Fear of the Lord

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… (Proverbs 9:10)

My brethren, our God is a holy God! He is the Creator and possessor of heaven and earth; He indeed is a great King, and worthy of all honor and reverential fear (Malachi 1:14).

So what does this mean for us, His people? First of all, God is very interested in how we respond to holy things. In basic terms, holy simply means “special,” or “set apart,” by God, for Himself, and for His own personal use and purpose. God is jealous over these things, and will protect them expeditiously, first with mercy, and then with judgment.

“But God is a God of love!” you might say. “We are living under the New Testament now!” Yes, these are statements of truth, God is a God of love, but He is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He is jealous of the things that He calls His own. He is Jealous over His people (Hebrews 3:1, Mark 9:42); He is jealous over the institutions that He has ordained, such as the marriage bed, and the marriage arrangement that He has designed from the beginning (Hebrews 13:4, Genesis 2:21-24). He is jealous over His calling upon our lives, and the gifts and talents that He has deposited within us (II Timothy 1:9, Matthew 25:14-30).

In the Old Testament, there is the story of Cain and Abel, and we can see that Abel understood and respected what was holy, but Cain did not. Cain and Abel both brought an offering unto the Lord, and God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain's (Genesis 4:3-5). Why? Because Abel understood the awesomeness of God, and that the tithe and the offering were a holy thing, and he mixed his giving with faith, coupled with holy fear. But Cain, on the other hand, brought his offering out of necessity; to him it was simply a chore, and a grievous one at that.

God's attitude toward holy things has not changed since the days of the Old Testament, for He is the same "yesterday, today and forever," and He never changes (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8). The only thing that has changed since the Old Testament is the covenant, not the nature of God (Romans 5:9).

When Jesus, in the New Testament, walked into the temple and discovered how it had been desecrated by covetousness and greed, he responded swiftly and decisively, and He drove them out. He was consumed with the zeal of His Father’s house, because the temple, which was holy, had been turned into a common marketplace (John 2:13-17).

God is jealous today, for His church and for His people. He is jealous for His glory and for His name; He is jealous for us, and that His will be fulfilled in our lives!

Born Again

“The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
(Romans 8:16)

My friend, this may not be the most pleasant message for all, but it is the truth. Most of us have heard the phrase to be “born-again,” and Jesus used this term in explaining the requirement for entrance into His Kingdom (John 3:3). In other words, he made it clear that the born-again experience was a necessary prerequisite for receiving salvation, and that without it, entrance into the Kingdom of God would most assuredly be denied. (Matthew 22:11-13, John 3:3-5)

Please understand that it is urgent that we comprehend the significance of Jesus words. Many of us are wise in preparing for the things of this world such as our retirement, a college degree, or other such things, yet we leave our eternal destinies up to assumption at best, or to the care of a religious organization, etc. We trust our eternal souls to doctrines of men that have no Biblical basis, and hope that somehow it will all work out in the end. This is simply not wise! “But can we really know with absolute certainty?” You may ask.

The answer is yes! Absolutely! In fact, this irrevocable knowing is the very foundation of our faith (Matthew 16:16). When a person is truly born-again, the Holy Spirit imparts this knowing and understanding into the heart of the believer. If we haven’t received this understanding and assurance from the Holy Spirit, then it is questionable that we have truly experienced the new birth. (Romans 8:16)

Please understand however, that I am referring to a knowing in the heart, not the mind, as Satan will attempt to attack our minds with doubts and fears to challenge our faith, as he did Jesus…

“Are you really who you think you are? Are you truly the Son of God? If you are, then turn these stones into bread!” “If you are truly who you say you are, then jump off the top of this temple, and the angels will bear you up in their arms!” (Matthew 4:1-11) The devil will whisper in our ears, “If you are truly a child of God, then you wouldn’t have had that thought! “You wouldn’t have acted that way!” “God is finished with you!” “You’ve failed him too many times!”

But those are lies! God is never finished with anyone that loves him and desires to enter into his Kingdom, ever!

“For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee…” (Isaiah 54:9)

The new birth is a supernatural occurrence wherein a new creature truly is born! (II Corinthians 5:17) But before we can really be grateful, we must first appreciate the reality of what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ.

