Debilitating Fear

Have you ever been so consumed with fear that you could hardly move? Has your heart ever been so devastated and broken—so fearful of pain—you could  scarcely breathe—let alone continue on with normal life?

Fear is a thief—suspending and incapacitating life.

But that’s not all—let me let you in on a secret—fear is really a facade. That’s right as enormous and intimatading as fear may seem—in light of who Jesus is fear is very puny and ineffective!

I just read a story about how Jesus healed, restored and delivered a tortured man.  (Read Luke 8: 26-38)  After his healing this man clothed, and in his right mind, sat at the feet of Jesus—listening, loving and taking in every word He said. The man was truly restored.

The town’s people however, were terrified of the change that came to the tortured man—they were fearful of the peace that now filled the man. As a result of their fear they asked Jesus, even though He had only been there a very short while, to get back into His boat and leave.

I marvel at the ignorance of these people. Jesus does a miracle and the people are so afraid they ask Him to leave?

What would have happened in that whole town if the people instead welcomed Him? How many lives would have been changed and hearts healed if they had chosen faith in the place of fear?

How many times could our own heart and lives be helped—if we would just choose faith?

Be encouraged, by the grace of God, to stand in faith and draw near to Jesus. To live in hope and belief—not allowing debilitating fear to rule and ruin the peaceful life Jesus intends for you to have.

Please remember in the light of who Jesus is—fear is a puny, ineffective facade—therefore give it no room in your life!

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

Character Matters

A solid foundation for life is established by our character. Ponder that a moment. If you really think about it—many of life’s issues are weighed and measured by our character—it determines the paths we take and the choices we make. Consequently, it also determines the choices and opinions of other people in regard to us and our life.

Character defined as:  A combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing. Distinguishing quality and characteristic; moral force, ethical quality and integrity of a person.

Excellent character sustains the blessings in our life. I have this concept I call the “sieve theory.” It unfolds as this—God in His goodness continually pours blessings on us—His children. If our character is weak then our ability to possess, preserve and sustain these blessing is inept. A character of poor quality resembles a sieve. Unfortunately, questionable character rots the bottom out of our life and sadly, blessings fall straight through.

How many times has God blessed us with a relationship, a job, money or an opportunity where unstable character ruined all our probabilities?

The sieve theory has operated in my life more times than I choose to count or remember!

A great way to excel in good character is to notice the word nature in the definition of the word character. The definition says “A combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person.” Our nature is who we are fundamentally—at our core. Have you ever heard someone say “That’s just the way I am” this statement is in reference to the nature of a person.

One of the things I love about knowing God is the exchange He has made available to us at the cross. Exchanging our nature with Jesus’ nature is one of the first and most ongoing actions we as disciples of Christ partake in.

No matter who we are, where we come from or what we have been through—our nature does not have to stay the same. We have the amazing privilege to shed off our old nature and take on the nature of Christ. This is the essence of true Christianity—you have got to love this—how fortunate we are!

Having a house full of young adults is very interesting—we are at the stage where some are interested in finding a spouse. When it comes to my children finding a spouse, I never thought it would be such a huge process! But being on this end—where I’m a concerned parent whose been married for 31 years—knowing the intricate workings of marriage—and the sieve theory—it’s a big deal! Why? Because what we want from our kids before they marry is excellent and solid character. And the character we are looking for in a mate is nothing less than blameless and unwavering.

Fortunately, God has set my heart at ease. He’s done this by showing me that the most important character trait that we are expecting in our children and in a mate for them—is not necessarily a virtue—but what we are looking for is—how much they know and love God.

For a heart truly relinquished and sold out to God, His will and His purposes, will possess all the godly and moral character traits one could ever ask for. A person with this conviction will continually exchange their nature for God’s nature.

Thank God—all the world’s problems are solved—all we have to do is be Christ Like!

Please be encouraged to know and love God with all your heart and soul, in doing so you can’t help but to throw off your old sinful nature and take on the character of Christ.

