T22:10:00.001-08:00

Je 23:3-6 - Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Again, God is putting in provisions for his people so that they are cared for and so they will not fear. It is a priority for God that His people fear Him only so that they will not fear anything else. It is the cornerstone of his Sovereignty. If we fear death or need or people, than we remove him from the throne of power that He sits on. God will bring in shepherds who will follow a Shepherd who will guide and encourage and lead you for the purpose that you would know that God cares for you and to remove your fears.

2 Ki 17:31-41 - They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

Though the words fear are not written in this passage, it is a clear example that the people did not fear God. When you fear God, you cannot fear anything else. Fear and worship go hand in hand. Fear comes out of worship and worship drives us to fear. We will fear what we worship. We worship what we fear. In this passage, they” worshipped” God and they worshipped their idols. God had warned them that you can’t do both. This is such a great complement to the previous verse about not fearing beause God has one answer to fear: Himself. He longs to care for you and provide you with the assurance that you need not fear. But, are we willing to let go of our fears and trust our father.

Fear that glorifies

2008-01-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Je 17:7-8 - “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Trusting in the Lord, fearing the Lord, enables us to live without fear and without anxiety. When the heat comes, and it will come, because we trust in the Lord, not only can we be free from the travails of the soul, we can also still bear fruit. What an amazing promise. This concept of bearing fruit in spite of and because of the heated times in our live is an unfamiliar one to us. The book of James and the book of Romans both illustrate how trials and suffering bring about faith and perseverance and character so that we can become mature and complete. Instead of fearing the heat, we can welcome it in joy knowing that God will use it to deepen our trust in Him.

2 Ch 17:9-10 - And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

As we grow in the fear of God, not only will we that change how we view sin and life, but in this case, the fear of God fell upon the land as well. Perhaps, the fear of God is similar to the light in Matt 5 which produces good works in us and gives glory to God in Heaven because of it outward effect.

Fear is simple

2008-01-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

Je 10:6-7 - There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

There is no one who is as great and mighty and wise as our God. Therefore we are not to fear anything but fear our God. Not only is it truth, it is what God is due. It is required by us to do. We must fear Him.

Fearing singleheartedly

2008-01-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

Je 10:1-5 - Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

In the western world, we do not seem to struggle with fearing idols as much as in other parts of the world. But, there are definitely things that we are scared of including, superstitions, dreams and newspaper rumors and much more. God is saying that all hand-made things are not to be feared. There is nothing that can happen to you apart from God’s knowledge and sovereigngty and only God gives good gifts. We need to find refuge in our father as the giver of all good gifts and the sovereign one in control of everything.

2 Ki 17:5-13 - The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the Lord to anger. They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.” The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”

This is a long passage but I think you see the correlation to the previous passage. Because the Israelites did not fear God, God, in His anger, allowed them to be captured by Assyria. The reason that was given for this was that they worshipped other gods instead of fearing the only God. Fearing God is something that must be done with our whole heart. You can’t fear God and worship other gods. It is one or the other.

Fear so you don't fear

2008-01-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

Je 1:17-19 - But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

What a great challenge to dress yourself and get going. I love the promise behind the command, which I will will be with you, and I will deliver you. You will not be dismayed because I am on your side. But the warning is this: if you are dismayed or fearful, than I will dismay you before them. But if you fear me, Jeremiah, God says, than, there will be nothing to fear. But, God doesn’t promise it will be easy. There will be a fight, but they will not win.

Ps 34:4-8 - I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

This Psalm is the perfect companion to the challenge of Jeremiah. When we seek the lord, we wil be delivered from all my fear. He won’t be delievered necessarily from the fight, but from the fears, which is the only thing Jeremiah was warned against. If you are dismayed, I will dismay you. That was the only fear that Jeremiah should have had. The promise here is that an an angel will encamp around those who fear him, and he will deliver them. As we press into God we will, at the most scary times, taste and see that He is good and we will be blessed as we take refuge in Him!

Fear reformed

2008-01-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Je 1:4-9 - Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

The issue for Jeremiah was fear. Fear of being to be young and fear of not knowing how to speak. God addresses this fear by ensuring him that God would do the sending, the giving of words and the delivering. The only thing that Jeremiah had to worry about was not being afraid. We can’t forget that Ephesians 2:10 says that God has created us in Christ Jesus to do good works which He has prepared in advance for us, each, to do. Not only had He a call on Jeremiah’s life, he also has a call on our lives. He will see to it that we are sufficiently equipped to do His works for Him, but we must trust and not fear. And, yet, there are more than 25 more times in the book of Jeremiash that God has to utter these same words: “Fear Not!” God is both firm and gracious in his reminding of us of his His sovereignty and sufficiency.

