Fear of God is a constant awareness that God exists and is everywhere and can do anything.
There have been great men who lapsed in their fear of God to great consequence. Moses could not enter the promised land after leading the people for 40 years because of his lapse. David's baby died because of his lapse.
Yes God loves every person and wants every person to come to salvation through Jesus, but part of that love is discipline when we fall astray. It's just like how a loving parent will discipline their child when the child does wrong. It's just in this case God's discipline comes from a place of omnipotence.
But then it's more about respect than fear, no? I don't want my children to fear me when they do wrong, I want them to come to me and to learn from the mistake they made. I think that God would see it this way as well.
It's the fear of consequences for your wrong actions. It's not your children fearing you, it's not you fearing God himself, but it's the fear of not having the life you want due to wrong decisions. That fear keeps you on the right path. It's kinda odd to say you have respect for that path, or that it is just respect for God, maybe you do, but how does that lead you anywhere? I can respect someone and not care one bit about what they say to me or do.
It's not fear, it's faith that keeps me on the right path. I've done many, many, many things wrong in my life. Many fucking things. With 14, on my confirmation, my saying was Psalm 23. I chose this by myself, I said it in the church, and God listened. My life then went totally nuts, drugs, lies, theft, ignorance, what not. I was never violent, never killed or hurt people physically, but I did many strange things.
Instead of punishing me, God decided otherwise. He led me on a path I'd never had chosen on my own, ending up in a marriage and two beautiful children and a life full of love. But between 14 and 40 I did so many things wrong, it's a wonder I'm still alive. There were milestones layed down in this period of time that only paid out later in my life.
With 14 I said "The Lord is my Shepherd", and then the Lord sent me on a very strange journey. I've been strange before 14ys, but that was the time the Lord decided to take control.
Now that I'm settled, with 51ys old finally, I found back to the Lord, recognizing that he led me to where I am. And what I don't do is fear him I love him, I praise him, I enjoy the spirit of Jesus, I live a life of faith and love. I have bad moments, yes, but I don't fear. Nothing, not even the Lord. Because I do no wrong willingly. I made mistakes, I make mistakes, but the Lord guides me, and he forgives me, because he made me. I'm his child, and children act weired from time to time.
You only have to fear God, when you worship Satan. Only when your wrongdoing is intentional. When you refuse God. When you enjoy evil. Otherwise, just love him and let him guide you.
That's my take, I may be wrong, but I think I'm not.
Do not disagree with anything your saying. There's a little semantics going on, but the verse directly says "fear", yet I also do not think that implies to live a life in fear. And I certainly didn't imply that one does not make mistakes in life, or that God wants you to live mistake free life to so speak, it's impossible. But it's just like Trump was talking about yesterday, you have to want to be good, you have to want to go to heaven, be afraid of not going to heaven, so that you life a live striving as best you can to be that person.
Fear is the fear of His wrath for denouncing His wants by our actions.
The fear of God is an Old Testament concept as where the unconditional love of God is through Christ’s sacrifice.
This. God does hit us up side the head. I told my son once "your angels must really love you," because he always got caught and paid a price for acting against his better self. Same thing with Trump, and he got sent to military school. Fear God.
You display unassailable virtue. I congratulate you. I am not so blessed. I am just an unimportant sinner who thinks it's a good idea to pay attention to Biblical warning about fearing God.
I totally get that, and we are all on a journey Fren, and they are all different :)
I have stood in a hallowed presence and shamed myself so badly it has required a vow of 10 years now to show penance. It was a stupid act of hubris, which is why I now try so very hard to be humble.
I may never step back into that presence again, and that's ok, but if I do it I will be as a different person.
I have been so blessed in my life, I may have also mentioned in other posts that I might have had the hardest working guardian angel in the world when I was younger - but I count my blessings now, and they are many.
I have one job, and I intend to work at it until my last breath. The net effect to me is immaterial to be honest, as long as I fulfil my vows and never give up (hard as that can be sometimes).
Fear of God is a constant awareness that God exists and is everywhere and can do anything.
There have been great men who lapsed in their fear of God to great consequence. Moses could not enter the promised land after leading the people for 40 years because of his lapse. David's baby died because of his lapse.