Ephesians 4:21-23

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

1 Peter 1:3-8

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cold or Hot

Imagine eating your ice cream not quite cold and your dinner not totally hot. Would you pass on such a meal? Scripture says we need to choose—cold or hot?

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!

What’s fascinating is—why didn’t God just say I wish you were hot? Why does He want us to be either cold or hot? The obvious is—with God there is no middle ground, we are either in or out—cold or hot. He doesn’t want anything to do with lukewarm. Why? The answer lays in the following verse; Revelation 3:17,

 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

A lukewarm person does not recognize their need for God. Whereas a Christian who is living in a dedicated, submitted relationship with Him, where Jesus is Lord of their life (hot)—knows they need God—He is their life-line.

A cold person who is far from God can identify the separation between themselves and God and even though they don’t want God—they know they need Him. There is no grey area.

Lukewarm people, according to the scripture don’t realize they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

What this means is that the lukewarm go about doing good, Christian stuff—drawing their resources from an empty well of self-sufficiency.

God is so amazing, patient, kind and loving; even though He will spit lukewarmness out of His mouth, He is a God of long-suffering and love—so naturally, true to His character—He provides a solution to lukewarmness. (Gotta love Him!) The lukewarm need only to make Him Lord, following the instructions in Revelation 3:18-19,

So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn [repent] your indifference.

The gold, the garments and the ointment needed to make us rich, cover our shame and correct our blindness are free. On the cross Jesus bought our freedom. One thing to remember is they may be free—but very costly. Likewise, we give our life as an offering of white hot love to God—nothing less will do.

Please be encouraged to go all out (be hot) in your relationship with God.

Skillful Living 101—21 Obedience

How many people like the word obedience? Culture—even Christian culture, considers those who are concerned with obedience to be narrow-minded, old fashioned or too religious. Regardless of what we think about obedience—it is a requirement for living skillfully.

Proverbs 21:3 says,

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

God is pleased with a surrendered, tender and obedient heart, far more than with a heart and life that give service (sacrifice) void of love. This is true in all of life; no matter if we are serving God, family, church or our community—a heart based in the love of God can only pour forth love, righteousness, justice, mercy and grace.

Mark 12:33 tells us that loving God with our whole heart is superior over sacrifice,

And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

What this means is that God is far more concerned with our heart. He’s not into empty rituals, or just going through the motions. He doesn’t want to give us a list of rules to follow so we can be qualified as His. No, He wants relationship—the kind of relationship where we live in obedience—simply because we love Him. Obedience birthed out of love is what keeps us from the empty rituals of Christianity.

Proverbs—the book of skillful living, gives solid advice on how to live in obedience and avoid living a life filled with empty rituals.

Proverbs 21

Verse 2—“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs and tries the hearts.”

• Commit our way (heart and life) to Lord—obey His directives

Verse 5—“The thoughts of the [steadily] diligent tend only to plenteousness, but everyone who is impatient and hasty hastens only to want.”

• Obedience to diligence pays off

Verse 9 and 19—“Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman.” “Better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.” (Deep wisdom here for us ladies!)

• Our relationship with God needs to be the most important or else everything we do will be an empty ritual
• If Jesus is not enough—women (and men) become unhappy and quarrelsome
• We must let the Lord be our source of love and joy or we will be contentious

Verse 10—“The soul or life of the wicked craves and seeks evil; his neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.”

• A blameless person obeys God’s directive to love his neighbor as himself

Verse 13—“Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor will cry out himself and not be heard.”

• Obedience to God regarding a heart for the needy (both physical and spiritual) is imperative for our own answered prayers

Verse 21—“He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.”

• Obedience to righteous living results in favor

Verse 29—“Unscrupulous people fake it a lot; honest people are sure of their steps.”

• Dishonesty is an empty ritual
• Honesty allows us to be confident

Verse 30—“There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord.”

• There is none like Him
• There is no one who can stand against Him and win
• Obedience to God’s authority is essential

Verse 31—“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord.”

