The lack of fearing God is terrible – it is the source of all kinds of lawlessness; we need to know the living God and realize He is not mocked but rather He sees everything and judges everything by manifesting everything.
On one hand we need to love God with all our heart and soul and strength, and on the other hand we need to fear Him.
In this world today where there’s a prevalent spirit of rebelliousness operating in all men, we need to take the lead to submit ourselves to God’s authority and be filled with a proper fear of God.
If we realize that God set the good land before us, He set His eyes on us that we would have and inherit the good land, we will not be indifferent but we will love God and fear God so that we may be qualified to enjoy the land.
May we be those who not only love Him but also who contact Him, and may our contact with Him not be ceremonial or devotional but full of awe in our love for Him.
May the Lord fill us with a proper fear of God, realizing that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and as believers in Christ we need to fear Him and be in awe of Him.
God is in control; He is almighty; He is sovereign; He is on the throne; and we as His people both love Him and have a healthy fear of Him, not being loose but rather working out our own salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who operates in us.
As we fear God, we desire to be separated, sanctified unto Him as a holy people, and we want to be infused with His holy element to be as holy as He is.
Because God is severe toward those who are rebellious, especially those of His people who are rebellious, we need to fear Him.
This doesn’t mean that we should be afraid of Him but that we should be filled with a healthy fear of Him, realizing that He disciplines those whom He loves and He is righteous and holy.
We will fail, and the Lord is exposing all rebelliousness in us, but we need to submit ourselves to God and be filled with a proper fear of Him. Our love for God must be balanced by our fear for Him.
Knowing and Fearing the Living God who Judges all things by Manifesting all things
Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness also, and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).
Man today denies God’s rule over man and wants to get out from under the principle of God’s ruling over man; lawlessness is sin, and sin is lawlessness.
The lack of fearing God is a terrible thing, for it is the source of all kinds of lawlessness.
We all must learn to fear the living God; we shouldn’t be loose, for God is not mocked: what we sow, that’s what we will also reap (Gal. 6:7).
So that we may partake of His holiness, God disciplines us; He loves us, so He disciplines us, and He scourges every son whom He receives (Heb. 12:6).
His judgement begins from His house (1 Pet. 4:17), so we must fear God.
As Paul said, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31), and our God is a consuming fire (12:29).
He sees what we do; He hears the things we say; and He knows our heart and what we think. It is a fearful thing for us to fall into the hands of the living God; we must learn to fear Him.
God searches our intentions, our thoughts, our emotions, and everything in our inner being; nothing can be hidden or covered before Him.
As we think things, do things, and say things, we must be filled with a healthy fear of God, knowing and fearing the living God who judges all things.
He judges our condition and makes manifest our situation; His judging is for manifesting all things (1 Cor. 3:13; Eph. 5:13; 1 Tim. 5:24).
God manifests all things; this proves that He is a living God, and He doesn’t overlook anything. If we want to put on a show and manifest that we are a God-fearing person, God will eventually manifest all things.
In Gen. 39-41 we see how Joseph was manifested by God as a God-fearing man and was enthroned; although he was put in prison and was limited to the uttermost, what he was came out, and God manifested him and brought him to the throne.
If we simply want to make a show of our love for God, one day we will be exposed, and what is in us will be manifested.
Our intention to make a show of our faith before men will be exposed, and God will manifest whether we are wrong or right.
Our God is a living God; He is not careless but He is the Sovereign of the universe, He has authority over all things, and He doesn’t overlook anything.
Our God is both great and fine; we need to fear Him and trust Him as the living God.
He wants to make us partakers of His nature, partakers of His holiness, so that He may be manifested in us and through us as holiness, righteousness, light, and love.
The living God whom we serve is not mocked.
The history of the church proves that a Christian who does not fear God will not have a good ending; such a Christian will have a miserable ending. We all know some examples of ones who didn’t fear God and yet did many things in God’s name, and their end was miserable.
If a believer is God-fearing, sooner or later he will be manifested by God.
Day by day we need to consider soberly before the Lord, Lord, did I speak a loose word? Did I interact casually and recklessly with anyone? Did I say an offensive word? Even more, Lord, was there a time today that I lived out myself and didn’t touch You?
