One natural reaction to the rising waters and crashing waves of affliction is fear. When storms suddenly arise in our lives, we all too quickly assume, like the disciples, that God must not care for us. If God did, we assume, there wouldn't be a storm in the first place. We cry out to God, "Don't you care?" We forget who is in the boat with us. »more
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One natural reaction to the rising waters and crashing waves of affliction is fear. When storms suddenly arise in our lives, we all too quickly assume, like the disciples, that God must not care for us. If God did, we assume, there wouldn't be a storm in the first place. We cry out to God, "Don't you care?" We forget who is in the boat with us. »more
Western Christians, following Augustine's lead, assume that death is God's doing - God's punishment for sin - and therefore, God's will. In Eastern perspective, death is God's enemy, a great evil, a perversion, a corrupting parasite on God's good creation. The fear of death is used by evil powers to deceptively destroy the works of God. Only resurrection is the remedy! »more
In the sacred scriptures, we are constantly admonished to “fear not” because fear is a spiritual and moral issue. Fear keeps us from becoming the kind of people God wants us to be. When fear rules our lives, there is no place for faith, courage, hope, risk, or love. Following Jesus requires that we fight fear and step out “into faith’s daring.” »more
When the wife says, “Honey, we need to talk,” the husband hears “that he is not meeting her expectations—he’s failing her—which sends him into the pain of his own inadequacy.” His lackluster response causes his wife to feel that he doesn’t care for her needs which plays on her fears of isolation and abandonment. »more
Results tagged “Fear”
One natural reaction to the rising waters and crashing waves of affliction is fear. When storms suddenly arise in our lives, we all too quickly assume, like the disciples, that God must not care for us. If God did, we assume, there wouldn't be a storm in the first place. We cry out to God, "Don't you care?" We forget who is in the boat with us. »more
Western Christians, following Augustine's lead, assume that death is God's doing - God's punishment for sin - and therefore, God's will. In Eastern perspective, death is God's enemy, a great evil, a perversion, a corrupting parasite on God's good creation. The fear of death is used by evil powers to deceptively destroy the works of God. Only resurrection is the remedy! »more
The fear of God is a gift of grace, a work of God's Spirit. It is the fear of God that allows us to put all our other fears in proper perspective. This tension is best expressed in the second verse of the old hymn, Amazing Grace: 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. Listen and learn how the fear of God is a good fear, a holy fear, a gift of the Spirit, and a product of grace. It will only take you 18 minutes!
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Quote: May you love God so much that you love nothing else too much; May you fear God enough that you need fear nothing else at all. - Anthony Robinson, Common Grace, 81. »more
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Quote: May you love God so much that you love nothing else too much; May you fear God enough that you need fear nothing else at all. - Anthony Robinson, Common Grace, 81. »more
From the beginning to the end of the sacred scriptures, the fear of God is both commanded and commended. It is viewed as a positive quality - a gift of the Spirit. This is hard to communicate in a culture that views fear primarily as a negative emotion. The fear of God is not an ordinary fear - that leads to fight or flight - but an entirely different kind of fear. This holy fear is the delightful terror and trembling fascination that arises from encountering a being completely unlike oneself - an uncanny otherly being of absolute inapproachability, overwhelming power, and explosive energy. We must maintain a holy fear because there is no one and no thing like God. Nothing and No one can compare. In both passages, God makes this point in order to invite people to trust in God's unfailing faithfulness and holy love.
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Bible Passages: Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Isaiah 40:12-25 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counsellor has instructed him? 14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. 20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood* —wood that will not rot— then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple. 21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. »more
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Bible Passages: Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Isaiah 40:12-25 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counsellor has instructed him? 14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. 20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood* —wood that will not rot— then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple. 21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. »more
Jesus call to discipleship is strong and demands faithful devotion, but not recklessness. Following Jesus must take priority over all relationships. This demands great love and risk - but not foolhardiness. Jesus encourages his disciples to count the cost before they commit. His disciples are called to the tender balance of offering complete devotion with great forethought and wisdom - not reckless abandon. Fearlessness is not a virtue, but a vice. It can only exist when one is lovelessly detached, blissfully ignorant, or proudly invulnerable. Find out why fear is a gift and fearlessness a curse.
[Mp3] | [Dan Osman Speed Climbing]
Bible Passage: 2 Timothy 1:7 God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. »more
[Mp3] | [Dan Osman Speed Climbing]
Bible Passage: 2 Timothy 1:7 God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. »more
In the sacred scriptures, we are constantly admonished to “fear not” because fear is a spiritual and moral issue. Fear keeps us from becoming the kind of people God wants us to be. When fear rules our lives, there is no place for faith, courage, hope, risk, or love. Following Jesus requires that we fight fear and step out “into faith’s daring.”
[Mp3] | [Manuscript]
Bible Passages: Isaiah 43:1-7 1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’ »more
[Mp3] | [Manuscript]
Bible Passages: Isaiah 43:1-7 1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’ »more
In the sacred scriptures, we are constantly admonished to “fear not” because fear is a spiritual and moral issue. Fear keeps us from becoming the kind of people God wants us to be. When fear rules our lives, there is no place for faith, courage, hope, risk, or love. Following Jesus requires that we fight fear and step out “into faith’s daring.” »more
When the wife says, “Honey, we need to talk,” the husband hears “that he is not meeting her expectations—he’s failing her—which sends him into the pain of his own inadequacy.” His lackluster response causes his wife to feel that he doesn’t care for her needs which plays on her fears of isolation and abandonment. »more
God uses the tensions and trials of life as a means of spiritual transformation. In pastoral care of others, we must not immediately seek to alleviate people of their pain. Sometimes, we need to invite people to embrace their pain as a means through which growth occurs. Indeed, we halt the possibility of transformation by denying or anesthetizing it. »more
"As the Father has sent me, so I send you." How can Jesus' disciples fulfill such a staggering commission? Just moments before receiving this commission, they were shaking in fear in a locked room hiding from authorities. What could possibly transform this cowardly bunch of failures into a bold, courageous group? »more
The media, politicians, marketers, and (sadly) preachers often play on our fears that have no firm basis in reality... »more
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