• Obedience to complete reliance on God brings deliverance

Skillful Living Tool Box

• Obedience is a requirement for living skillfully
• Loving God is superior over sacrifice, Mark 12:33
• God is not into empty rituals, 1 Samuel 15:22
• Obedience to diligence pays off
• Our relationship with God needs to be the most important or else everything we do will be an empty ritual
• If Jesus is not enough—we become contentious
• Love your neighbor as your self
• A heart for the needy is imperative for our own answered prayers
• Dishonesty is an empty ritual
• Honesty allows us to be confident
• Obedience to God’s authority is essential
• Complete reliance on God brings deliverance

Please be encouraged to embrace obedience—for no reason other than love.

Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production. Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult. 1 Samuel 15:22

Read and apply all of Proverbs 21 and please share with those who need to live skillfully!

Check out the Skillful Living Tool Box (updated) at the top of this page!

 

Skillful Living 101—20 Faithfulness

Have you ever spoken to someone confidentially, only to find out your confidence was betrayed? Or have you yourself been the one not able to hold a confidence?

Unfortunately, sometimes a faithful person is hard to find. In today’s culture faithfulness is not a value or high priority. Why? Because being a faithful person requires us to stretch beyond the norm and live selflessly—where we are not focused on our own needs, wants and desires.

Proverbs 20:6 states

Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?

Basic skillful living requires faithfulness. All day, every day, we are faced with the choice to be faithful. We must be faithful stewards of all God entrusts to us—family, spouse, relationships, work, church, the call of God on our life—faithfulness is required in our heart, soul, spirit and body. We have to be faithful with our words, thoughts, actions and reactions, with money and possessions—the list never ends! Who can do it? I know I struggle. The good news is—faithfulness is an attribute of God—the more time we spend with Him—the more we become like Him.

Ascertaining faithfulness first takes humility—an admission of our lack, then a simple exchange—our lack of faithfulness for His abundant faithfulness. It’s a process that happens layer by layer.

The Book of skillful living—Proverbs, has endless advice on how to be faithful. Something to remember as we glean life skills from the book of Proverbs is that skillful living is not just a cloak we wear, nor is it a to do list. The skillful living the Bible teaches has to embed in our very being, becoming who we are—not just what we do. This is why we need to live the Word not just read it!

We could probably go through every Proverb in Chapter 20 and see how faithfulness applies, but we will look at just a few.

Verse 1—“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

• My father was a drinker—I was a drinker—anyone who loves or even knows a drinker can attest to the fact that faithfulness is not a high priority in their life. Be wise—don’t be led astray by the seductiveness of drinking—even in its simplest form—it’s a substitute for the fulfillment a deep relationship with God can give.

Verse 7— “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.”

• Faithfulness to righteousness and integrity, cause blessings to fall on us and our family.

Verse 15—“Drinking from the beautiful chalice of knowledge is better than adorning oneself with gold and rare gems.”

• Be faithful in attaining godly knowledge—then we will truly be rich.

Verse 20— “Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in deep darkness.”

• Faithfulness to authority can save our life!

Verse 23—“God hates cheating in the marketplace; rigged scales are an outrage.”

• Be faithful in business—who wants to outrage God?

Verse 27—“The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.”

• When the light of God illuminates our inner person—may He find faithfulness.

Skillful Living Tools

• Esteem faithfulness
• Choose faithfulness over selfishness
• Basic skillful living requires faithfulness
• Ascertaining faithfulness takes humility
• Be wise—don’t be led astray by the seductiveness of alcohol
• Faithfulness to righteousness and integrity, cause blessings to fall on you and your family
• Faithfulness to authority can save our life!
• Be faithful in business—don’t outrage God
• God requires faithfulness in our inner person

Please be encouraged to seek, find and apprehend the faithfulness of God for every detail of your life.

Read and apply all of Proverbs 20 and please share with those who need to live skillfully!

Check out the Skillful Living Tool Box (updated) at the top of this page!

