Tag: peace

Fear of God Is Freeing

Posted on by admin

Fear of God is not a negative; it is the most positive thing in the cosmos. As a culture, we have largely lost the fitting view of the transcendent God. We have become all too familiar with Him, treating Him as if He existed for our pleasure. To the dismay of many, the facts stand quite the opposite. We exist for His pleasure. The reason I breathe is to bring glory to Him. This is in no way a restrictive concept, but one that catapults me into the mystery of unbounded hope.

When a person does not view God as the grandest and deserving of all dedication, that person will be in turmoil. Nothing aligns properly under the dominion of self. Why? Self is a false sovereignty, and operation on a false premise leads to a false conclusion. God is the only self-existent one. He made all things and all people. He has right of ownership, and the owned ones find their peace in His purpose. The designer knows how the design must operate in order to be what it was meant to be.

Proverbs 15:16 (NASB) makes clear, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it.” Shattering the misconceptions of the self-absorbed, we come to terms with the fact that very little material gain in this world is far superior to much treasure accompanied by the unrest of minds that refuse to accept the sovereignty of God.

God must be revered for peace to flood into the human heart. God made me. I will answer to Him for the following: the life He gave me, the body He gave me, the moments He gave me, the heart He gave me, the mind He gave me, the influence He gave me, and every single breath He brings. He is to be feared because He demands an answer for my life. He demands payment for my sin. He superintends my destiny and prescribes my eternity. I ought to be in awe of Him. He alone is holy.

When my heart properly fears this sovereign God, tumult flees my soul. For, He is in His proper place – at the helm. My reverence for Him drives me to His saving grace, where Jesus stands as my righteousness. My awe of Him hastens me to love Him more and seek to understand whatever mysteries of Him He graces me to know. My respect for who He actually is compels me to yield my life to His cause.

Yes, I can live vibrantly with very little because fear of God is in my heart. The accumulation of earthly goods and distractions do not deliver what the human soul desperately needs. We do not need more; we need to rightly direct all we do have. We need to direct the entire realm of our lives to the One to Whom we owe everything. Whether I have little or much is no matter; the state of my heart in relation to God determines my level of peace.

Put off no longer the pursuit of God because He demands to be feared. Reverence for the sovereign God is the only way to live without distress. The reality is that He made you, and you will answer to Him. This should place you in a state of awe – not awe that leads to nervousness, but awe that leads to deliverance. We are free when we worship the One we ought to rightly revere. We were made for it.

Twice the Courage

Posted on by admin

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 (NIV)

We ought to thank Jesus continually for His honesty. The Biblical Christian worldview is the accurate view, because it accounts for all aspects of life – including the trouble. As our Lord was getting ready to go the cross and preparing His disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus reminded His followers that life would be rough. He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” How true! When we repeat this statement of Jesus, we may do so with a tone of affirmation, or meekly through a veil of tears. Why? Because one thing we know is that trouble is part of our lives.

The Greek word for trouble here is one that means “a pressing” or “pressure.” The difficulties and heartbreaks of life press in on us, and Satan’s hope is that we would cave in under the strain. After all, his goal is to destroy us (John 10:10). When the crushing force of tribulation comes, do not give in through thoughts of hopelessness! Refuse to allow your vision to be limited to what is temporal! Trust in the God is who is bigger than the burden!

The answer Jesus gave to the tribulation of His people is not that the trials would disappear. No, Jesus loves us enough to tell us the truth. Things will get wild, my friends. You will suffer and be persecuted. You will face hardships sometimes unimaginable, sometimes just enough to deter your focus.

Here is the answer Jesus gives, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” The original language behind “take heart” is “be of good courage.” In fact, Jesus uses the verb two times in a row here. He actually says, “Be of good courage; be of good courage.” Okay. I need the second reminder. Jesus drives the point home. He does not simply give mediocre courage; my courage in Him is doubly sure!

Our Savior also says, “In me you may have peace.” The Greek gets to the heart of the requirement, as it informs us that we are to “have, possess, or lay hold of” the peace. The unredeemed person may believe that peace is some wishy-washy concept, or that peace is impersonal and just floats down upon people who desire it. Quite to the contrary, peace is strong and personal. Peace can only be found in the Savior, and it is something of which we must really lay hold. We must walk with Jesus and determine to be blessed by His strength in the midst of difficulty.

The kind of peace Jesus offers is real. It is not the blind faith of those who do not know Him and are just “hoping for the best.” Jesus boldly proclaims in this verse, “I have overcome the world.” Indeed, He has! The world can certainly “bring it on” as far as crushing heartache and troubling circumstances, but Jesus has overcome the world. He stands transcendent over everything that happens. He is weaving together the circumstances of the entire universe to fulfill His plan. The word for “world” here is the same word from which we get “cosmos.” God is telling us that He has overcome the aggregate of all things earthly; all the world affairs – personally and nationally – are under His sovereignty. There is no doubt that I will witness His grand deliverance and resolution with my own eyes. This reminds me of the words of the great man, Job, who declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26).

As the pressure comes, trust in the Overcomer of the Cosmos. The courage He gives is doubly strong.