Anyone who has been in my “room” knows I have several verses up on my wall. Last night I read about Jeremiah 5:22 and this morning on my wall I saw Isaiah 41:10

“Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me?” (Jeremiah 5:22 ESV)

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 ESV)

Fear and worry is one of those things that comes with depression and probably a consequence of the lifestyle I lived and most likely a consequence of life in general. Fear is certainly not a pleasant thing and the bible in general tells us very explicitly not to fear.

Doing a word search in the ESV for the words “Do not fear” it comes up with 37 hits in 35 verses.

Gen 35:17; Gen 50:19, 21; Ex 20:20; Num 14:9; Num 21:34; Deut 1:21; Deut 3:2; Deut 20:3; Deut 31:6, 8; Josh 8:1; Josh 10:8; Judg 6:23; Ruth 3:11; 1 Sam 23:17; 2 Sam 9:7; 2 Sam 13:28; 1 Kings 17:13; 2 Kings 17:34; Psa 55:19; Isa 7:4; Isa 8:12; Isa 57:11; Jer 42:11; Lam 3:57; Hos 10:3; Mal 3:5; Matt 1:20; Matt 10:28; Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; Luke 12:4; 1 Pet 3:6; Rev 2:10

“Fear Not” comes up 33 more times.
Gen 15:1; Gen 21:17; Gen 26:24; Ex 14:13; 1 Chr 22:13; Isa 35:4; Isa 40:9; Isa 41:10, 13-14; Isa 43:1, 5; Isa 44:2, 8; Isa 51:7; Isa 54:4; Jer 30:10; Jer 46:27-28; Dan 10:12, Dan 19; Joel 2:21-22; Zeph 3:16; Hag 2:5; Zech 8:13, 15; Matt 10:31; Luke 2:10; Luke 12:7, 32; John 12:15; Rev 1:17

Stand Firm a dozen more times
Ex 14:13; 2 Chr 20:17; Psa 89:28; Isa 46:8; Dan 11:32; 1 Cor 16:13; 2 Cor 1:24; Gal 5:1; Eph 6:13; Phil 4:1; 2 Th 2:15; 1 Pet 5:12

Do not be anxious 8 times
Matt 6:25, 31, 34; Matt 10:19; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11, 22; Phil 4:6

It is interesting to me that close to a hundred times the Bible tells us not to fear about our lives. And yet most of us spend all our time fearing and worrying about all the things we are not suppose to fear. When we worry or fear we are not trusting God. Though there is ONE thing we are suppose to fear and that is God himself.

Fear the Lord 34 times
Ex 9:30; Deut 6:2, 24; Deut 10:12, 20; Deut 14:23; Deut 17:19; Deut 31:12-13; Josh 4:24; Josh 24:14; 1 Sam 12:14, 24; 2 Kings 17:25, 28, 34, 36, 39; Psa 15:4; Psa 22:23; Psa 27:1; Psa 33:8; Psa 34:9; Psa 115:11, 13; Psa 118:4; Psa 135:20; Prov 3:7; Prov 24:21; Jer 5:24; Jer 26:19; Hos 10:3; Amos 3:8; Jonah 1:9

Fear of the Lord 27 times
2 Chr 14:14; 2 Chr 17:10; 2 Chr 19:7, 9; Job 28:28; Psa 19:9; Psa 34:11; Psa 111:10; Prov 1:7, 29; Prov 2:5; Prov 8:13; Prov 9:10; Prov 10:27; Prov 14:26-27; Prov 15:16, 33; Prov 16:6; Prov 19:23; Prov 22:4; Prov 23:17; Isa 11:2-3; Isa 33:6; Acts 9:31; 2 Cor 5:11

In a simple search of the Bible it tells us to fear the Lord as many times as it says not to fear anything else. Maybe we need to take some time and fear and give reverence, honor and glory to the Lord instead of worrying and having fear for the world.

Quoting from the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words.
Fear of the Lord. This religious fear, or awe, is God’s answer to the ordinary fears that master human beings.
Such fear is reverence for God. We who fear God recognize him as the ultimate reality, and we respond to him. Fear of God is called the “beginning of knowledge” (Pr 1:7), meaning that taking God into account is the foundation of a disciplined and holy life (Pr 1:3; cf. Ge 20:11; Ps 36:1-4). To fear God means to reject every competing deity and to serve him only (Dt 6:13). Fear of the Lord is expressed by walking in all his ways, by loving him, and by serving him with all our heart and soul (Dt 10:12; Job 1:1; Ps 128:1).
While fear of God is closely linked with morality and with obedience to God’s commands, it is also freeing. To fear God means to recognize him as Creator and to know that his plans stand firm forever (Ps 33:8-11). God has a special concern for all who fear him (vv. 18-19; cf. Ps 31:19; 34:9). Thus those who fear God can say with the psalmist, “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you” (Ps 33:20-22).

