The Fear of The Lord Is- Part 9- Required

 Deuteronomy 10:12,13

“And now, Israel, what does The LORD your God require of you, but to Fear The LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve The LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of The LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” 

God's will summed up neatly:

1. To Fear The Lord our God

2. To Walk in All His Ways and To Love Him

3. To Serve The Lord our God with 

    a. All our heart and b. All our soul

4. To Keep The Commandments of The Lord and To Walk in His Statutes

    Those who do not fear The Lord are very much unaware of the wrath they could and will incur if they do not surrender their hearts and lives to God through Jesus Christ. Yes, God is longsuffering, patient towards us. Yes, God desires our love and our loving obedience to His Word. But there comes a time when patience has reached an end, and His waiting is over. Then comes His wrath, His fury and anger will be unleashed on the unbelieving soul who has denied God and refused to surrender or submit to His authority. 

    Thank God I will not see that wrath poured out on me. I have given my heart to Him as His own. I have surrendered my life to Him, for Him to use my life as He wills to fulfill His purpose in me. I have chosen to walk in all His Ways and to Love Him with all my heart. 

    I have chosen to serve my Lord with all my heart and with all my soul. And, make no mistake, Jesus Christ is My Lord; my Savior. "Lord" means Master, Ruler; it is He Who rules in my heart and my life. Because I have made a decision to believe that Jesus Christ Is Lord, my life is not my own any more. Whatever I had before I had Christ, is rubbish and worthless.

    Philippians 3:8-11

8. Yes, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus My Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, The Righteousness which is of God by faith:

10. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;

11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Exodus 20 outlines the commandments of The Lord God. The sum total of all these commandments is to Fear God and Honor Him with our Love and Devotion. 

    Ecclesiastes 12:13

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

    Isaiah 8:13

The LORD of Hosts is The One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded. 

    Here, The Fear of The Lord is linked to God's holiness. The holiness of God is beautiful to behold. Less than a handful have seen it and lived. The very nature of mankind is corrupt and evil because of the sin-nature we inherited in our DNA from when Adam and Eve sinned. She is the mother of all life, and Adam is the husband. Through them we have this stain on our hearts and our souls. Because of that we cannot see God's holiness and live without the blood of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ covering us. Our sin-nature leads to death.

    Knowing our corruptness, we can see by this that God's holiness is incorruptible, unblemished, unstained. God's holiness is righteousness, justice, life, and light, to name a few. God's patience is the only thing separating us from His wrath. When that Day comes however, the person who has chosen to believe God's message of grace and righteousness through Jesus Christ, will be set apart from the people who chose not to believe that Jesus Christ Is Lord. Sheep on one side, goats on the other. [Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13; Matthew 25:32, 33]. 

    The one who believes will stand with the sheep. The one who does not believe wills stand with the goats. The sheep belong to God through Christ. The goats belong to the devil, to Satan. Be a sheep. Follow Jesus. Willingly. Lovingly. Joyfully. Readily. 

    Where do you want to be found? In Him or outside Him? 

YET NOT I BUT CHRIST IN ME - CityAlight

IN CHRIST ALONE - Celtic Worship featuring Steph MacCloud

Higher Ground

photo courtesy of http://mmbenya.com/goats-mountain-climbers/mountain-goat/

You gotta go to this site and check out the other photographs and stories. It's awesome.

While I was contemplating being in extreme pain tonight, the old hymn classic "Higher Ground" came to mind and I had to look it up. (And of course, this site being what it is, I needed the appropriate picture to go with it. Isn't that one amazing?) I was thinking that a significant part of my body being under attack daily is also a spiritual attack on me daily. The more I testify of God's redeeming grace through Jesus Christ, the more my body suffers. That may seem silly to some, but to me it is real.

The pain and anguish Job endured was both physical and spiritual. God did not bring any of the horrific tragedies into His servant's life. Job's grief and illness and mental torture were brought on because God knew Job would remain faithful to God throughout the entire ordeal. Job's righteousness was Satan's target. If the devil could bring down God's faithful worshiper and friend, then God would be wrong. And we all know GOD IS NEVER WRONG. Job showed us that HOW we go THROUGH our trials is just as important as WHY we go THROUGH our trials.

Satan hurls darts at God's faithful servants, desiring to take us out of commission. The devil is prideful and self-righteous. He wants what belongs to God. He could not take out God and gain control of God's throne in heaven, so he is coming after what belongs to God here on Earth. And darts they are. Darts of grief: parents bury a child. Darts of sorrow: children bury their parents. Darts of misfortune: stocks fall and banks close. Darts of anxiety: worry and fret. Darts of disease: pandemic illnesses flood the globe. And those are just the obvious darts.

In the devil's arsenal are also darts of misconception. Disguised darts, if you will. What appears to be right isn't always the right thing to do. It is the "appearance" of goodness that will land a man or a woman in trouble with both mankind and God. But it is the knowledge AND understanding of what is righteous and holy that will lead both men and women in the direction of salvation and redemption.

You can know about God. Sunday School and catechism teach us about God. You can know of God. Every religion has a god. But to truly KNOW GOD, you and I need to seek GOD, listen to GOD's WORD, hear what GOD has to SAY and do what GOD wants us to do. How well do you know your best friend? Your spouse? Your sweetheart? Are you enjoying an intimate relationship with GOD, too? Or is He just a long-distance relative?

Verses 3 and 4 of "Higher Ground"

I want to live above the world

Tho' Satan's darts at me are hurled;

For faith has caught the joyful sound

The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height

And catch a gleam of glory bright

But still I'll pray till Heav'n I've found

"Lord, lead me on to higher ground"

chorus

Lord, lift me up

and let me stand

by faith

on heaven's tableland,

A higher plane

than I have found;

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

{words by Johnson Oatman, Jr.)