Our Reasonable Service

How do you give the perfect gift to someone who literally has everything? What could we humans—really give to the God who created the universe?

Romans 12:1 says,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

According to this passage of scripture; in light of what Christ has done for us—given us salvation, unconditional love and endless mercy, grace and blessings—let us respond appropriately. It is our reasonable service to be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice? Okay—this is a very extreme gift—right?

I once talked to a young man, who considered himself to be a believer, who thought it was. I said “Jesus gave His life for you—died on a cross for you, He wants your heart.” He said “I’ve thought about that, Jesus knew He’d raise from the dead and be in heaven back with His Father, it wasn’t really a huge sacrifice”

Over the years I’ve pondered this mind-set. Essentially it says I don’t owe God anything—especially not to be a living sacrifice.

I think this passage of scripture is one of those that a lot of us just might want to skip. But we can’t take the bless me scriptures and ignore our reasonable service.

What would it look like if Christians actually were living sacrifices?

I’m not saying it is easy to be a living sacrifice, but either was enduring the cross.

Mainly, we need to check our response to this urging assignment from the Word. What is our heart attitude towards God when we know He wants us to live a sacrificial, totally abandoned life-style to Him? This will tell us a lot about our heart.

Our response should stem from our relationship of mutual love with God. Not from duty should we be a living sacrifice, but because of our deep love for Him.

My reasonable service as a wife and mother has to come from my heart of love for my family or else I would burn-out really quick! Why would we painfully bear children, change poopy diapers and endlessly clean, cook and serve unless we love? Why and how does a man work his whole life to provide for his family—if it’s not for love?

It’s no different with God.

Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice is a form of true worship to God.

Deserting self and all its ambitions—is our first step in reasonable service. Be reminded God will never ask you to do anything He won’t equip you for and the only way you can fail—is to disobey.

Please be encouraged to say yes to God—give Him the gift of wholeheartedly diving into the life-style of being a living sacrifice. In light of the abundant gift of God—it is a very reasonable thing for Him to ask of us.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

Is Holiness Out-of-Style?

What do you think? Looking at the church today, would you say that holiness is out-of-style or out dated? What do you think of when you hear the words—Be holy? Do these words sound as if they are something from the Old Testament?—something not for today?

Holiness is not a overly worn, out-of-style outfit—that has lost its value. Neither is it something we outgrow. Just the opposite—the longer we are Christians—we move deeper and further into holiness.

For the sake of clarity, let’s define holy, its definition is: set apart, sacred, endowed with purity, devout, godly, virtuous and consecrated.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross sanctifies us and makes us holy—set apart for God. We all love this fact and rightly so—we gladly embrace this form of holiness. Who wouldn’t want to be forgiven of their sin? Where holiness is seen as outdated is when we realize we are to live a holy lifestyle—on a daily basis. The reason being—it opposes our flesh.

The word holy scares some people. Holy is not a bad four letter word! Holiness has a bad connotation because it’s immediately thought of as no fun and/or religious. Instead of by its truth—set apart.

You may ask—set apart for what?

Set apart for relationship with a most holy God, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Both in the Old and New Testament, scripture says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” The Strong’s Concordance describes this kind of holy as “Likeness of nature with the Lord, different from the world.”

Likeness of nature with the Lord…different from the world—what it does not mean is a list of dos and don’ts. Yes, there are things we should not do because they are not of the nature of God. But as  Christians these behaviors should not be our desire, our desire should be to follow Godly principles, thus be of the same nature with God.

We can’t live a holy life if we regretfully hold ourselves to a list of conducts not to follow. If we are to be of the same nature of God, then we will follow Him and be in relationship with Him, because He loves us and we love Him. This love and this relationship cause us to be holy and to live in right standing with God and vice-versa. The reason we don’t participate in sin, is because it is not pleasing to God and separates us from Him. Our heart is to love and please Him—be with Him and be like Him.

