The Awe of God: The Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life
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Profession: May my words and the meditations of my heart be plea...
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His whole character commands our reverence because it is superlatively holy, and his name is to us a word of awe never to be mentioned flippantly, and never to be quoted
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without earnest thought and prostration of heart before him. —C. H. SPURGEON
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As mentioned before, the fear of God seems counterintuitive. When hearing the word fear, our minds associate it with a detrimental or even damaging state. But I assure you, the fear of God is actually the greatest force of confidence, comfort, and protection available to any being in the universe. We will discover this truth as we journey onward. But first, holy fear can be broken down into two major categories:
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to tremble at the presence of God, and to tremble at His Word.
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you will never find God’s wonderful presence in an atmosphere where He’s not revered and held in awe.
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Before I continue, let me clarify a few things about God’s presence. Scripture identifies two types. The first is His omnipresence. David testifies, “I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there . . . Even in darkness I cannot hide from you” (Psalm 139:7–8, 12). This is the presence of God that promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV). The second is identified by Jesus’ statement, “I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21 NKJV). The word manifest is the Greek word emphanízo ...more
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Jesus states, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV). He’s obviously not referring to the everywhere-presence of God, because why would He need to make this statement? Rather, He speaks of His manifest presence.
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The holy fear did not scare them away from God; it drew them in close.
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We will only find God’s manifest presence in an atmosphere where He’s held with the utmost respect.
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Dear heavenly Father, I ask Your forgiveness for the times I’ve entered an atmosphere of worship with a casual, irreverent attitude. I repent for taking Your presence for granted, for treating it as common. May the blood of Jesus cleanse me. I humble myself before You and ask for grace to change. I want to be aware of and respect Your presence no matter where I am or what I’m doing. I want to live in reverent awe of You at all times. I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
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Profession: I will always give full attention to God’s Word and honor His presence in all I say and do.
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where the Lord is reverenced, His presence manifests.
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The fear of the Lord changes atmospheres. It cultivates an environment for the Holy Spirit’s power to change our lives and the lives of others.
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Profession: All things are possible if I only believe and approach God with holy fear.
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Yet here is the reality: “No one can measure his greatness” (Psalm 145:3) because His glory is beyond understanding. His glory is unsearchable, has no boundaries, no limitations, and is incomparable. Even so, we should seek to increase our comprehension.
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These massive beings are not singing a lovely song to make God feel good about Himself; rather, they are responding to what they see! Fresh new facets of His unsearchable greatness are continuously being revealed, and all they can do is cry out, “Holy, holy, holy . . .”
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Our development of holy fear has been hindered, and consequently many believers are vulnerable and easily drawn into the world’s system of desire, gain, and the pride of human achievements.
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If we would just pause, turn inward, and gaze at His magnificence, we would be enriched, strengthened, and at peace. We are promised: For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) In the stillness of our souls, in union with the Holy Spirit, we can behold Jesus as we ponder His
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Word. Gazing into His face illuminates God’s glory in our hearts and subsequently causes our holy awe to level up.
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Best of all, in beholding Him we are promised to be made “more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
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Our holy fear grows proportionally to our comprehension of God’s greatness.
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Dear heavenly Father, I ask that You grant me a fresh vision of Jesus. Your Word promises that as I behold Him in my heart, I will be transformed into His image, from one level of glory to another. May my holy fear increase as His glory becomes more real. I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
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am being transformed into the image of Jesus from glory to glory.
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glory of God.
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Mortal flesh cannot stand in the presence of God’s glory. The prophet Habakkuk declares it to be “as brilliant as the sunrise. Rays of light flash from his hands, where his awesome power is hidden” (3:4). Paul writes that Jesus dwells in “unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV). Along these same lines, the writer of Hebrews tells us that God is a consuming fire (12:29).
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Paul states that the light emanating from Jesus is brighter than the noontime Middle Eastern sun! His glory exceeds the sun’s brilliance many times.
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The glory of the stars is one level, but the glory of the sun is a much greater level. So, when the sun comes out, because it is so much brighter than the stars, it darkens them.
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When Jesus returns, His glory will be so much greater than the sun, He will darken it, even though it will still be burning!
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What is the glory of the Lord? To answer that, let’s go to Moses’ request: “Please, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18 NKJV). The Hebrew word for glory is kabod. Strong’s Bible dictionary defines it as “the weight of something.” It also speaks of majesty and honor. So Moses is asking,
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“Show me Yourself in all your splendor.”
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God identifies Moses’ request for glory as “all My goodness.” The Hebrew word for goodness is defined as “good in the widest sense.” In other words, nothing
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is withheld.
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the glory of the Lord is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
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His glory is hidden,
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even as it was veiled by a dark cloud in the Old Testament. Why? No flesh can look upon His unveiled glory and still live.
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These all beheld His face because He did not openly display His glory.
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In contrast, John the apostle saw the Lord, in the Spirit, in all His glory on the island of Patmos. John compared His countenance to the sun shining in its strength and fell as one dead. How could John look at Him? He was not in his body, but in the spirit.
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The glory of the Lord is everything that makes God, God. All His characteristics, authority, power, wisdom—literally the immeasurable weight and
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magnitude of God. Nothing is hidden or held back!
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The glory of the Lord is everything that makes God, God. All His characteristics, authority, power, wisdom—literally the immeasurable weight and magnitude of God. Nothing is hidden or held back!
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May Your glory be before my heart and mind continually.
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In Christ, I am the light of the world, reflecting His glory to all whom I encounter.
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But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
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holy fear does not mean being scared of God and consequently withdrawing from Him, but unholy fear does. It’s imperative that we know the difference and are established in this truth.
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He declares our inconceivable value to God. In essence, He reveals that God deeply treasures us and, therefore, grants us the gift of holy fear. This gift safeguards us by keeping us close to the Giver of life and away from what would ruin us: the fear of man, which is the polar opposite of holy fear.
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We’re so valued, He thinks about us continuously.
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The question is not about what our value is to people, because that varies.
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God is the One who sets the real measure of worth in this universe, not man.
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God saw our value as equal to His most prized possession. Here is the amazing truth: If we had been worth one penny less to God than the value of Jesus, then this exchange wouldn’t have been made, for God would not make an unprofitable deal—to