Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man
brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be
exalted.”
We are going to see many changes and additions to
our church as we merge with another local congregation starting next month, but
one thing that will not be changing is ministry. Our Friday evening small group Bible Study
continues in our biblical examination into the emotion of “Fear”. That fear is
rooted in what we believe; it’s a state of mind that can take a toll on our
bodies and spirits, but for the Christian, when fear comes, it is to be
replaced with trust in the Lord, with faith. Our study this week explained that
freedom from fear comes through the fear of the Lord, where such fear is
demonstrated by our reverence, respect, awe, confidence and trust in who God
is, simply because He is God. The Hebrew word “batach” translated trusts, to be confident and sure in the
verse above, expresses a sense of well-being and security that results from
having someone in whom to place that confidence ... the Lord. The fear of man
and trust in the Lord are in contrast to each other.
Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has
established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”
If you are going to trust the Lord, then you have
to know and understand Him – the attributes of the loving and merciful
ever-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, outside of time Creator
and Lord of all. (1) We know and trust that God is “good’. (2) We know and
trust that God is faithful to “His Word”. (3) God has the desire to do “good”,
(4) God has the power to do “good”, (5) God will do “good”.
Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the
foundation of Your throne; Loving-kindness and truth go
before You.”
The word
“Kingdom” is the abbreviation of the phase “the King’s Domain”. The Lord has
dominion over the created Cosmos of Heaven and the Universe, which He reigns
and rules with righteousness and justice, with loving-kindness and truth. His commands,
decrees, laws, statutes and teachings have been set up to bless the loyal
subjects of His Creation, but will break those who chose to oppose. There are
no other gods.
Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me
there is no God. I will gird you, though you
have not known Me; that men may know from
the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and allowing darkness, causing well-being and allowing calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.
Fear is unbelief and distrust in God;
trusting in your own abilities, which truly should be feared because fear
separates us from God. There is no fear when we are holding the hand of our
trust-worthy Father. Sir Francis Bacon stated in 1624: “Nothing is
terrible except fear itself.” US President Franklin D. Roosevelt also stated:
“The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself.” Love is the “vital sign” of
Christian life. In Luke 12:4, Jesus said: “I
say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after
that have no more that they can do.” The fear of the Lord is reverence,
respect, awe, confidence and trust in Sovereign God, who can and will forgive
sin, save the eternal soul, and restore our relationship with Him forever in
love. This is liberty and freedom from fear.
1 John 4:9-18 “By
this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live
through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. There is no fear in love; but perfect
love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is
not perfected in love.
In
Christ, Brian
1 comment:
Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
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