God’s Word is clear we cannot partake in a sinful manner of living, understandably some behavior can be disputed—seeming grey and not really sin…but maybe. This is where holiness gets sticky—when questionable behavior has to be scrutinized, categorized or defended—it’s a no brainer—if it’s questionable—don’t defend it—live without it—starve your flesh and be holy!

We should be glad, not disappointed that we are called to be holy and that we don’t indulge in sinful conduct. We should see it as a safety net—protecting us from a empty lifestyle that never stops craving after its self—a lifestyle that finds pleasure in self-indulgence, not God indulgence.

Religion says “I can’t do this or that because I’m a Christian”—relationship says “I don’t do this or that because I love God.”

God is jealous for us to live holy lives not because He loves rules, but because holiness sets us apart for Him and causes us to draw near to Him—which then causes Him to draw nearer to us.

Holiness is about relationship—not rules. Holiness is only out-of-style if we want to please our sinful nature.

A lot of Christians are stubborn towards holiness. I challenge you to be stubborn in your holiness, not allowing the devil, the world and the flesh to manipulate your life. 

Selfishness is easier and more pleasing to human nature, but this is what sets us apart—we do not live according to human nature but God’s nature. The Church—The Bride of Christ, should be set apart—we should be different. Different, but not weird and religious!

How will we make a difference in this world if we represent rules and not Christ? What will we have to offer that’s different?

 If we love our life so much that we outdate holiness—how will we make a difference—a difference that saves lives?

It is not difficult to be holy nor is it a lofty unattainable lifestyle. God never asks us to do anything or be anyone that He will not equip us to be. He gives grace to the humble—grace is a resource—grace fills in the gaps—it is available to us—for holiness. We just have to want to be holy.

Some Christians use grace as an excuse not to be holy—grace is not an excuse, but an endless supply of assistance and support to live a godly lifestyle.

In a holy lifestyle we do not live overly cautious of our sin, instead we live mindful and in honor of God’s presence and of our relationship with Him. 

I’m not perfect, but I am submitted and really passionate to be in closer relationship with God—I’m passionate for the Church to be in closer relationship with God—therefore I’m passionate about pursuing holiness.

I’m bringing holy back! What about you?

Please be encouraged to BE holy as He is Holy!

Ephesians 5:1-6 “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect. You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.”

1 Peter 1:13-16  “So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. [Live] as children of obedience [to God]; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires [that governed you] in your former ignorance [when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel].But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.For it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Free but Costly

If someone were to go to a free community event, would that person be free to act however they want at that event? Say they wanted to hit and offend everyone they came in contact with, could they? It’s a free event—are they free to do as they please? What if they wanted to drink alcohol and get totally drunk and act foolishly, could they? Would it be permissible for them to freely have sex at this event? Or would there be a conduct code?

What about freedom in Christ? It’s free. Can the saved person act however they want?

What does free in Christ mean? Are we free to do as we please, is that what it means?

If it’s free then why is it so costly?

Freedom is free—meaning you can’t buy or earn your way in. But freedom does have a cost. America’s freedom has cost many lives.

A Christian’s freedom is free, but it cost Jesus His life.

The freedom we have in Christ means we are free from death, sin, hell and the world—free from the devil and all his evil. We love this part and rightly so, but where things get tangled up is the world component.

We are to be in but not of the world, okay so where do we free Christians draw our line? We obviously have to live in the world and no doubt it is one of our biggest adversaries.

Now think of this as the free community event, can a person do whatever they want? The answer is no. Just because it’s free it does not mean you can freely do whatever you desire or feel like. It’s the same with Christianity; just because it’s free we are not free to do as we please.

The freedom we have in Christ translates to this—free to love and obey—we are free from the devils hold on us and we are free to love and obey God and His word.

Our freedom costs us our life as we knew it before we accepted Christ as savior. Christ bought us a relationship of intimacy with God the Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit—intimacy that comes by way of freely submitting (James 4:7-8).

Sadly a lot of people have a hard time with this. Until I realized that my freedom was about relationship I did too. When we are not aware of the relationship factor, then it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to do whatever we want, not caring if we grieve God, using the grace clause as our excuse. The reason being—it’s all about us and our happiness—not realizing genuine happiness is the joy that’s found in relationship with God.

