Tess Cameron looks @ the issue of fear
Continued from page 1
The Amplified translation of the Bible says that Jesus' prayers were ".. heard because of His reverence towards God (His godly fear, His piety in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father)"
We thus know that He was heard when He prayed that the cup of His suffering be removed but that He was also heard when He prayed "...nevertheless not my will but Yours be done"
Jesus' determined desire to accomplish the purposes of God, trusting and fearing Him to know best (even when He is grieved at what may come) - strengthened him to suffer the very thing He dreaded - separation from His Father for the sake of reconciling sin-separated mankind back to the Father.
It's true that nothing can separate us from the love of God but sin will certainly separate us from His favor, blessing and presence. God is both justice and love. Any of our loved ones, if sentenced to prison for crime, would still be loved by us but our sense of justice would understand their sentence even if it breaks our heart.
In a confusing world of mixed messages, we need to seek out what a holy God calls righteous and what He calls sin so that we can learn righteousness and reject sin.
The fear prevalent in the world is due to a lack of faith in God whereas the fear of God has it's origin in faith in God.
Since "faith is the assurance of things hoped for", the hopelessness that comes in the wake of persisting fear, can be overcome by faith in the saving grace of a faithful God.
A true fear of God - one that springs from a love relationship more precious even than life itself - is not a fear of punishment from God because of sin but fear of separation from God because of sin.
The Bible is full of beautiful promises for the person, people or nation that fears God.
My prayer is for the fear of God to come to the church and to those who have not yet chosen Him who first chose them.
A love for the God who is love and a love for His presence urges me to live with
NO FEAR BUT THE FEAR OF GOD and
NO RIGHTS BUT THE RIGHTS HE GIVES!!
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.
all i know is that the article is so true and fear is really gripping mankind, but what i also know that jesus died for us so that we would live life with a purpose and live his will, and what he went through for us was amazing and i just think that alot of people are scared to face up to what he did for us, because it means a change and a sacfrice in there life's but what they don't realise is that god wants the very best for us, also i would like to say it was really encouraging to hear the story of you and giving up dance, because it shows you have the love of god in you and i get joy out of hearing that.