Consider the gravity of what Jesus Christ has done for us, and for what he has delivered us from (II Corinthians 1:10). Hell is real, and is a horrible place that is worse than any suffering upon the earth, and its horrors beyond the recesses of man’s imagination. There is no rest day or night, no comfort, nor anything good, as all good things proceed from God (James 1:17). It is a place where a person’s worse fears will be realized (Isaiah 66:4), and where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13, Luke 13:28). There will be more terror in a moment than could be experienced in the worse conditions on earth in a lifetime; the flesh will be eaten of maggots and worms, and burned with fire but never consumed (Mark 9:43-48). It will be unending and eternal, and there will be no second chances for the one that dies in his sins. (Luke 16:19-31, John 8:24)

My friend, If you are a child of God, and have experienced God’s mercy in your life, then this message is a message of hope to you, and a joyous reminder of what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ. However, if this message makes you uncomfortable, then the Holy Spirit may be reaching out to you. He loves you and wants to give you life, and a hope for the future. He wants to remove the burden and the label of sin from you forever, and cast it into the depths of the sea. He longs to bring restoration, healing and deliverance, regardless of what we’ve done or where we’ve been.

God will never condemn anyone who comes to Him by the way of the cross. God is rich unto all that call upon Him in faith, and if we are willing to repent and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, then God will give us the strength to turn from sin and obey His commandments.

Please understand, I am not saying that it will be easy by any means. Jesus never promised us an easy path in this life; in fact, we are called to be soldiers, and admonished to endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (II Timothy 2:3). We must be strong to walk the narrow path that leads to life, but it is God that gives us His strength. (Ephesians 6:10)

To be born-again is God’s solution, it is God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. God’s Kingdom is spiritual, and also sinless, and those that inherit it must be born of the Spirit, and also born of water (signifying being cleansed from sin) (John 3:5, 13:8).

Hebrews says that through the body and blood of Jesus, God has confirmed, by an oath, the immutability (unchangeability) of His counsel, in that we can have full assurance of God’s faithfulness in regard to our salvation through Christ Jesus! (Hebrews 6:16-20)

Count it All Joy

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations…” (James 1:2)

What would we do if we found ourselves in David’s situation? David and his fighting men had returned home to find their town burned and destroyed by the armies of the Amalekites. Their wives, sons and daughters had been carried away captive, and everything they possessed had been destroyed (I Samuel 30:1-3). Understandably, the men were heartbroken and angry, and they turned their anger toward David as their leader. They not only blamed him for the loss of their goods and families, but they were also ready to stone him; there is no doubt that this was a perfect opportunity for David to complain and feel sorry for himself.

But what did David do? He “encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (I Samuel 30:6). That’s right, instead of feeling sorry for himself and moaning to the Lord, “Why me?” He began to call to mind the goodness of God… “God gave me victory over the lion and the bear!” “He gave me the head of Goliath!” David began to worship God in the midst of his trial, and the Lord gave him a solution.

I can hear God saying to David, “David, your faith has reached heaven!” “ GO!” “Pursue your enemies, and without fail, you will not only overtake them, but you will surely recover all that was lost!” (I Samuel 30:8) God responded to David’s faith and delivered him once again, as he had many times before. I would have to say that had David chosen the route of self-pity, his story would have undoubtedly ended with him getting stoned by his own men.

We are exhorted to “count it all joy” when we face difficulties, trials and temptations (James 1:2). “But you don’t understand what I’m going through!” You might say. I understand that it may be difficult, but the joy of the Lord is our strength! That is why the devil works so hard to steal our joy from us.

Satan sent a special messenger to harass the apostle Paul because of the abundance of revelation that he had received from God (II Corinthians 12:7). The enemy’s goal was to steal the Word of God out of his heart in order to cause him to become unfruitful for the Kingdom of God (Mark 4:15-20).

This demonic assignment sent every imaginable hardship against Paul, and he had to fight for every inch of territory that he gained (II Corinthians 11:23-29). But through it all, Paul learned to rejoice and trust God; he began to understand that in his weakness, the grace of God excelled within and upon him (II Corinthians 12:9-10). He learned that every attack of the enemy was an opportunity, not an inconvenience.