Jdg 7:1-3 - Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

This is such an amazing story of how God decimated Gideon’s army so that God would get the glory and not the Israelites. And, it is even more amazing that the first and most decisive blow was the 22,000 people who left because they feared. I wonder what we miss out on because of fear, and how displeasing this must be to God. I am thankful that Jeremiah obeyed even in his fear.

Fear leads to peace

2008-01-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

Is 54:11-14 - “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

This is a wonderful promise of the new millennium and the promise of all that is to come. But, I also think it give us a command for today. How often we are afflicted and storm-tossed and not comforted. It is like being in the boat with Jesus who is sleeping in the storm while we are worried and fearful and uncomforted. When Jesus calmed the waters, what was his rebuke, but that they lacked faith. The command of God is for us not to fear and the promise is that His righteousness will be established through our trials and in our trials. It is true that for now we experience life in the storm, but we have a hope in this storm that has power enough to calm our storm and calm us in our storms.

1 Ki 18:2-5 - So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”

This is a great story of fearless living in a fearful time. Obadiah feared God only and thus trusted God in the storm that he was living in. This a great application to the truth of what we are learning. When we fear God only, it enables us to be free from the oppression of evil and shame, and to be at peace.

The answer to Fear

2008-01-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

Is 54:4-8 - “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.

This verses explains the reasons for our fears. We fear being ashamed, confounded and disgraced. What comforting words to Israel and ultimately to us that our Father is committed to us wholly and abundantly. He is our redeemer, our husband and the God of the whole earth. He longs to have compassion in us even in our worst unfaithfulness. If we don’t ever need to fear when we are doing good and when have done bad, we truly never have to fear.

1 Ki 8:41-43 - “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

A prayer for the foreigner that God would act on his behalf for the purpose of people knowing His name and Fearing God. When we don’t fear God, we have reason to fear God. Fearing God leads to knowledge and understanding of how life runs and how we should live our lives. Fear disrupts and focuses on us instead of focusing on Him. Fearing God leads to not being ashamed, confounded or disgraced. Fearing God is the answer to not fearing the world.

Don't forget...

2008-01-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

Is 51:12-13 - “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy?

Again, the theme keeps coming back that when you know God, truly know God, and remember him in fearful situations, you will realize that there is nothing to fear. It is when we forget the Lord, the one who is eternal and never dies, and the one who created the heaven and the earth, that we lose the perspective that if God is for us, who can be against us. Not only do we have nothing to fear, but we also have a God who comforts us in hardship and pain.

1 Ki 8:37-40 - “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple— then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.

Because the would forget so often that God is Lord, he allowed the Israelites to experience his discipline for the express purpose of instilling a healthy fear in Him in the the land that was given to them. It is so clear how important fear is to our relationship with God and our growth as believers. Fearing God is what keeps us from forgetting God is what keeps us from fearing man.

75 days of Fear (not)

2008-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

We have finished 75 days of learning about fear (not)! If you want to look at a list with all the verses in order that the verses have appeared, please click here! If you want verses in canonical order (from Genesis to Revelation), click here!

Thanks for journeying with me through this!

Focusing on God for perspective in Fear

2008-01-11T21:25:00.001-08:00

December 31

Is 51:6-9 - Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”

These verses which begin taking place in the tribulation setting the stage for a renewed earth during the Millennium should give us amazing confidence in the place of fear. Since we know the future, we can remain fearless in the present. Salvation is forever for those who know righteousness in Christ, for those whose heart has been reborn to know and understand and delight in the words of God. When this supernatural work has occurred in a life of sinful person, what are we to fear?

2 Sa 7:22-24 - “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God.

Though this verse does not have the words fear in it, we get the picture of what true fear looks like. Fear involves recognizing the character of who God truly is: great, Sovereign, Lord, unique, loving, and eternal. Fear not because you have been chosen by God to be with Him forever. Fear Him only and you will never need to fear anything on earth!

