Walking In the Fear of God

[emekrus]

“Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” – Hebrews 12:28-29.

The above scripture tells us that godly fear is a work of grace. Nowadays, there are very few teachings about the fear of God. And most of the few teachers that teach about the fear of God, define the fear of God to mean the same thing as the love of God. Others interpret it to mean reverence. But the above opening text clearly differentiates reverence from godly fear with the word “And”.

The fear of God is distinct from the love of God and reverence for God. We can clearly see this distinction by checking through the original words which they were translated from.

The love of God is from the Greek word “Agape”, meaning affection. Reverence for God, as used in our opening text, is from the Greek word “entrepo” meaning, to respect. While the fear of God which we are now discussing, is from the Greek word “eulabeia” meaning caution or dread.

Hence, we are to walk in the fear or dread of God for our own good. The Lord doesn’t want us to fear anyone or anything, but he does want us to fear and tremble before him. Hence, in the new covenant, he says he will put his fear in our hearts, so we shouldn’t depart from him (Jeremiah 32:40).

Then the Lord Jesus tells us again, that we should not fear those that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather we should fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

So Why Should We Fear God?

Sometime back, while I shared this message of the fear of God with a young man, he asked me; “can you love and fear your father at the same time?” I replied, “Yes, I loved my parents for whom they were to me, but at the same time, I feared them, because if I messed up, I would be rebuked or punished”

When John talks about perfect love casting away fear, he meant condemnational fear (1John 4:18). And this condemnational (bond) fear, that John says perfect love casts away, is different from the godly fear we are talking about here.

I have felt both of them. Condemnational fear, like John says, has torment. It leads to self and people condemnation. It also leads to struggle with sin. It kills faith. As I struggled with this kind of fear some years ago, like John says, my encounter with the divine love of God by revelation, gave me eternal victory from the clutches of condemantional fear.

While godly fear on the other hand, is a gift of the Spirit of Grace. It confers mastery over sin. Godly fear helps you depart from sin and perfect holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1). Godly fear stabilises love and faith in the heart of a believer.

As a matter of fact, many Christian who confess righteousness with no practical evidence of righteousness in their characters and words, are actually suffering from the missing link of the fear of God. They get carried away with God’s love, goodness and faith. But pay absolutely no attention to the fear of God, divine severity and eternal judgement…

Because they have been wrongly taught or wrongly believe that the fear of God is the same thing as the Love of God or mere reverence or awe.

Now let’s see the scriptural reasons why we need to fear God...

Securing Our Eternal Salvation: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”—Phil 2:12. From scriptures, we see that a saved soul can be cut off if he doesn’t work out his salvation with caution and trembling (Romans 11:20-22). Judas Iscariot lost his bishopric because he didn’t work out his salvation with fear and trembling.


Mastery in Holiness: From scriptures we see that the fear of God is the master or perfect key for Holy or godly living. Here is exactly what the word of God says concerning this:

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” 2Corinthians 7:1.

Enjoying Divine Wisdom: The bible tells us that the fear of God gives us access to divine wisdom, which is uncanny wisdom. As a matter of fact, the bible defines wisdom to mean the fear of God. Here is the exact scripture: “And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”—Job 28:28. Hence, to be walking in the fear of God, is to be walking in divine wisdom.

To Enjoy Divine Blessings: “Praise you the Lord, blessed is the man that fears the Lord that delights greatly in his commandments. His descendants shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures forever”—Psalm 112:1-3. So the man or woman that walks in the fear of God enjoys divine blessings amongst which is wealth and riches.

So the list above, are the major biblical reasons we must have to walk in the fear of God. God does not want us to be afraid of anyone or anything. Neither does he want us to have condemnational or tormenting fear. But he does desire and instructs us to fear him for our ultimate and eternal good.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili

 

[Frank Lee]

Hello Emeke!
The fear of God is unknown to the world at large and I'm not certain how many Christians realize what a fearful God He is.

Of course as a spirit baptized believer I want to learn more of His love. Brother Paul said "knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men".

I've seen God do wonderful things in the past 40 years and have also seen and experienced Him doing fearful things.

Many Christian people do not know what a jealous God He is and how we owe Him everything because of what He has done.

He showed me that many worship the creation more than Him, but the creation they worship is not the world He made but that of the religious denominations men have created.