My friend, the grace of God is available for every situation, and his grace is sufficient for every situation. There is nothing that the devil has contrived that God has not provided a solution (Isaiah 54:17, I Corinthians 10:13). In fact, the solution was created long before the problem ever existed. (Hebrews 4:3, Ephesians 2:10)

I would have to say that self-pity is one of the devil’s most lethal tools in his arsenal. We are not victims, but victors! We are warriors not wimps! We are mighty men and women of valor, not whining crybabies! We are seated far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, Glory to God! (Ephesians 1:20-21, 2:6)

God's Ability

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (II Corinthians 12:9)

What do we do when we find ourselves faced with a difficult task? Do we act like Joshua and Caleb and shout that we are well able to take the land? Or do we begin to make excuses, “There are giants in the land!” “We are but grasshoppers in their sight!” (Numbers 13:32-33)

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, God will tilt the playing field in our favor, if we will but trust him and run toward the giant. David ran toward the giant (I Samuel 17:48). You see, God is only requiring our best, not the best; David did not have a tank, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, or an automatic weapon. He didn’t have air cover or even a brave army behind him. He only had his best, and though it was far-fetched and virtuously impossible that a giant would be taken out with a single stone, slung from the slingshot of a young boy, it happened nonetheless.

God took David’s best, and added His grace, His favor, and the anointing, and David took out the giant. God tilted the playing field in David’s favor, and gave him victory over his enemy.

“Well, that was David, not me!” you may say. But God has not changed, and this principle is still true today. Many times we look at our own abilities and think, “Ha ha, no way!” “Not me!” “I could never do that!” “That kind of stuff is reserved for greater men than me!” “Those with a degree in such and such, those with wealth and power and fame.” But God doesn’t look at it that way; he takes the foolish things of this world to confound the things that are mighty (I Corinthians 1:27-29).

Has God asked you to do something? Then he has faith in you, that you are able to accomplish the assignment. You are well able to kill the giant and walk away with the spoils of victory. The only thing that God requires is that we believe, and then put our hand to the work, and He will fill in the inadequacies; he will bridge the gaps so that we are able to reach the prize.

Moses was a mighty man of God with a destiny and a burden in his heart. He was called of God to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, and thought that his brethren would understand his calling, but they didn’t (Acts 7:25). Moses was full of zeal, and ready to go, “I’m your man, God! Let’s get it done! He attempted to answer the call in his own strength and killed one Egyptian, and then fled into the land of Midian, where he kept sheep, got married and had a family, for 40 years. By the time that God met with him to send him back to Egypt to meet Pharaoh, Moses was a different man. “God, you made some mistake!” “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” “Send Aaron!” (Exodus 3:11) But he was right where God wanted him; he had no more confidence in the flesh, and it would be by God’s mighty hand.

Peter was a man called of God, but he was full of fleshly confidence, “I will go with you to death and to prison, and even though all these other disciples forsake you, I will never!” But Peter denied Jesus three times, and then left the ministry and went back to his fishing business. But when the Holy Spirit came upon Peter, he was changed, and he stood up boldly in the book of Acts, declaring the Word of the Lord! (Acts 2:14-36)

God called Gideon to deliver Israel from the hands of the Midianites, but Gideon was a cowardly man, and he told God that he had made a mistake in choosing him (Judges 6:15). But God ignored his excuses, and called him a “Mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12) God finally convinced Gideon that he was with him, and Gideon and his 32,000 men were ready to go. But God said no, not yet, your army is too big! God said, “It will be by my hand, not the strength of the flesh, and He reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men.

God’s grace is always sufficient for us, though the task may seem difficult, if not impossible. But if we will trust in the Lord, and rely on His strength, he will always cause us to triumph, and give us the head of the giant!

Freedom from Religion

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)

God has called us unto liberty, not bondage. He has called us to be free so that we may serve him without fear all the days of our lives. (Luke 1:74)

The devil has devised all types of ways to keep this glorious truth from us. He brings condemnation and guilt to our minds, accusing us to ourselves, and to each other, night and day. But the days of Job are gone (Job 2:1, Revelation 12:10), and God doesn’t listen to him anymore, and neither should we! Religious bondage comes in many different forms, but its goal is always the same, to steal our liberty, our freedom and our joy, and to abort our destiny. God wants us free to become all that He has ordained us to become.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were ever present in Jesus’ day, bringing accusation against Jesus and his disciples. They were enraged when the blind regained their sight and the deaf were able to hear. They became delirious with envy when the dead were raised, and the crippled leapt to their feet. They accused Jesus and his disciples of everything from healing on the Sabbath day to not washing their hands before they ate dinner, and were so infuriated when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead that they sought to kill him again! (John 12:10) Can you imagine that! He was raised from the dead once, and they were contemplating giving Jesus the opportunity to do it again!