A fear that leads to humility

2007-12-30T21:23:00.000-08:00

Is 44:6-8 - Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Why are we not to fear? The Lord, the King, the Redeemer, the first, the last, the only God who knows what is to come and what will happen has told us, “Fear not!” There is no Rock like our Rock. There is nothing as sure as God. As we remember our God in the midst of fear, we gain perspective that virtually replaces our fear from that on earth to the fear of our God in Heaven. We have heard it from Him. We are not to fear.

Ps 55:19 - God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.

The promise is that we will be humbled if we do not change and do not fear God. We should be changed by the fear of God. It should change how we see our future, interact with people and deal with situations. It is prideful to fear because when you fear you are relying on yourself. God gives us none other than himself as the solution for all life’s problems and worries. And as we humble ourselves in the fear of God, he will exalt us as James 4:10 promises, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

A fear out of love

2007-12-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

Dec 29, 2007

Is 44:2-5 - Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

We are commanded to fear not because the God who made us, formed us and chosen us will help us. It really is that simple. IF we remember our creator and sustainer and our Lord, we will not need to fear. There is nothing greater than our God who reigns in holiness and goodness. The name Jeshurun is a poetical name for the Israelites which means “upright or straight.” It is a name like when Simon became Peter or Jacob became Israel. God calls his people a name which expresses his intimacy and love for them and gives them a way to see this fear they feel. Our mighty and intimate God says, “Fear Not!”

2 Sa 23:2-4 - “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.’

When someone rules in fear of God, the world is righted. The result of living the name Jeshurun is light and brightness. I love this verse.

fear and glory

2007-12-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dece 28, 2007

Is 43:5-7 - Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

The beginning and end form an incredible truth that we should mediate on deeply… Fear not for I am with you…because I created you for my glory, whom I formed and made. Because we were created by an almighty God who was created for God’s glory alone, we can rest in absolute peace that nothing will hinder God in doing what we were created to do.

Nu 25:11 - “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.

I so love the description of Phineas that I would name my child after him, if it weren’t such an unusual name. What a epigraph. Do we have the same zeal for God’s glory? The anger of God was turned away from the sin of the Israelities because one man zealously feared the glory of God. These two verses form an incredible truth for which we need to take to heart. Fear keeps a man from bringing man glory, while fearing God brings Him glory. Fear gives a great glory to whatever is that has more power than God. Fearing God gives all power to God and thus brings him glory.

It's a wonder we fear

2007-12-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Dec 27, 2007

Is 43:1-3 - But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

These verses so paint a picture of why we should not fear, I fear it is hard to improve on them. But, I do want to make an observation, which is that it isn’t if we got through waters or through rivers or walk through fire, it is when. We all walk through these fires in life and when we do, we are to fear not, because our sovereign and powerful God who looking back has created us, redeemed us and called us by name. As we look forward we also realize that he will be with us, that He is our savior. God is behind and before us and beside us.

There is no one like our God. The wonders he has done should lead us to fear Him and Him only. He has proved himself over and over again. He redeems us, performs great and awesome wonders, and he has established us as his own, forever… There is no one to fear!’

Hearts enlarged

2007-12-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2007

Is 41:14 - Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

The Israelites are commanded to not fear because God is the one who helps them. The term “worm” is how they are referred to by other nations in that they are despised, weak people. But, God assures them that despite what the others think, that God is the Lord, the one who redeems them, the Holy One. The words that are in this passage are significant. The Lord is sovereign. Nothing can happen apart from his control. Redeemer means to buy back. Holy One means that nothing evil comes from Him. So putting them together, we understand that we don’t have to fear because the Lord that is in control is both good and intimately merciful. The more we understand our Lord, the stronger we will live.

1 Sa 12:24 - But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

As in the previous passage, this too emphasizes the importance of knowing God’s character as a basis for fearing and serving Him. If we don’t know Him or don’t consider the great things He has done for us, than our hearts will grow smaller and our perspective of problems will grow bigger. It is when we consider the great things He has done and the great God that He is that our hearts are able to deal with situations in perspective because we fear our God!

Fear, Serving and Obedience

2007-12-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

Dec 25

Is 41:13 - For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

We are commanded to “Fear Not!” But this command is surrounded by two comforting promises. This verse is broken into three parts, and for each part, God clarifies His authority and identity by saying “I”. I, the Lord your God. I Say to you. I am the one. And the two comforting promises that surround the command are that he holds our right hand, like a father to a child, to guide, protect and to offer assurance that he helps us. The reason we fear not is because he is intimately involved in the affairs of our life to protect and help us.

