The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...Psalm 111:10

Many Christians don't like to think that they should fear God, after all he calls us his children, he loved us so much that he sent his own son to come down and be a sacrifice for us. God is love, but our God is beyond what we can even imagine. He created the universe. Recently astronomers found another planet. They say that its temperature is 72 degrees year round and that it looks mostly like water. They also said that if we were to travel there it would take 22 million years to get there! Its hard to comprehend the vastness of our solar system and it only gives us a glimmer of how big our God is. However, knowing this gives us a sense of awe for our creator.

This morning I was reading the Bible Bus and the passage was about Abraham and how God told him to; "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." Genesis 22:2

God was testing Abraham to see if he would really do it. Abraham knew God well enough to be one hundred percent obedient. Abraham saw the smoke rising from Sodom and Gomorrah, he saw the birth of his promised child at the ripe old age of 100, he witnessed God's protection of his family when God threatened the death of a king who took his wife Sarah. Abraham trusted God and knew that God's nature was perfect. He knew that God was on his side.

I am listing a few verses on the subject of fearing God;

And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 6:23
I don't know about you but I remember when I was a child I was afraid of doing the wrong thing for fear of getting into trouble. All my father had to do was take off his belt and we would all run! Fear of this kept us from doing stupid things.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy. Psalm 33:18
When we are humble and have the correct view of ourselves in relation to God- God sees us and is merciful to us.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.Proverbs 1:7  The word of God is pure and he gives us instruction on how we should live our lives but when we insist on our own way- we are foolish.

The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil. Proverbs 19:22-24 We can live in confident satisfaction that God will supply our every need. We need not be consumed with things that are empty like alcohol, drugs, sex- or other things that lead to addiction.

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD..Isaiah11:1-3
This passage is about Jesus. Jesus obeyed His father. Jesus prayed this prayer three times;

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”Matthew 26:38-40 (talking about the death he would die)

God should be our decision maker- not us. In fact Jesus says that we are going to do a lot of things in his name, but are they the things that he is calling us to do?

 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' ²³ And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'  Matthew 7:21-23
Yesterday I heard a sermon about the last days. Basically the pastor, and author (Douglas Hamp)said that things are going to get worse- he predicts that the Euro will crash this year, followed by the dollar. He talked about the issue of oil that is on the news right now- that if they close the Strait of Hormuz that we would be cut off from oil causing prices to skyrocket. More Christians are being persecuted in other countries than ever before. He listed numerous natural disasters that occurred last year, this is the beginning of birth pains that the Bible talks about. He discussed so many disturbing things- that when church was over, people were angry! They didn't want to hear it. Christians love this world, this life, and the pride of the work they do. We all want to hold on tight to the things that we have. Yet God tells us to be ready, be watching because He is coming back! And at the same time we need to be right with God, we need to be prepared, and we need to live with a sense of urgency. There are many unsaved people around us. We can't assume that everyone in church is a Christian because many of them are not.

Let's put things in perspective, let's wake up from our complacency, rend our hearts in repentance, and determine to let God be our daily decision maker.