Pray for the Fear of God

redleghunter

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Pray for the Fear of God

Psalm 130:3-4 If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand. But there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared. (Note: The fear of God results from forgiveness and it draws us to Him.)

The reason people do not follow Jesus is that they lack a fear of God.
Psalm 36:1-2 An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked, there is no fear of God before their eyes; for in their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

The fear of God has GREAT benefits: Eg. clear instruction for life choices, Intimacy with God Ps. 25:12-14; great goodness Ps. 31:19; keep us from sin Ex. 20:20; experience His great mercy Luke 1:50; and much more.

In light of this I pray for the fear of God – for myself and for my loved ones. When I pray for rulers and all men I pray the fear of God comes on them so that they might hear and understand the gospel and make an informed decision regarding their own eternal destiny.
I think of the fear of God primarily as reverence and awe resulting for believers in humble contrition before His holiness and majesty and power and for those who persist in unbelief, terror and trembling and paralyzing fear. (All will fear God when they see God.)
O God, teach us the fear of God. Amen.---Lauris Shepherd
 

packermann

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Pray for the Fear of God

Psalm 130:3-4 If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand. But there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared. (Note: The fear of God results from forgiveness and it draws us to Him.)

The reason people do not follow Jesus is that they lack a fear of God.
Psalm 36:1-2 An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked, there is no fear of God before their eyes; for in their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

The fear of God has GREAT benefits: Eg. clear instruction for life choices, Intimacy with God Ps. 25:12-14; great goodness Ps. 31:19; keep us from sin Ex. 20:20; experience His great mercy Luke 1:50; and much more.

In light of this I pray for the fear of God – for myself and for my loved ones. When I pray for rulers and all men I pray the fear of God comes on them so that they might hear and understand the gospel and make an informed decision regarding their own eternal destiny.
I think of the fear of God primarily as reverence and awe resulting for believers in humble contrition before His holiness and majesty and power and for those who persist in unbelief, terror and trembling and paralyzing fear. (All will fear God when they see God.)
O God, teach us the fear of God. Amen.---Lauris Shepherd

Amen! I think the number one problem afflicting Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox is the lack of the fear of God.

Many think that we Catholic are legalists. I wish that all Catholics were legalists! At least there would be some fear of God! But we, for the most part, are not legalists at all! In most Catholic churches, you never hear of the fear of God. You never hear of sin, or judgment, or hell. What I mostly hear is of the mercy of God. I do not hear of the holiness or wrath of God. This now goes on all the way to the top! No wonder there is so much sex scandals and corruption going on! I know some good priests. And they are fearful of what will happen to them if it gets out that they are preaching the full gospel. But praise God, they fear God more than their bishop. To any Catholic, I would recommend reading anything before Vatican II. I especially love St. Alphonsus Liguori.

In Protestantism, there is the heresy of Once-Saved-Always-Saved. I was a chaplain of a mission home in Chicago. We once had a guest speaker at our evening church service. He talked of his brother being a drug dealer, but, praise God, he is will still go to heaven because he asked Christ into his heart. This is what the preacher said. I don’t think that most Protestants hold to this. But this mentality is out there! To the Protestant, I would recommend reading the Pilgrim’s Progess by John Bunyan. He holds nothing back.


I remember hearing that the mark of a Christian is that he knows he is going to heaven and the non-Christian is not sure. But I think that is wrong. The non-Christian is so sure that he is going to heaven that he does not feel the need to even bother. If the non-Christian thought for a minute that he may be going to hell, he would be banging on our church doors. He would not rest until he had assurance of going to heaven. But he does not do that because he has no fear of God. He is sure that God will let him in heaven. All our movies and our TV shows about the after life has everyone going to heaven No one goes to hell. One out of four pregnancies end in an abortion. They are not worrying about standing before God.


Even atheists are sure of going to heaven, if it turns out that heaven exists! I was shocked when I read “The God Delusion” by atheist Richard Dawkins. I could not believe it! After a chapter showing that the God of the Bible is petty, vindictive, jealous, and vengeful, he believes that if this God exists that he is certain that He would admire him! As one critic wrote, Dawkins would push every one aside who were waiting to enter the pearly gates and insist that they open wide for him! He definitely has no fear of God!


Maybe we are at fault. Maybe we are the victims of our own success. Maybe we have been preaching so much about God’s love and mercy that people feel that there is nothing to fear anymore. I am not sure what the solution is. I do not want God to seem to be an ogre. But neither do I want Him to be seen as a patsy.


I would recommend every Christian to read books that take you out of your comfort zone. Better to feel a little uncomfortable in this life than being very uncomfortable in the next. Nothing does that better than reading the Bible. I am not talking about just reading pet verses that make you feel good about yourself. I am talking about reading the whole Bible – from Genesis to Revelation. If read you five chapters a day, you will finish the whole Bible in a year.

As you mentioned, the fear of God is not just the fear of judgment. It is also having a awesome reverence toward God. Even once we are in heaven, we will never love our fear of God. In fact, it will be intensified - even though there will no longer be fear of judgment. The angels, with no worry of judgment, cover their faces in the presence of God because they see God as being so awesome. The more we grown in our relationship with God the less we will fear punishment but the more we will fear God just for who He is.

Forgive my tirade. This is also a big bugaboo for me.
 
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