Many are swift to tell you they are Baptist or Catholic when asked of their religion, identifying more with a created denomination than with God. I will always be thankful that He chose to save me and afterwards baptize me in His Holy Spirit outside the walls of any man created denomination. I owe all to Him and nothing to those often corrupted religious denominations, that claim to be His voice to believers.

He has shown you oh man what is good and what does he Lord require of you but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

 

[faithfulness]

“Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” – Hebrews 12:28-29.

The above scripture tells us that godly fear is a work of grace. Nowadays, there are very few teachings about the fear of God. And most of the few teachers that teach about the fear of God, define the fear of God to mean the same thing as the love of God. Others interpret it to mean reverence. But the above opening text clearly differentiates reverence from godly fear with the word “And”.

The fear of God is distinct from the love of God and reverence for God. We can clearly see this distinction by checking through the original words which they were translated from.

The love of God is from the Greek word “Agape”, meaning affection. Reverence for God, as used in our opening text, is from the Greek word “entrepo” meaning, to respect. While the fear of God which we are now discussing, is from the Greek word “eulabeia” meaning caution or dread.

Hence, we are to walk in the fear or dread of God for our own good. The Lord doesn’t want us to fear anyone or anything, but he does want us to fear and tremble before him. Hence, in the new covenant, he says he will put his fear in our hearts, so we shouldn’t depart from him (Jeremiah 32:40).

Then the Lord Jesus tells us again, that we should not fear those that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather we should fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

So Why Should We Fear God?

Sometime back, while I shared this message of the fear of God with a young man, he asked me; “can you love and fear your father at the same time?” I replied, “Yes, I loved my parents for whom they were to me, but at the same time, I feared them, because if I messed up, I would be rebuked or punished”

When John talks about perfect love casting away fear, he meant condemnational fear (1John 4:18). And this condemnational (bond) fear, that John says perfect love casts away, is different from the godly fear we are talking about here.

I have felt both of them. Condemnational fear, like John says, has torment. It leads to self and people condemnation. It also leads to struggle with sin. It kills faith. As I struggled with this kind of fear some years ago, like John says, my encounter with the divine love of God by revelation, gave me eternal victory from the clutches of condemantional fear.

While godly fear on the other hand, is a gift of the Spirit of Grace. It confers mastery over sin. Godly fear helps you depart from sin and perfect holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1). Godly fear stabilises love and faith in the heart of a believer.

As a matter of fact, many Christian who confess righteousness with no practical evidence of righteousness in their characters and words, are actually suffering from the missing link of the fear of God. They get carried away with God’s love, goodness and faith. But pay absolutely no attention to the fear of God, divine severity and eternal judgement…

Because they have been wrongly taught or wrongly believe that the fear of God is the same thing as the Love of God or mere reverence or awe.

Now let’s see the scriptural reasons why we need to fear God...

Securing Our Eternal Salvation: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”—Phil 2:12. From scriptures, we see that a saved soul can be cut off if he doesn’t work out his salvation with caution and trembling (Romans 11:20-22). Judas Iscariot lost his bishopric because he didn’t work out his salvation with fear and trembling.


Mastery in Holiness: From scriptures we see that the fear of God is the master or perfect key for Holy or godly living. Here is exactly what the word of God says concerning this:

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” 2Corinthians 7:1.

Enjoying Divine Wisdom: The bible tells us that the fear of God gives us access to divine wisdom, which is uncanny wisdom. As a matter of fact, the bible defines wisdom to mean the fear of God. Here is the exact scripture: “And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”—Job 28:28. Hence, to be walking in the fear of God, is to be walking in divine wisdom.

To Enjoy Divine Blessings: “Praise you the Lord, blessed is the man that fears the Lord that delights greatly in his commandments. His descendants shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures forever”—Psalm 112:1-3. So the man or woman that walks in the fear of God enjoys divine blessings amongst which is wealth and riches.

So the list above, are the major biblical reasons we must have to walk in the fear of God. God does not want us to be afraid of anyone or anything. Neither does he want us to have condemnational or tormenting fear. But he does desire and instructs us to fear him for our ultimate and eternal good.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili

Thank you for all your scriptures on the fear of the Lord!
A beloved and anointed father ministry told us yesterday...Ready or not, here I come!
It would behoove me to learn to STAY IN HIM...And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Would love for you to expound on these verses:
Isaiah 11:1-3 1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Hebrews 5:7. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”

 

[Episkopos]

“Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” – Hebrews 12:28-29.

