There’s been something heavy on my heart these past few weeks. I, took a leap, I prayed a prayer asking God to break my heart. This was terrifying to me but I knew that it was necessary for my growth and I don’t know if this is the answer to that prayer or not but I believe God answered me. Since I prayed that prayer I have had a huge sense of grief for the world. So many of us are lost. We are walking through life on our own. As Christians, we are called to honor God. We are called to turn away from the world but what I have come to see is that so many of us Christians are asleep. Where is the passion? The love? The awe? The reverence? I have had the ability to meet so many Christians who truly burn for God every day. Their stories are so beautiful and they all have something in common. They die to themselves every day. We should live as they do, not for ourselves but for Christ. Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. They wakeup knowing God has a plan for them every morning and they live for him as best as they humanly can. We all need to wake up. 1 Corinthians 15:34 TPT says “ Come back to your right senses and awaken to what is right. Repent from your sinful ways. For some have no knowledge of God’s wonderful love. You should be ashamed that you make me write this way to you!” I don’t have the words. All I know is MY HEART BREAKS for God. So many of us rest in the reassurance of our sins being forgiven but we need to take it a step further; we need to turn away from our sins. We aren’t leaning into him. We aren’t living for His glory. We don’t fear the Lord. We can’t truly have a fulfilling relationship with God without fearing him.
Do you know what it means to fear the Lord? It means to have a deep respect and awe for him. I have seen the importance of this in my own life. I grew up calling myself Christian, but I was so lost. I didn’t know what it meant to truly fear the Lord. I didn’t truly know Jesus. It took me going through lots of hard lessons in life to fall to my knees and wake up. This is when I realized what the fear of the Lord was. It is also when I realized I was doing it all wrong. The fear of the Lord is necessary to our lives as Christians and I hope that I can teach you all some more about it. It is necessary to truly build a relationship with Christ.
Proverbs 2:1-5 says “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” To truly fear the Lord, we have to listen to Him with the intention to do his will. We have to be focused on His will. Psalm 112:1 says “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.” Not only should we do his commandments but we should be DELIGHTED to!!!! We need to wake up and stop watering down the seriousness of God’s call. We are the Church, it is our job to bring others to God but how can we do that if half of us are sleeping. In Matthew 24:42, Jesus says “ Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” I CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH!! Do you want to be caught at a party when Jesus returns, denying him, or simply doing nothing? We need to be eager!! The fear of the Lord needs to be stressed!!!
Fearing the Lord not only is a deep respect for the Lord but it leads to wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” When you truly fear the Lord you start to truly listen to Him and through His words and connection with Him, He grants you wisdom. A pastor speaking in front of a church speaks truth to a congregation because he has the wisdom that the Lord has granted him. We will have wisdom if we truly fear the Lord. As for the “ knowledge of the Holy One” Think about people in the East. I have been doing lots of reading lately and what I have learned is that people are being persecuted daily because of their faith. They stand firm in the knowledge that God is the true God and that they will join him in heaven. These people could easily denounce their beliefs but instead, they insist that they are the children of God to the point of persecution. Do you fear the Lord, that you would give your life without hesitation because you KNOW that God has a greater plan for you? People are persecuted constantly because they refuse to denounce their beliefs. Yet, we call ourselves Christians when we simply hear the word but do not act as it tells us to. If they can give their lives both spiritually and physically, why can’t we? As Solomon concludes Ecclesiastes, I will conclude this. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl 12:13).
To my old friends, you are probably very confused because sixth months ago I was a very different person. I was missing something in my life. I knew about God just like lots of you but I didn’t truly know him. I let the world get the best of me repeatedly. I can’t stress enough that if you truly just give him control there is so much beauty. The world acts as if the teenage years are the years to “live” by drinking and going to parties but all it is doing is keeping us from truly living. It’s all a charade, that I wasn’t able to see until I just gave up trying to do it on my own. We are young, we are the next generation, it is our job to wake the world up before its too late. Though, to do that we first have to give ourselves to Him. There is more to being a Christian than church on Sundays and knowing a few stories in the bible. To be a Christian is to realize you are not perfect but to strive to live in God’s goodness. We need to live for Him. We can’t be turning away from Him but living with Him, in our spirit. So I beg of you, what do you think Jesus truly wants of you? Do you truly fear the Lord? Is he your main priority? To end this blog I want to share a quote from Matt Walsh’s book, Church of Cowards he says “You must try very hard to live and think as a Christian, or else you will naturally, by force of cultural gravity, find yourself living and thinking as an atheist.” We have to hold tight to God’s word. The bible, the commandments, these things aren’t a suggestion, they are the guide to true life in God’s Kingdom. If you don’t know where to start just come to God with an open heart in prayer. He is always reaching, it’s time to reach back. This is a wake-up call. Please let Him in.
Thank you, God, for your goodness.