1 Sa 12:14-15 - If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

It is impossible to separate our fearing the Lord, serving the Lord and obeying the Lord. These three seem to fit together as one. I do not think it is possible to do one without the other. You will not obey God without fearing Him. You cannot fear Him without serving Him. You will not serve Him if you do not obey Him. In this verse there is an encouragement and a warning. It is a striking image that when we fear Him, his hand his holding our hand. But when we do not fear him, his hand will be against us. It is so apparent how fear can be used for good or for bad. And, so much rides on how we treat this emotion. Will we in our lack of faith fear those circumstances around us? If we do, not only will our peace be disturbed, but God’s hand will be against us. But, if we seek Him in faith in our fear, God will hold our hand and He will help us.

Give and Help

2007-12-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Dec 24

Is 41:8-10 - But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Once again, God offers himself as a solution for his command not to fear. He has chosen them, called them and the led them. He is with them, He is their God, He will strengthen, help and uphold them in righteousness and in intimacy. It helps when the one giving the command is able to back up their command with the help needed to obey the command. There is one things commanded in this situation, “Fear not!” Everything else is accomplished by our Father in Heaven.

Dt 31:12-13 - Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

In order to fear the Lord, they must first listen to His words, and then they must learn to fear the Lord and then carefully follow all the words of the Lord. There is a process to fearing the Lord, and it comes by knowing not only how God has acted on behalf of the people and what He has commanded the people but by also being obedient to his commands. Fearing God leads to obedience. When we know who it is we are fearing, it changes our actions. Thus, God is both the giver of the commands and the helper in the commands. These two connect because it is the words of the Lord that leads us to fear the Lord so that we will not fear anything.

Rightsizing fear

2007-12-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

Dec 23

Is 40:9-10 - Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

In the midst of difficult and captivity as the Babylonian captivity would be, there is good news for all which removes any fear. The cure for this fear is that God will come with might and His arm rules. He will provide reward and justice for all people. How many fears would be relieved if we would just proclaim, “Behold our God!” in all situations. To truly size him up against the fears, the anxieties and the discourgement that we may feel at any moment, I believe, would do wonders for our fears. What is there to fear next to an almighty, sovereign, good and faithful God?

Dt 28:58-60 - If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.

The warning is clear. And the opposite truth is also clear: Follow the words of the law and revere the glorious and awesome God and He will bless you. Size up our God and it will help you rightsize your fears.

Who is stronger?

2007-12-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Dec 22

Is 37:5-7 - When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”

Who is stronger than the Lord? King Hezekiah is warned not to be afraid because of words and the reason he is not to be afraid is because God will send rumor and will personally see that the king and his men do not live. The answer to all our fears are God’s words. How foolish I am when I face fears and do not go to God’s word to find the remedy. There is nothing to fear but God because he is in control of everything.

Dt 25:17-19 - Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Those who do no fear God sin ruthlessly against God and His people. God will act in vengeance, therefore we need not be afraid of unfulfilled injustice. Vengeance is mine says the Lord, and in this case the Israelites were going to be the ones to blot out the memory of these evil men forever. Truly, God is in control.

fearfully at peace

2007-12-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

Dec 21

Is 35:3-4 - Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Fear produces anxiety. The answer to anxiety is that God will come and He will save us. It is promise that we can bank on. Therefore we are to strengthen our hands and our knees and walk confidently in the power of our God. The answer to our fears is God. As Php 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Dt 17:19 - It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees

Reverence leads to obedience. Simple as that.

12 stones of faith

2007-12-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

December 20, 2007

Is 10:24-27 - Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”

God’s encouragement to the Israelites really shows the absolute power of the Lord God Almighty. He can do what He wants, when He wants, how He wants. It provides great perspective that His timing is always His timing and His hand is never too short in accomplishing what he desires to accomplish. We can believe Him when he tells us not to fear. Nothing happens apart from His will.

Jos 4:19-24 - On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

The 12 stones are reminders of God’s power to part the Jordan River so that the Israelites could walk through them. The reason God commanded these stones to be put in the water was so that they would know the Lord is powerful and learn to fear the Lord. They were to learn to fear God so that will not fear anything else that they were about to accomplish. They would need the fear of God to not only keep from sin, but also to defeat the many enemies that they were about to accomplish Just as God reminds the Israelites in the first passage about Egypt and Midian to show his strength, he orders these rocks to remind them in the future about what God had done in the past. When we remember and act on God’s accomplishment in the past, we will be victorious and fruitful in the present. When God’s accomplishments in the past produce fear, we will live fearless in the present.