A religious spirit is a confused and mean spirit; it condemns things that God has not condemned in his Word, and promotes things that God condemns. It’s cruel and merciless, and will rear its ugly head at the very moment that you are stepping out to obey God! David was instructed of his father to bring sustenance to his brothers who were in “battle” (I Samuel 17:17-18). But when David arrived at the camp, he heard Goliath slandering the God of Israel and defying God’s people, while his brothers, and the rest of Israel’s “mighty men,” trembled in fear. (I Samuel 17:23-24)

David simply had faith, and he wanted to help, but his brother Eliab accused him vehemenently;“Why camest down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle…” (I Samuel 17:28)

They not only accused him concerning his motives, but they accused him of being prideful and haughty, and they even insulted his occupation, referring to his few sheep in the wilderness. But all David had said was “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? (I Samuel 17:26)

David could have walked away thinking to himself, “Well, maybe my brothers are right; they are certainly older than I am, and they’re men of war.” “Maybe they’re right, I shouldn’t be so haughty, I guess I’ll just go back and feed my few sheep in the wilderness.”

But praise God that David didn’t do that! He had something larger on the inside of him, something louder than the voice of Eliab! He had a relationship with Almighty God, and he defeated the giant with a slingshot and a stone because he had faith in his heart, and a destiny from God. I challenge you today, what is your giant? What are the voices of Eliab screaming in your ears? What has God spoken to your heart? Take the sling and the stone of God’s promise to you, and don’t let the voice of Eliab keep you from your destiny!

Dwelling Place

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitors of the earth…” (Revelation 12:12)

We hear bad news all around us right now, and yes, things are bad, and they’re probably going to get a whole lot worse, because government is not the solution. However, in light of these things, it is not a time for us, as believers, to be afraid! But rather it is time for us to rejoice with the anticipation of the glory and the mercy of God! We are firmly seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion. (Ephesians 1:20-21, 2:6)

You might say to me, “well, you’re just a spiritual weirdo!” “These problems are happening in the earth, not in heaven, and we live in the earth!” Yes, we do live in the world, but we are not of the world! (John 15:19) Our hope comes from heaven, along with our provision, our peace, our healing and our deliverance. God is not limited to our currency, our health care system, the welfare system, or any other system of this world! Praise God!

When we are aware of our position in heavenly places, we are ever mindful of what is going on in heaven. We can abide there and conduct our affairs, and then bring heavenly things back into this natural, fallen world, until the impossible becomes possible! (John 10:9)

It takes a strong man to live the true Christian life, to stand up for righteousness, and to keep the Word of God abiding in him richly when everything else is contrary. It takes a man or woman of resolve and tenacity to walk in love when ridiculed, misunderstood and persecuted. But God has given us his Spirit, and has infused us with his strength. (Ephesians 6:10)

“Well, I’ve tried the ‘faith thing,’ and everything fell apart!” You might say. Listen, all of us have failed at one point or another, and sometimes the mistakes have been grievous and costly. However, we must forget the things that are behind, and reach forth unto those things that God has put before us! Faith always produces, it never fails; we only fail when we get our eyes off of the Word of God and onto the storm, or onto other things. (Mark 4:14-20)

God is calling us to step out once again, into the realm of the impossible! To hear his voice, and to step out of the boat! Does this sound irresponsible? Maybe it does, but God doesn’t look at it that way. Peter got out of the boat, but none of the other disciples did; they stayed where it was safe, and observed Peter. They probably laughed at him when he began to sink… “We told you not to do it, Peter! You should have listened!” But Jesus said, “Come!” And he will always say, “Come!”

Faith pleases God, and he would rather have us step out and sink, than not do anything at all. Notice that Jesus immediately reached out to Peter, and pulled him out of the water. It was also probably not the last time that Peter tried it; he may have been secretly thinking as he settled back in the boat, “I can’t wait to do it again!”

