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"
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?
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
Powerful points SS. Thanks for sharing your views while including bible verses to assist them. We definitely fear God here :D
Upvoted & Resteemed
J8.
The kind of fear the bible suggests we have is reverential fear, and not the fear of God destroying us. We should serve God because we love him and not because we fear that he would destroy us. Thanks for sharing.
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. Effective focuses SS. A debt of gratitude is in order for sharing your perspectives while including book of scriptures verses to help them. We unquestionably fear God here
(Deuteronomy 10:12)
“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, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul .”
Do not defy Him, but acknowledge Him as your Creator, Saviour and Lord. Give over your life to Him, live it out of reverence to Him and be saved from condemnation.
The greatest visible evidence of the fear of God is obedience to God.
Thanks for sharing, God bless you.
the ultimate example of fear and perfect love working together is Jesus Christ. He warned us at every turn to fear God, not men—and he confirmed that in everything about his life and death. He spoke lovingly but frankly to all and didn't mince words when people needed to face their sin and repent. But he also demonstrated love beyond human understanding when he lived out his words, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends ( John 15:13 )."
Fear of God refers to fear or a specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to a deity. People subscribing to popular monotheistic religions might fear divine judgment, hell or God's omnipotence.
Excellent post sir. I'm really glad about the way you elaborated on the different aspects of fear especially regarding "reverence". Most people confuse that particular context of the use of that word.
The day we recieved Christ as our Lord and saviour was the day the Holy Spirit brought the fullness or the totality of Christ in us. We have the love of God in us according to
Romans 5: 5 And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.
This means we can also love as Christ loved us and again in another scripture the bible says God will put His fear in in His people under the new covenant:
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever , for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I WILL PUT MY FEAR in their hearts Jeremiah 32:38-40
They are not going to work automatically just because they are in our hearts but we must exercise it or put them into practice. We must learn to fear God and to love Him.
The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom....let the fear of the lord reign in your heart each day.....
The dread of God isn't the commonplace sort of dread we have for things which influences us to flee from them. Rather it is a sort of affirmation of God's tendency.
When you know God and one day the devil decide to deceive and you started following the ways of the evil one the living God will always not be happy with you and he will never ask you why you back slided but what you need to do is to is to come back to Christ and focus your whole mind in his will and his direction.
He is ready to accept any time you have gone astray for he is a God that never forsake his children.
And this is the reason you need to fear God for he will always have mercy on those who fear him.
What God has made is perfect and its great for those who trust in him in truth and in spirit because they will always recieve mercy from the sight of God.
Those who trust in the lord and those who have given their life to christ will always find favour in the face of the lord and they shall lway receive divine direction from the Almighty God
For he who have christ in him is a complete man or woman and will always find favour in the face of the
The fear of God comes from loving him, but even in the bible God showed his might and that alone can make you fear him for he is great.
Fearing God is good because it saves us from caving into our own sinful nature. That's why hearing someone is God-fearing actually makes us trust that person more. If they fear God, they are more likely to keep their word and treat others with kindness.
Thanks for pointing this out.
The fear of God is not the typical kind of fear we have for things which makes us run away from them. Instead it is a kind of acknowledgement of God's nature.
The fear of God means different things to a believer and an unbeliever.
For the unbeliever, the fear of God is the fear of the judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God (Luke 12:5; Hebrews 10:31). For the believer, the fear of God is something much different.
The believer's fear is reverence of God. Hebrews 12:28-29 is a good description of this:
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ’God is a consuming fire.’”
This reverence and awe is exactly what the fear of God means for Christians. This is the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe.
Then again, as cited by @stainedsheets, if your ways are not right in God's sight, if you're not keeping His commandments, there's another fear that grows in you, and this time around its called the fear of God due to guit. You feel unworthy, unwhole and no matter your possession, you feel incomplete.
There will be a turn around for those that fear God, and keep his commandments.The fear of God is the beginning of his wisdom
Without the fear of God it is impossible to say 'No' to temptation, only the fear of God can deliver us from evil.
thanks for this post @stainedsheets
The fear of God is the Beginning of wisdom
Having know this, as Christian, we ought to behave matured and not act as Immatured christians.
The Fear of God means Abstainance from sins and iniquities.
He spoke lovingly but frankly to all and didn't mince words when people needed to face their sin and repent. But he also demonstrated love beyond human understanding when he lived out his words, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Fearing God is good because it saves us from caving into our own sinful nature. That's why hearing someone is God-fearing actually makes us trust that person more. If they fear God, they are more likely to keep their word and treat others with kindness.
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. 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. 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. 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. When there is fear of God, we won't be filled with the will to hurt, kill, harm or endanger any other creature. The fear of God leads to life and anybody that has it abide in satisfaction and will not be visited by evil. Lets then grow and develop in the fear of God
To fear God is to love and obey Him without wanting to offend Him in order not to attract His wrought.
It helps us to walk diligently in line with His commandments
So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statuses, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.
How great is your goodness ,which you have stored up for those who fear you.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
For you will judge the people with righteousness and guide the nations on earth.
Praise the Lord, how blessed is the man who fears God and greatly delights in his commandments.
Very good post, we as human beings must fear the god. Because with our fear of God, we will always do what the gods say, and will keep all the prohibitions of God. That way, we will want to read the Bible, and we will always be close to God. I see now very few people who fear god, hopefully with steemchurch, we all invite people to be close to god. Thanks for sharing, and hopefully God will always be with you... :)
Proverbs 1:7 declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Until we understand who God is and develop a reverential fear of Him, we cannot have true wisdom. True wisdom comes only from understanding who God is and that He is holy, just, and righteous.
Deuteronomy 10:12, 20-21 records, "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes."
The fear of God is the basis for our walking in His ways, serving Him, and, yes, loving Him.
Having the dread of God implies adoring him as we have a tendency to avoid different types of common things we are not typically intended to do. Powerful concentrations SS. An obligation of appreciation is all together to share your viewpoints while including book of sacred writings verses to help them. We certainly fear God here
The sort of dread the book of scriptures proposes we have is respectful dread, and not the dread of God devastating us. We should serve God since we cherish him and not on account of we expect that he would wreck us. Much obliged for sharing.
the fear of God and his anger is the beginning of all knowledge and wisdom of the human being, because we are aware of the great poider of God
Effective focuses SS. A debt of gratitude is in order for sharing your perspectives while including book of scriptures verses to help them. We unquestionably fear God here :D
The sort of dread the book of scriptures recommends we have is respectful dread, and not the dread of God pulverizing us. We should serve God since we cherish him and not on account of we expect that he would devastate us. Much obliged for sharing
The fear of the Lord is an awareness that you are in the presence of a holy, just, and almighty God and that He will hold you accountable for your motives, thoughts, words, and actions. To fear God is to desire to live in harmony with His righteous standards and to honor Him in all that you do.
you have to do is to will be to return to Christ and center your entire personality in his will and his heading.
He is prepared to acknowledge whenever you have gone off to some far away place for he is a God that never spurn his kids.
What's more, this is the reason you have to fear God for he will dependably show benevolence toward the individuals who fear him. What God has made is impeccable and its incredible for the individuals who confide in him in truth and in soul since they will dependably recieve benevolence from seeing God.
Much obliged for sharing, and ideally God will dependably be with you
Wow! Good post from you about the fear of God.
Really love it.
Thanks for sharing....more wisdom!!!
@stainedsheets
For spritual wealth, one must have these qualities like God-fearing, faithfulness, being humble of God, teachable,etc. In every religion there is first point to be God-fearing!
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, if a man and this fear is by having faith and reading the scriptures.