STEEMCHURCH- The fear of God

1 John 4 vs 18

What type of fear are we talking about? Is it the fear of God or Human?

The word fear is used to reverence God many times in the Holy bible. However, depending on which ever perspective we are viewing the subject matter, fear could be explained in several ways.

Perhaps, what this bible verse means different. What about being In a case where we are facing challenges; the fear of those challenges will be cast out if truly the love of God which draws us closer to him is in our heart. The absence of the fear of God make us get involved in various ungodly acts; knowing fully well that those things which are frowned at by God makes us fear their punishments, not God! Does that mean we shouldn't fear him because we think we can do whatever that pleases us? No!

Personally to me, having the fear of God means loving him as we tend to abstain from various forms of worldly things we are not normally meant to do.

Let's take a quick review of the subject matter under the following;

• What then does fear of God mean?

• Why should we fear God?

• How can we fear God?

FEAR OF GOD - Meaning.

The fear of God is mentioned many times in the bible and this makes me wonder what the magnitude of that fear would be, huh?
Like I said in the beginning of this write up that fear could be defined depending on which ever perspective we are viewing it. I learnt some people say it is not exactly fear; but a kind of reverential trust, an understanding of how great God is. The fact is;if the truth of the matter needs to be told and not in any way running from it; fear means fear and nothing more. Yet, the bible wants us to love God and tells us that "perfect love expels all fear."
We could talk of fear in terms of human reaction to it or biblical understanding of it.

The book of Proverbs 1 vs 7, Proverbs 15 vs 33 and Psalm 111 vs 10 make us know that fear of God is the key to wisdom and knowledge; it is the instruction of wisdom. The fear of lord is humility and its wisdom is honour; this means before you can have the fear of God, you need to be humble and in turn its wisdom makes you honoured.

In proverb 2 vs 15; the fear of God means the knowledge of God himself. Having the knowledge of God means knowing him.

Proverb 9 vs 10 says, " the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom." Then, King Solomon continues;..."And the knowledge of the Holy One is Understanding"

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WHY SHOULD WE FEAR GOD?

Having gone through what is meant by "the fear of God" the various reasons why we should fear him should be crystal clear to us at this point. Why should we fear God? There are a lot of reasons we should fear God but let's take a look at the few ones here;

• Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and when we have wisdom, the knowledge of God comes in which eventually makes us fully understand who God is. It gives; wisdom, knowledge and understanding to do virtually all things.

• So that we sin no more. A classic chapter in the book of Romans says that our chief sin is that we "have no fear of God at all" (Romans 3:18).

• Psalm 25 vs 12-14

Who is the man that fears the LORD?
Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
He himself shall dwell in prosperity,
And his descendants shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.

• When there is fear of God, we won't be filled with the will to hurt, kill, harm or endanger any other creature.
  1 John 4 vs 19

If a person says, I love God, but that person hates his brother or sister in Christ, then that person is a LIAR.

Come to think of it; Could the evil things in the world today happen if there is love and fear of God. If possibly we are to put an end to this, the fear of the Holy will come first, because once we are able to have that, a natural love for people will certainly occupy our heart.

• We fear God so that we can be saved; who doesn't want to be saved? Nobody! Everyone wants to be saved.
  He talks about a special gift He has for those that fear him.
  Psalm 85 vs 9

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.

• We should have the fear of God so that we could be turned from the snare of death - [proverbs 14 vs 27]
  The fear of God which makes Him to love us will save us in time of danger.

• The fear of God leads to life and anybody that has it abide in satisfaction and will not be visited by evil - Proverbs 19 vs 23

• **Psalm 128 vs 1 says;

Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the LORD. (Psalm 128:1,4)

• Having the fear of God makes Him take pleasure in us - Psalm 147 vs 11
  Who doesn't want the pleasure of God?

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HOW DO WE FEAR GOD?

At the beginning of this write up, we could see in 1 John 4 vs 18 that perfect love drives away fear. Yes, it does! But, why does the bible say this?
Ecclesiastes 12 vs 13

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Without mincing words, it is crystal clear from this bible verse that the only way we can fear God is by keeping his commandments.
Doing what he wants, rather than what we want. By so doing, his blessings become ours and we shall lack no more in every aspect of our life.

Now, ask yourself this;
Am I keeping God's commandments? Because, the only way we can express our fear to Him is by keeping His commandments.

Thanks for reading