Faith and Fear

2007-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2007

Is 7:3-4,9b - And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah… If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.

The context of this passage is regarding God’s message to Ahaz, in that the two invading kings will not prevail. It is a practical message for us that in times of fear, we are to be careful that we do not do anything or say anything out of fear, that we quiet our hearts and our souls in His goodness and faithfulness, and not allow our hearts to be faint, but to grow strong in courage and trust. The last line is worth gold to our lives if we heed it. Faith will allow us to remain firm in our times of fear, but without faith, we will not be firm at all.

Dt 17:19-20 - It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

All the rules for a king boiled down to this, “Remember who is the true King.” This is a great parallel to the passage for Ahaz because both are commands to trust in the true King to lead and save you. This passage is a stipulation of how Israelites are to choose their kings. Most of all, they are to fear God and follow carefully all the commands of God. They are not above their fellow Israelities and they are not to turn to the left or right. They are commanded to not let pride diminish your fear of God.

Sleep Well

2007-12-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

December 18, 2007

Pr 3:24-26 - If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

My daughter has this verse written out and put above her bed. This verse is so poignant because when we are afraid, sleep is the first thing to go. We are either are afraid while we sleep or we can’t sleep because we are fearing something. Sleep signifies peace and rest. Fearful lives don’t sleep well. Just like yesterday’s passage, I am not afraid of bad news or sudden disaster. We are not afraid of accidents because we know that God is in control of everything. God is our confidence in good and in bad. In his goodness, we rest.

Dt 6:24-25 - The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

The fear of God leads to obedience which leads to prosperity. Though prosperity is an old testament concept, I think it still serves true for us that fearing God leads to a fearless life. The only thing we need to be careful of is to obey all the laws of the Lord our God.

Delightfully fearing

2007-12-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2007

Ps 112:7-8 - He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

What a striking verse. This is such an indictment on our culture and a contradiction in most of our lives. Bad news is something we are always afraid of as it is the unknown that is right around the corner. When we are so confident in our fear of the sovereignty and goodness of God, our fear of the bad news will dissapiate for it is the Lord that we trust. When we trust in the Lord, our heart is steady and we will not be afraid. He expects victory in the Lord. Oh to live a life that isn’t afraid of the uknown, but that trusts in the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Ps 112:1 - Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.

This verse is from the same Psalm and really sets up this Psalm well. When we fear God, we won’t fear man. Moreover, when we fear God, we will find great delight not only in His commands, but also in the peace and joy that comes from His word.

Fear is the key to fearless living

2007-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

December 16, 2007

Ps 91:1-6 - He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

In the midst of terror and arrows and plagues and disease, you will not fear. The reason you will not fear is because you dwell in the shelter of the Lord. You will rest. You will be able to say that God is your refuge and your fortress in whom you trust. When God is our refuge, we need fear nothing. It really is as simple as that. But, when we forget to trust, when we in our pride think we don’t need to trust, our hearts beat fast, our pulse will rise and we won’t sleep good at night. Find your peace under his wings and you will sleep well at night.

Dt 6:2 - so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

The condition here was that the Israelites could enjoy long life and prosperity if they kept the commands of the Lord. He wouldn’t need to be afraid of anything, if only they feared their God. Fear of God leads to obedience, but when we lose our fear of God, we do not obey. Fear of God keeps us from fearing things that man fear. Fear of God gives you a place to be fearless, under his wings, in His shelter. And, when we choose to fear our God, our children will learn and their children will learn. Fear really is the key to fearless living.

Fearing to be not afraid

2007-12-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2007

Ps 78:52-54 - Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.

When God leads, we are not afraid. Fear comes from the unknown, from danger, from doubt, from confusion and from danger. But, when God leads us we are safe in his hand. The issue isn’t safety, it is being in the will of God. When we wait on the Lord, we can be confident that His hand leads us.

Dt 8:6 - Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and revering him.

