The Fear of The Lord

I'm sure all of you enjoyed the wisdom given by Byron Washington in his last post on Motivation: What's motivates people to do right and wrong? Well, the Honorable-Minister-Reverend-Dr. Byron Washington (he's gonna get me for this one...LOL) is back with another post. Byron Washington has a portion on his website specifically for his blogs where he shares more of his thoughts with other guest bloggers as well.

Lets see what this post has in store for us.

The Fear of the Lord

As I was thinking about what I should write for this blog, I began to look at the world around us. We are currently getting reading for elections next year and the candidates are on the campaign trail. They are promising to lower taxes, cut spending, increase healthcare, create jobs, and so much more. From a pure policy perspective many of the things they promise could not be done even in an ideal world, but hey who am I to judge (ha).

However, in the last few elections God has become a focal point for gaining votes. People use their “Christian Experience” to identify with certain groups of people in hopes of getting support and contributions.

This becomes problematic. Why? Because God is not a pawn to be used in our political chess games. Let’s think about this: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made- John 1:3

So we are very casually throwing around our relationship with God, the one who created ALL that we see. ALL things were made by Him, Period. So here is one of the issues in our society, in our politics, and in our social groups…people do not fear God.

Uh oh…now I sound like one of those “old school preachers.” I probably need to modernize my thinking or perhaps become more relevant, because people cannot identify with fearing God. So I probably should talk about more tangible things like, “love, or compassion.” I am not being sarcastic, I am being very real… we no longer reverence the things of God.

Think about our “modern” church. There is very little teaching about having reverence for God. A lot of teaching about what we can get from God, not so much about how we should respect Him.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding-Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil-Proverbs 19:23

Proverbs talk extensively about the fear of the Lord. If we want abundance and favor in our life, then we need to fear the Lord. If we want God to protect our household, then we need to fear the Lord. If we want to reflect the light of Christ in a powerful way, then we need to fear the Lord. If we want long life, then we need to fear the Lord. From the pulpit to the pew, we all need to fear the Lord.

If we want to see God move in our lives, then we need to fear Him. There is too much pride in Christianity; we want people to recognize and reverence us, instead of them reverencing the God that we all should be following.

By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life-Proverbs 22:4

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death-Proverbs 14:27

Before we do anything else…we need to repent, and then begin to walk in reverence and fear of Almighty God and when we do, we will encounter blessings, protection and favor like never before, simply because we chose to fear God and to keep his commandments. Fear God…it is worth it.

The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened- Proverbs 10:27

He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him-Proverbs 14:2

God Bless and Always Be Encouraged!

B. Washington

Check out more from Byron Washington at www.byronwashington.com