The above scripture tells us that godly fear is a work of grace. Nowadays, there are very few teachings about the fear of God. And most of the few teachers that teach about the fear of God, define the fear of God to mean the same thing as the love of God. Others interpret it to mean reverence. But the above opening text clearly differentiates reverence from godly fear with the word “And”.

The fear of God is distinct from the love of God and reverence for God. We can clearly see this distinction by checking through the original words which they were translated from.

The love of God is from the Greek word “Agape”, meaning affection. Reverence for God, as used in our opening text, is from the Greek word “entrepo” meaning, to respect. While the fear of God which we are now discussing, is from the Greek word “eulabeia” meaning caution or dread.

Hence, we are to walk in the fear or dread of God for our own good. The Lord doesn’t want us to fear anyone or anything, but he does want us to fear and tremble before him. Hence, in the new covenant, he says he will put his fear in our hearts, so we shouldn’t depart from him (Jeremiah 32:40).

Then the Lord Jesus tells us again, that we should not fear those that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather we should fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

So Why Should We Fear God?

Sometime back, while I shared this message of the fear of God with a young man, he asked me; “can you love and fear your father at the same time?” I replied, “Yes, I loved my parents for whom they were to me, but at the same time, I feared them, because if I messed up, I would be rebuked or punished”

When John talks about perfect love casting away fear, he meant condemnational fear (1John 4:18). And this condemnational (bond) fear, that John says perfect love casts away, is different from the godly fear we are talking about here.

I have felt both of them. Condemnational fear, like John says, has torment. It leads to self and people condemnation. It also leads to struggle with sin. It kills faith. As I struggled with this kind of fear some years ago, like John says, my encounter with the divine love of God by revelation, gave me eternal victory from the clutches of condemantional fear.

While godly fear on the other hand, is a gift of the Spirit of Grace. It confers mastery over sin. Godly fear helps you depart from sin and perfect holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1). Godly fear stabilises love and faith in the heart of a believer.

As a matter of fact, many Christian who confess righteousness with no practical evidence of righteousness in their characters and words, are actually suffering from the missing link of the fear of God. They get carried away with God’s love, goodness and faith. But pay absolutely no attention to the fear of God, divine severity and eternal judgement…

Because they have been wrongly taught or wrongly believe that the fear of God is the same thing as the Love of God or mere reverence or awe.

Now let’s see the scriptural reasons why we need to fear God...

Securing Our Eternal Salvation: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”—Phil 2:12. From scriptures, we see that a saved soul can be cut off if he doesn’t work out his salvation with caution and trembling (Romans 11:20-22). Judas Iscariot lost his bishopric because he didn’t work out his salvation with fear and trembling.


Mastery in Holiness: From scriptures we see that the fear of God is the master or perfect key for Holy or godly living. Here is exactly what the word of God says concerning this:

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” 2Corinthians 7:1.

Enjoying Divine Wisdom: The bible tells us that the fear of God gives us access to divine wisdom, which is uncanny wisdom. As a matter of fact, the bible defines wisdom to mean the fear of God. Here is the exact scripture: “And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”—Job 28:28. Hence, to be walking in the fear of God, is to be walking in divine wisdom.

To Enjoy Divine Blessings: “Praise you the Lord, blessed is the man that fears the Lord that delights greatly in his commandments. His descendants shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures forever”—Psalm 112:1-3. So the man or woman that walks in the fear of God enjoys divine blessings amongst which is wealth and riches.

So the list above, are the major biblical reasons we must have to walk in the fear of God. God does not want us to be afraid of anyone or anything. Neither does he want us to have condemnational or tormenting fear. But he does desire and instructs us to fear him for our ultimate and eternal good.

Remain Blessed!

Emeke Odili

Good post!

I see the problem with the church of today is a lack of understanding of scale. Just how BIG is our God? All this talk of a "personal" saviour and such has made God into a sort of genie that makes our lives better (blessings)...AND gives us a happy ending (salvation for what we think we are). So then we have harnessed God to OUR own purposes...while completely ignoring His will.

We should tremble at His words. God is a consuming fire. He is holy and fearsome. But He is also compassionate to they who fear Him. So we need to get the scale of things right in a proper judgment of who He is...before we can think of asking Him for anything. Who is serving whom?