Yes God loves every person and wants every person to come to salvation through Jesus, but part of that love is discipline when we fall astray. It's just like how a loving parent will discipline their child when the child does wrong. It's just in this case God's discipline comes from a place of omnipotence.
But then it's more about respect than fear, no? I don't want my children to fear me when they do wrong, I want them to come to me and to learn from the mistake they made. I think that God would see it this way as well.
It's the fear of consequences for your wrong actions. It's not your children fearing you, it's not you fearing God himself, but it's the fear of not having the life you want due to wrong decisions. That fear keeps you on the right path. It's kinda odd to say you have respect for that path, or that it is just respect for God, maybe you do, but how does that lead you anywhere? I can respect someone and not care one bit about what they say to me or do.
It's not fear, it's faith that keeps me on the right path. I've done many, many, many things wrong in my life. Many fucking things. With 14, on my confirmation, my saying was Psalm 23. I chose this by myself, I said it in the church, and God listened. My life then went totally nuts, drugs, lies, theft, ignorance, what not. I was never violent, never killed or hurt people physically, but I did many strange things.
Instead of punishing me, God decided otherwise. He led me on a path I'd never had chosen on my own, ending up in a marriage and two beautiful children and a life full of love. But between 14 and 40 I did so many things wrong, it's a wonder I'm still alive. There were milestones layed down in this period of time that only paid out later in my life.
With 14 I said "The Lord is my Shepherd", and then the Lord sent me on a very strange journey. I've been strange before 14ys, but that was the time the Lord decided to take control.
Now that I'm settled, with 51ys old finally, I found back to the Lord, recognizing that he led me to where I am. And what I don't do is fear him I love him, I praise him, I enjoy the spirit of Jesus, I live a life of faith and love. I have bad moments, yes, but I don't fear. Nothing, not even the Lord. Because I do no wrong willingly. I made mistakes, I make mistakes, but the Lord guides me, and he forgives me, because he made me. I'm his child, and children act weired from time to time.
You only have to fear God, when you worship Satan. Only when your wrongdoing is intentional. When you refuse God. When you enjoy evil. Otherwise, just love him and let him guide you.
That's my take, I may be wrong, but I think I'm not.
Do not disagree with anything your saying. There's a little semantics going on, but the verse directly says "fear", yet I also do not think that implies to live a life in fear. And I certainly didn't imply that one does not make mistakes in life, or that God wants you to live mistake free life to so speak, it's impossible. But it's just like Trump was talking about yesterday, you have to want to be good, you have to want to go to heaven, be afraid of not going to heaven, so that you life a live striving as best you can to be that person.
Fear is the fear of His wrath for denouncing His wants by our actions. The fear of God is an Old Testament concept as where the unconditional love of God is through Christ’s sacrifice.
This. God does hit us up side the head. I told my son once "your angels must really love you," because he always got caught and paid a price for acting against his better self. Same thing with Trump, and he got sent to military school. Fear God.
Whenever I've been given an opportunity to learn from my mistakes, I'm not fearful, I'm grateful.
You display unassailable virtue. I congratulate you. I am not so blessed. I am just an unimportant sinner who thinks it's a good idea to pay attention to Biblical warning about fearing God.
I totally get that, and we are all on a journey Fren, and they are all different :)
I have stood in a hallowed presence and shamed myself so badly it has required a vow of 10 years now to show penance. It was a stupid act of hubris, which is why I now try so very hard to be humble.
I may never step back into that presence again, and that's ok, but if I do it I will be as a different person.
I have been so blessed in my life, I may have also mentioned in other posts that I might have had the hardest working guardian angel in the world when I was younger - but I count my blessings now, and they are many.
I have one job, and I intend to work at it until my last breath. The net effect to me is immaterial to be honest, as long as I fulfil my vows and never give up (hard as that can be sometimes).
I think I must have a different understanding of fear then.
I've read some of the responses on here and the ones about reverence make sense - it's not a use of the word I was familiar with.
I'm not someone who experiences fear the way other people seem to, so maybe my understanding is biased by that.