I think it is this simple. We observe the commands of the Lord as we walk in his ways and fear or revere him. It is impossible to do the commands of the Lord unless we fear Him and walk in His ways. How do we revere him? We recognize Him as the one whose authority and power requires of us that we obey Him and imitiate His righteousness and Holiness. Fear is a necessary part of obedience. It is the reason we obey.

Remember and live, part II

2007-12-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

December 14, 2007

Ps 56:10-11 - In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

This is a similar verse to yesterdays verse, and poetry often does that. It repeats for emphasis. He repeats the same words “In God, whose word I praise,” and “In God I trust” but then adds, “In the Lord whose word I praise.” The word Lord signifies sovereignty and rule and absolute power. When we understand God’s name and all that it signifies, it can give us confidence to say as David said, “I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Dt 10:17-21 - For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

When we remember our God, the God who is the God of gods and the Lord of Lords, when we remember how he acts and the strength and love and goodness and the necessity of obedience to his commands and his will, it causes us to fear him rightly. When we fear, our fears are right-sized. Man can do nothing to me outside of God’s providential care and concern. That is worthy of our praises.

Remember and live

2007-12-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

December 13, 2007

Ps 56:4 - In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

This verse reminds me of the words of Jesus when he says, “Lk 12:4 - “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.” The most important thing about life is where you go after you die. If flesh can not affect that, than according to Jesus and David in this Psalm, there is nothing flesh can do to me. If God is our trust, our fears of man will be engulfed in our fear and trust in God. But, it is His word that gives us this confidence, in that it is the anchor for our confidence, it is the assurance for our peace. We need to allow the Word of God to give us the peace of God.

Jos 4:20-24 - And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

There is so much truth in this story about the importance of remembering. The stones were placed so that they people would remember how powerful is the hand of God, and as a result they would fear the Lord. The Words of God are like these stones. The more we remember, the more we spend time learning and listening and exacting change due to the word in our lives, the less we have to fear. If these stones remind the Israelites of the power of God, it changes how they deal with situations in the future. Likewise, if we praise the Word and remember it is in situations, it will change how we deal with fear. We will not need to be afraid.

Trust and obey, there is no other way

2007-12-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

December 12, 2007

Ps 56:3 - When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

This is so simple. Not if I am afraid or questioning why he is afraid, but when I am afraid. Fear is normal and to be expected, but the response is not. If when I feel fear, I allow fear to dominate my thoughts, my actions and and my life, than it is wrong. But, if my feelings of fear, I put my trust in God, my fears can be relieved. It is not accident that the word trust is there. In whom will you put your trust, your dependence when hard times come. Yourself, your friends, your family or your career? Who will you trust? God is the worthy one for your trust, the one who is trustworthy, who is faithful and good, gentle and powerful.

Dt 28:58-59 - If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.

The opposite of putting our trust in Christ is putting it in ourselves or our nation or countless other things. Not only does God provide comfort when we are afraid, he also demands that we trust Him. By carefully following all the word of the law, we are revering Him as Lord. The things which cause us fear may come as discipline to help us realize that He is all we need to fear.

A question with an easy answer

2007-12-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

December 11, 2007

Ps 49:5 - Why should I fear in times of trouble?

This is a great question for which the answer is simple. We shouldn’t. The answer is such because we have a God who is greater than all our troubles, who is both sovereign over the world and yet very intimate in our troubles. He rules the world and yet knows the hairs of our head. Because he is both faithful and good, we can have confidence in times of trouble that God will use the troubles to mature us and to glorify Him.

Dt 6:13 - Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

Fear the Lord only and serve Him only. In hard times and trouble, we need to hold fast to him as that which is source of our fear.

Fearing God only

2007-12-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2007

Ps 46:1-3 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

This verse is a cause and effect. Because God is our refuge and strength and a present help in trouble, therefore we will not be afraid. If God is not our refuge, our strength or our present help in trouble, than we will fear. There are no circumstances that are big enough that warrant us to fear. Even in the most extreme cases, for example, like the earth gives way, mountains are moved and the water roar and foam. In our most extreme cases, when our world give way, when those things which we thought were unmovable, and our hearts and minds roar with injustice, havoc and anxiety, we can be without fear. We can be without fear if God is our refuge, the one we run to, the one in whose strength we find our strength.

Jos 24:14 - “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

When we fear God only, we will have no other Gods before the Lord. Fear comes when our values are threatened, but if we value God above all other things, God will be all we need. We need just be faithful in serving Him and seeking Him out when our world does give way.