A servant should first serve his master and then seek his own needs. But our society has lost all sense of honour and reverence for anything but our own choices. Is it any surprise that the truth has been lost in the process?

Luke 17:7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”


At this time we are told just how precious WE are rather than God. We have turned the tables on truth, honour and righteousness...making it about US and not God.

1 Sam. 2:30 "Therefore, this is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I did say that your family and your forefather's family would walk before me forever. But now,' this is the LORD's declaration, 'no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced.

 

[faithfulness]

Good post!

I see the problem with the church of today is a lack of understanding of scale. Just how BIG is our God? All this talk of a "personal" saviour and such has made God into a sort of genie that makes our lives better (blessings)...AND gives us a happy ending (salvation for what we think we are). So then we have harnessed God to OUR own purposes...while completely ignoring His will.

We should tremble at His words. God is a consuming fire. He is holy and fearsome. But He is also compassionate to they who fear Him. So we need to get the scale of things right in a proper judgment of who He is...before we can think of asking Him for anything. Who is serving whom?

A servant should first serve his master and then seek his own needs. But our society has lost all sense of honour and reverence for anything but our own choices. Is it any surprise that the truth has been lost in the process?

Luke 17:7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”


At this time we are told just how precious WE are rather than God. We have turned the tables on truth, honour and righteousness...making it about US and not God.

1 Sam. 2:30 "Therefore, this is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I did say that your family and your forefather's family would walk before me forever. But now,' this is the LORD's declaration, 'no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced.

With all due respect, how do you hit the ball out of the park every time?
With conviction, but no condemnation, I'll read this 9 times over again because it rings so true.
Thank you!

 

[faithfulness]

“Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” – Hebrews 12:28-29.

The above scripture tells us that godly fear is a work of grace. Nowadays, there are very few teachings about the fear of God. And most of the few teachers that teach about the fear of God, define the fear of God to mean the same thing as the love of God. Others interpret it to mean reverence. But the above opening text clearly differentiates reverence from godly fear with the word “And”.

The fear of God is distinct from the love of God and reverence for God. We can clearly see this distinction by checking through the original words which they were translated from.

The love of God is from the Greek word “Agape”, meaning affection. Reverence for God, as used in our opening text, is from the Greek word “entrepo” meaning, to respect. While the fear of God which we are now discussing, is from the Greek word “eulabeia” meaning caution or dread.

Hence, we are to walk in the fear or dread of God for our own good. The Lord doesn’t want us to fear anyone or anything, but he does want us to fear and tremble before him. Hence, in the new covenant, he says he will put his fear in our hearts, so we shouldn’t depart from him (Jeremiah 32:40).

Then the Lord Jesus tells us again, that we should not fear those that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather we should fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

So Why Should We Fear God?

Sometime back, while I shared this message of the fear of God with a young man, he asked me; “can you love and fear your father at the same time?” I replied, “Yes, I loved my parents for whom they were to me, but at the same time, I feared them, because if I messed up, I would be rebuked or punished”

When John talks about perfect love casting away fear, he meant condemnational fear (1John 4:18). And this condemnational (bond) fear, that John says perfect love casts away, is different from the godly fear we are talking about here.

I have felt both of them. Condemnational fear, like John says, has torment. It leads to self and people condemnation. It also leads to struggle with sin. It kills faith. As I struggled with this kind of fear some years ago, like John says, my encounter with the divine love of God by revelation, gave me eternal victory from the clutches of condemantional fear.

While godly fear on the other hand, is a gift of the Spirit of Grace. It confers mastery over sin. Godly fear helps you depart from sin and perfect holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1). Godly fear stabilises love and faith in the heart of a believer.

As a matter of fact, many Christian who confess righteousness with no practical evidence of righteousness in their characters and words, are actually suffering from the missing link of the fear of God. They get carried away with God’s love, goodness and faith. But pay absolutely no attention to the fear of God, divine severity and eternal judgement…

Because they have been wrongly taught or wrongly believe that the fear of God is the same thing as the Love of God or mere reverence or awe.

Now let’s see the scriptural reasons why we need to fear God...

Securing Our Eternal Salvation: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”—Phil 2:12. From scriptures, we see that a saved soul can be cut off if he doesn’t work out his salvation with caution and trembling (Romans 11:20-22). Judas Iscariot lost his bishopric because he didn’t work out his salvation with fear and trembling.