Lord Jesus, save us from a lack of fearing God, which is the source of all kinds of lawlessness. May we consider it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, realizing that our God is a consuming fire. Thank You Lord for both loving us and disciplining us. Thank You for judging us in this age so that what is in us may be manifested. Lord, we trust in You and we fear You. Fill us with love for You and with a healthy fear for God, realizing that we cannot be careless or loose in our daily living. Save us from casually and recklessly interacting with others. Save us from living ourselves out and not You.
When we Fear God, we will Walk in His Ways to Live God, Express God, and Magnify God
The children of Israel were not only to keep God’s commandments but also to walk in His ways (Deut. 8:6; 10:12-21).
We need to love the Lord and keep His word; our love needs to be complemented and reinforced by our fear of Him in an awe-filled reverence.
Then we will be those who not only know the things that God do, that is, we not only know God by His works, but we would now Him by His ways.
Our entire spiritual future depends upon whether or not we know the Lord according to His ways. When we fear God, we will walk in God’s ways (Deut. 8:6; Exo. 33:13).
We need to not only love the Lord and fear Him, but also walk in His ways; God makes His acts known to all men, and all His people can see His works, but only those who know God intimately can know His ways.
May we pray like Moses that we would know God and His ways so that we may know Him. God’s ways are actually what God is (Psa. 103:7).
God made His ways to Moses and His acts to the children of Israel; Moses knew God in the deepest way, according to His being intrinsically, in His ways.
Whatever God is, is a way to us; for instance, God is love, and love is a way in which we walk (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:25; 1 John 4:8, 16).
Our knowing God in His ways is subjective; we need to know Him in His ways by believing into Him, by laying hold of Him in our organic union with Him.
Then, as we do so, our person merges with Him, His attributes merge with ours, and we have joint attributes, a merged being, and we know through His attributes what He intends, what He would live out.
Then, as we live that very thing out, we know Him according to His ways of love, honesty, righteousness, holiness, peace, and joy. We know these through our union with Him, knowing Him intrinsically.
For us to walk in God’s ways, therefore, is to live God, express God, manifest God, and magnify God (Rom. 2:4; 11:22; Titus 3:4-5; Phil. 1:20-21).
How do we know His ways, live Him, manifest Him, and express Him? It is by being in His word, by being infused with Him through His living word.
It is through the Bible and through our mingled spirit that we attain to Christ as the God-breathed out word and as such, we are able to have Him as the One who manifests His ways, and we know Him in His ways.
When we fear God, we will walk in His ways; God’s ways are what God – He is love, He loves the sojourner and gives him food and clothing, so we should walk in this way of God. God is holy, and His holiness is another way for our walk.
He doesn’t regard persons and doesn’t take bribes; we should take this as a way, not regarding persons and not receiving bribes.
God executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and we should walk in the way of His justice. We need to learn God’s ways – what God is and how He acts and behaves (Exo. 33:13).
Lord Jesus, make us those who fear God and walk in God’s ways. May we know not only Your works but also Your ways, and may we know God in His ways. Lord Jesus, it is our desire to know You not only in what You do but also in what You are! We want to walk in God’s ways for us to live God, express God, manifest God, and magnify God! Keep us breathing You in through Your word, inhaling what You are in Your word, and being infused with Your being, Your ways, and all that You are, so that we may walk in God’s ways as we love God and fear God!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Când ne temem de Dumnezeul cel viu, vom umbla pe căile Sale de a-L trăi pe Dumnezeu și de a-L exprima pe Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 5, Becoming Qualified to Inherit the Promised Land.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Search me, O God, my actions try, / And let my life appear / As seen by Thine all-searching eye— / To mine my ways make clear. (Hymns #407)
– Lord, reveal Thyself to me, / That the flesh I’ll fully know; / May Thy grace so work in me, / That in dust I’ll lowly bow. / How I long for victory, / Yet, thru all my life, how weak! / Evil things I cannot leave, / Nor can do the good I seek. (Hymns #412)
– Oh, what a thought! Oh, what a boast! / Christ shall in me be magnified. / In nothing shall I be ashamed, / For He in all shall be applied. / In woe or blessing, death or life, / Through me shall Christ be testified. (Hymns #499)
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