Maybe it is time we realign our fears to focus on the one biblically correct fear. What tricks do you use to deal with your fears of the world and help you to realign them to focus on God?

In my insomniac state, I was thinking about a question that Paul asks in Romans 6 that just stuns me. In the little bit of research I have done the commentators don’t say much on it. Maybe someone will have some thoughts.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
(Romans 6:20-21 ESV)

Earlier Paul states that either we are slaves of sin, which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16 ESV).

Several thoughts come to me about this:

• Most unsaved people do not know that they are slaves.
• Since you do not know you are a slave, they think they are free, no authority, no consequences.
• When we receive the holy spirit, we finally realize we are slaves.
• Yet we willingly go back to the slavery of sin, because of the immediate gratification.

What stuns me about the verse above is that Paul asks the perfect question, you have been living this life full of pride, greed, selfishness, lust (just name your sin) and what have you gotten from it other than shame?

What stuns me is that I now have been saved from the shame, guilt, punishment and death of my sinful life style and yet I crave to go back to my sin.

I am just thinking about application here.
If I want to complain about something… What fruit will that produce?
If I want to lust about something… What fruit will that produce?
If I want to gossip about someone… What fruit will that produce?

It is a question that I need to pray to God to bring in front of my face in every aspect of my life!

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love”
John Bunyan

Jeff Mobley started doing quotes on his blog so I thought maybe I will do one on occasion. I came across this quote in some of the reading I am doing.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate… Let the Christian rest content with his worldliness . . . Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of grace—for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace… The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ… We… have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ.

This post came from a question that came from a friend of mine during a Bible study we were having on Hebrews 11, especially in reference to Abraham. We were talking about if God came and said to you, “pack up your things and move to china” would we do it. We all answered, based on the knowledge that we assumed it was “God”. My friend took us back one step and asked a startling question “how do we know that this ‘voice out of the darkness’ is really God and not the devil?” Would we know if it is God or the devil telling us to do something? It was a question that I could not leave alone. Here is my answer? What thoughts do you have?

The problem is not that satan is going to ask us to kill someone as in the case of Isaac and Abraham. You would know to test that right away. The problem is that satan is far more insidious than that. He is not going to be that direct. He is far more subtle than that. He masquerades as an angel of light. Satan’s strategy is to wear us down. Satan is patient. Each time we succumb to the enemy’s temptation, it erodes what God has built in us, takes us further away from God, and all that we know true, until someday killing someone seems to be right and what God wants. This is a very slippery path. I think it is why we are commanded not only to confess our sins but to repent, turn away from them. We must close and lock the door to satan.

Satan tempts us in order to make us fail (and turn away from God). God tests us in order to confirm our faith or prove our commitment. (NIV NEW Study Bible).

I think our circumstances are quite different than that of Abraham’s in a couple of different ways. First, our relationship with God is not as direct as it was with Abraham. Secondly we have not only the Bible, the Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with Christ to counsel and guide us. Thirdly I think Satan’s hold on the world is far stronger. Lastly Satan knows he lost the war, but he wants to make Christ’s victory as costly as possible. Personally I think the last point makes him far more dangerous.

The more I look at this, the more I realize how important your statement is. We cannot believe that some “voice out of the darkness” is necessarily God. I don’t think it is lack of faith to test something (in fact if we don’t test it, it maybe disobedience to God). God not only gave us the tools, but he gave us the command.

This leaves two questions(actually I have about 200)…
What do I test?:
Everything… Being more practical, Test anything that looks to be questionable, to be good to be true, anything that is shortcuts and makes things easier, and offers that “expire”. God never said it was going to be easy living the Christian life. Personally it has been one of the hardest, challenging and painful things I have ever done. It also has been one of the most beautiful and fulfilling.

How do I test?:
Pray about it. Pray strong, persistently and ask God for his strong guidance and discernment. Talk to your friends, your mentors, your parents and pray with them. Read and trust your Bible. Using the tools of Ephesians 6. Lastly the thing I am learning is submitting to God. (this of course leads me to another discussion about how do you fight through submission, love, truth, etc, )

Let me explain that a little better, I am not talking about submitting to the “suggestion”. I am talking about submitting to our Lord, our King, our Father, our Friend, our Guide. The One we know. The more I force a situation because “I” think it is good the more I screw it up. It is why I have been TRYING to submit and let him guide me, instead of trying to run my life myself.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 – Test everything. Hold on to the good.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewsing of your mind. Then you will be test and approve what God’s will is – his pleasing and perfect will.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Matthew 4:3-4 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul, and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everying is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him who we must give account.

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