Christianity is not about going to church, ministry, being good, evangelism or any other reason. These are all necessary biblical elements but they are not why we become Christians—no, we become followers of Christ because of love. He first loved us—showing us how to love Him and others.

This amazing love cannot be attained outside of a relationship with God and relationship with God will cost you your life.

It makes sense. Think about it—how can we accept the free gift and draw near to God outside of holiness? What relationship does light have with dark? None. Sin separates light from dark.

Galatians 2:20 says,

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Essentially freedom bought our ability to crucify the old worldly person/life, so Christ, the light of the world, could live in us.

Listen to Romans 6:12-14 from The Message,

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.

The freedom of God gives grace—grace leads to obedience—obedience leads to righteousness—we are instructed in Romans 6:13 to be instruments of righteousness.

Take note of what Paul says in Romans 6:15-16 about grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

We are free to love God—free to obey—free to lay our life down as a living sacrifice—free to be in the world and not of it—His grace makes way for it.

Please be encouraged in knowing that your freedom was bought with precious blood, shed to draw you near to God Himself.

Following is Romans 6:15-23 from The Message. It’s very lengthy but so good!

So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

Fear God?

A decade ago when the Lord first approached me on the subject of Fear of the Lord, I was unmistakably baffled, “Fear the God of love?”

As I searched for the meaning of the Fear of the Lord, God’s message unfolded as this—friendship– intimacy with Him, is set aside for those that fear Him.

As stated in Psalm 25:14

“Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear Him”

Therefore, to truly love the God of love I would have to fear Him and learn to balance the two.

The Fear of the Lord is a rare treasure to search for and to behold. This treasure holds the keys to the ultimate treasure of intimately and personally knowing God. The fear that we must partake of is based in love, reverence, honor and respect of His holiness—leading to the very essence of the meaning which is to unconditionally love and obey Him no matter the cost.

Psalm 34:9 heralds,

“Oh, fear the Lord, you saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.”

In today’s culture, no want would be a rarity. The truth is, the Fear of the Lord unlocks a deep love relationship with Him where carnal want is decreased.

You may ask, what exactly is the Fear of the Lord? The following scriptures enlighten us:

 “The fear of the Lord is true wisdom” Job 28:28
 “The fear of the Lord is clean [pure] enduring forever” Psalm 19:9
 “The fear of the Lord is the fountain of true knowledge” Proverbs 1:6
 “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life” Proverbs 14:27
 “The fear of the Lord is His treasure” Isaiah 33:6
 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” Proverbs 8:13
 “Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” Proverbs 3:7-8

Consider the Fear of the Lord as a gateway leading to many avenues of blessings for those that fear and reverence God. According to the few scriptures above, we see that the Fear of the Lord is the key to the passageway of wisdom, purity, knowledge, life treasure and good health.

Another question that may arise in you is why is the fear of the Lord a gateway or passage way to blessing, wisdom and knowledge? Understanding the fear of the Lord is one of those subjects that the humanness of our mind is opposed to. We have to ask the Holy Spirit for a revelation of the fear of the Lord that penetrates the core of our heart and soul.

Proverbs 2:3 gives us huge insight into comprehending the fear of the Lord.

“If you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

Discernment and understanding will give us understanding of the fear of the Lord. If you can’t wrap your head around this concept, cry out for discernment and understanding.

Psalm 89:7 says

“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.”

Fearing God causes us to put Him in His rightful place and to see Him for who He truly is GOD-Lord and Master! Not as ordinary, average or on the same level as our self, but highly exalted, honored, respected and to be obeyed. God acknowledges a reverent and obedient heart—this is one reason the fear of the Lord is a gateway to an abundant life.

The Fear of the Lord is not just something we gain knowledge of, The Fear of the Lord has to be ingested, becoming a part of who we are.

Be encouraged to search God out on this very essential subject—it will change your life!