Fear

With China, Portland, the Presidential election, the economy and COVID at the front of the news these days, fear is gripping most of the nation.  These very days the fear of COVID-19 is driving angst over face-coverings, how to send our children back to school, and how to cope with its pain of death as happened to Herman Cain.

Sunday I encountered a career RN (not of our church) who went off on the whole thing as a hoax and politicized.  At the same time there are many who are very fearful of the whole thing!  With the threat and fear of contracting the virus, we all hunkered down/sheltered for weeks and closed church and for many it continues.  I weekly call or visit Darrell Z. who is restricted to his room in a care center and only has visitors at his window – including his own daughter!  Fear is a great force that enables control by some over others (the midnight knock and being whisked away forever).  In fear, men lose strength, hope, joy and freedom.

Fear is a powerful, powerful emotion that drives much of what we do.  Why do we buy insurance?  Why do we exercise (heart and health)?  Why do we get weak-kneed at the edge of a precipice?  Why do we fight death (fear of the other side)?  Why do we pay our taxes (because the IRS has agents!)?

FEAR is (from The Century Dictionary) – a painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil or harm, and accompanied by a strong desire to escape it; an active feeling of dread of which fright and terror are the intenser degrees; hence, apprehension or dread in general.

Follow this progression:

Fear binds us, Jesus conquers, God is love which defeats fear, don’t fear…

Hebrews 2:14-15, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

1 John 4:8, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:18, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

I Timothy 1:7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Fear God and fear flees! Oswald Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”

From Mark Alan Williams, May 21, 2019 (www.markalanwilliams.net)

Fear God and you’ll have nothing else to fear, because there is no one and nothing greater to fear than Him.  Many people are afraid of a multitude of things, but they may not fear God…To fear God means that we realize the scope of His majesty and holiness.  It means that we honor Him in how we live because we recognize that He is always watching.  To fear God is to acknowledge His Sovereignty and power to give and take life; to extend grace and administer judgment.

The Holy Spirit teaches me to fear God and helps me to apologize when I am unkind. In addition, I am able to heed correction, obey God’s Word, and strive for honesty. Through my respect and fear of God I confess sins and break bad habits.  Since becoming a Christian, I now want to fear God and I pray that He will help me to do so even more!

Psalm 33:8 says, Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

excerpt from “Fear God and You’ll Have Nothing Else to Fear”

Fear God and life’s fear will lose its force.  Why?  Romans 8:18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.