God's Testimony

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever! (Hebrews 13:9)

What are you struggling with? Whatever it is, God has anointed Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10:38), and he has given us this same power and authority over all the works of the enemy, through his name, if we can only believe! (Mark 9:23) Our faith is the only prerequisite for receiving God’s deliverance. Is it gambling? Alcohol and/or drug addiction? Pornography, adultery or other sexual sins? Is it sickness or disease? A broken marriage? Whatever the problem, for this reason was “the Son of God manifest, that he may destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8)

Jesus is the deliverer, and he is the only deliverer! Many years ago God delivered me from a serious alcohol and drug habit, among other things, and counselors told us that “Once an alcoholic and/or drug addict, always and alcoholic and/or drug addict.” But that is not the truth! Glory to God! God will restore our health, our lives, our dignity and honor, and remove the label of sin from us forever! (Psalm 103:112, Micah 7:19)

For “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away and all things have become new!” (II Corinthians 5:17)

My friend, call upon the name of the Lord while there is yet opportunity! (Isaiah 55:6)

Allow me to tell you a true story that happened quite a few years ago:

There was a brother in the Lord (which I'll call "Joe" for the sake of this story) that used to go door to door with the gospel message, for he had a burning desire for souls. We also had a prayer group on Friday nights, which Joe would normally attend, but on this particular Friday night he showed up visibly distraught. When pressed for information, he proceeded to explain...

Several months before that, he had gone to an older couple’s home and presented the gospel to the man, who apparently was unsaved. He had asked the man if he would be interested in eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, and the man had replied, “Maybe some other time,” and sent Joe away. Joe was not one to give up easily, however, and he decided to return to the man's home several months later.

When Joe arrived on the property, the man was doing some yard work outside in his front yard, and he approached him and they began to talk. Joe asked him once again if he would be interested in hearing about Jesus Christ, at which point he waved his hand and shook his head, “No, no…" But this time the man never finished his sentence, instead he clutched his chest and fell down on the ground and died, right there at my friend's feet! Understandably, Joe was shook up for awhile after this, and I asked God about it… “Did you kill him?” I asked.

But the Holy Spirit reminded me of the parable in (Luke 12:16-20) concerning a rich man that had stored up goods for many years, but was not rich toward God. He had built barns and filled them with food, and then had said to himself, and I paraphrase, “You’re set up for life! You don’t have to worry about anything, so eat, drink and be merry!” (Luke 12:19) But God told him he was being foolish…

“…Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee…” (Luke 12:20)

Some translations and cross-references translate, “This night shall they require thy soul…”
I believe that this is more accurate, but either way, the question of who is doing the “requiring” can be found in light of Luke 9:56 and Hebrews 2:14...

“For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

“…that through death he (Jesus) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

God called this particular rich man a fool, because he didn’t invest in what was truly important, and when the “time of reckoning” came, the man lost it all.

In the case of Joe's experience, Satan had required this man’s life, as he had a right. The man had faithfully "served him" (the devil) all of his life, and he legally belonged to him. Nevertheless, God restrained him from taking the man’s life until he had received one last chance to make a decision in regard to Jesus Christ, but when he rejected the “life-preserver,” so to speak, the enemy took what was rightfully his.

Only after we are born-again do we become children of God. Before that point we belong to the devil as a result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, and are subject to his authority. (II Timothy 2:26, John 8:44) Satan is a merciless master, and will take a person, use them for his own purposes, and then throw them on the trash heap of life (or death).

You see, Jesus Christ is our deliverer, our Saviour! God is not creating problems in the world, he has the solution! He sent his Son that we might be saved, not condemned! (John 3:17) We have an enemy that seeks our destruction, but God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), and no matter where we’ve been, whom we’ve been with, or what we’ve done, God will receive us if we come to him through faith in the Son of God, and commit our lives to him.

If Adolph Hitler were to receive Jesus Christ before he died, he would be in heaven right now, and if Mother Teresa tried to earn her salvation through good works, and never submitted to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3) through faith, all of her good deeds would be in vain, and her soul would be in hell. Sound surprising? Yes, it is, but it’s true!

God's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom, and flesh and blood cannot inherit it, neither can the unrighteous (I Corinthians 6:9-10, 15:50). But praise God! He has given us his righteousness through Jesus Christ, to all who believe! (Isaiah 54:17, Romans 3:22)