Mastery in Holiness: From scriptures we see that the fear of God is the master or perfect key for Holy or godly living. Here is exactly what the word of God says concerning this:

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” 2Corinthians 7:1.

Enjoying Divine Wisdom: The bible tells us that the fear of God gives us access to divine wisdom, which is uncanny wisdom. As a matter of fact, the bible defines wisdom to mean the fear of God. Here is the exact scripture: “And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”—Job 28:28. Hence, to be walking in the fear of God, is to be walking in divine wisdom.

To Enjoy Divine Blessings: “Praise you the Lord, blessed is the man that fears the Lord that delights greatly in his commandments. His descendants shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures forever”—Psalm 112:1-3. So the man or woman that walks in the fear of God enjoys divine blessings amongst which is wealth and riches.

So the list above, are the major biblical reasons we must have to walk in the fear of God. God does not want us to be afraid of anyone or anything. Neither does he want us to have condemnational or tormenting fear. But he does desire and instructs us to fear him for our ultimate and eternal good.

Remain blessed!

Emeke Odili

I'll try this again. You stated that AGAPE was "affection" (?)
I've always been taught, or "studied" myself and found that it was more akin to a "sacrificial, self-less" meaning...I never equated affection in the definition.

 

[emekrus]

Well, sacrificial life and self-less life, is actually synonymous with affection. Sacrifice and selflessness are offspring of affection amongst other things. Passion, forgiveness, forbearance, etc, are also offspring of affection...
Is that so?

 

[emekrus]

Thank you for all your scriptures on the fear of the Lord!
A beloved and anointed father ministry told us yesterday...Ready or not, here I come!
It would behoove me to learn to STAY IN HIM...And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Would love for you to expound on these verses:
Isaiah 11:1-3 1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Hebrews 5:7. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”

These two scriptures refers to The Lord Jesus. And of course, the spirits mentioned are the messianic graces. Including the the spirit of Fear of the Lord(Fear of God) which we are discussing here. Hence, I said the fear of God is a work of Grace.

 

[emekrus]

I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around His affection being synonymous with God's love.
I think perhaps what I've been taught for umpteen years against the "soul"; almost authoritarian emphasis against any and all "soulishness" vs. Spirit, it being the woman, and the "spirit" the man; that I can't see beyond it.
But my experience of weeping in worship - in His Presence, knowing I'm in the Spirit - makes it seem so.

Well brother,
You needn't be having any difficulty about this. Cos as the Apostle Paul says, we can easily understand spiritual things through physical prototypes.

You can understand God's Love(agape) with natural Love such as: erotic Love between husband and wife and Philadelphia love that a father has for his Son or Daughter. Even though God's love is far superior and supernatural than these natural love. But we can understand divine love from these natural love.

Well, I don't know if you are married, but you can understand love from the erotic love between husband and wife.

Naturally, the one you love, you are passionate about, you sacrifice for, you forgive and forbear, you don't want to hurt, you rebuke and even discipline in love.

All these are also the features of divine love. God is love. And he is the creator of natural Love too.

So we can understand divine love (divine affection) from natural love(natural affection).

 

[faithfulness]

Good post!

I see the problem with the church of today is a lack of understanding of scale. Just how BIG is our God? All this talk of a "personal" saviour and such has made God into a sort of genie that makes our lives better (blessings)...AND gives us a happy ending (salvation for what we think we are). So then we have harnessed God to OUR own purposes...while completely ignoring His will.

We should tremble at His words. God is a consuming fire. He is holy and fearsome. But He is also compassionate to they who fear Him. So we need to get the scale of things right in a proper judgment of who He is...before we can think of asking Him for anything. Who is serving whom?

A servant should first serve his master and then seek his own needs. But our society has lost all sense of honour and reverence for anything but our own choices. Is it any surprise that the truth has been lost in the process?

Luke 17:7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”


At this time we are told just how precious WE are rather than God. We have turned the tables on truth, honour and righteousness...making it about US and not God.

1 Sam. 2:30 "Therefore, this is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I did say that your family and your forefather's family would walk before me forever. But now,' this is the LORD's declaration, 'no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced.

I return to posts like this often. Thank You Lord for the watchman's warning.

Ezekiel 3:16-18 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:
Isaiah 21:11-12 The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman , what of the night? Watchman , what of the night?" The watchman said, 'The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back!"
Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.
Ezekiel 33:6 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.'
Isaiah 52:8-10 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the LORD brings back Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.