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February 5 - July 20, 2025
We most often miss the greatest blessings by shunning God’s wisdom that doesn’t appear to be personally beneficial. In essence, we hurt ourselves in the long run. We can never outgive God.
I choose, moment by moment, to give my life for the desires and wisdom of my Lord Jesus.
Obey God immediately. Obey God even if it doesn’t make sense. Obey God even when you don’t see a personal benefit. Obey God even if it is painful.
He “faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
His deep holy fear empowered Him to face and endure what human nature would run from.
True Christianity seeks to obey God and, in the process, faces a fallen world’s resistance, which often results in suffering. Obedience is what pleases God, not seeking out hardship. Suffering can occur physically or mentally; the pain of either is very real.
it’s just as crazy for a believer to be unprepared to suffer, yet many are. An unarmed believer can easily bypass hardship for the sake of self-preservation. The fear of the Lord is what arms us; it maintains a deep resolve in our will to obey God no matter what suffering it may entail.
We are not to retaliate; rather, we are to commit any unjust treatment we receive into the hands of God. We shouldn’t ignore it, but in prayer we should turn it over to Him. God will avenge us, but in His way and time frame.
The fear of the Lord is what arms us to maintain a deep resolve to obey God, even in the face of adversity.
am armed by holy fear to obey God even if it means I will suffer in the process. I commit my soul to Him who judges fairly.
Obey God immediately. Obey God even if it doesn’t make sense.
a personal benefit. Obey God even if it is painful. Obey God to completion.
As with most, including King Saul, the initial signs of losing holy fear are subtle. It begins with ignoring conviction in the small matters, resulting in our consciences becoming more and more desensitized. Eventually, when faced with the more significant matters, we’re unaware of our developed pattern of disobedience.
sin is insubordination to the authority of God
almost complete obedience isn’t obedience at all.
The motivation behind his actions was the fear of man. Saul was insecure.
what’s behind insecurity is our desire to be accepted, loved, or respected, even at the price of disobedience.
We lack the realization of how deeply accepted and loved we are by our Creator. Insecurity needs to be called out for what it is: a dangerous trap.
Obedience to completion was paramount to Jesus.
Let’s always obey to completion.
Almost complete obedience isn’t obedience at all. Jesus set the example for us to fully obey—to the finish—whatever God entrusts to us.
Have I started to obey God’s Word and allowed distractions, pleasure, resistance, disapproval of others, or any other adversity to cause me to cease and not finish? How can this change?
I choose to obey God’s Word to completion.
initial signs of losing holy fear are subtle—so subtle that we need to focus in a little more and elaborate on this important point.
the clarity and strength of our conscience can be altered.
Our conscience is a gift from God that should never be taken lightly. It’s an integral part of our heart; its sensitivity is strengthened by holy fear and, conversely, dulled by the lack thereof.
Listen to your conscience; don’t shun its warning. If you ignore it, you’ll forfeit your sensitivity to God.”
For Scripture to admonish us to “keep” our conscience clear means initially it’s in good condition. The blood of Jesus cleanses and purifies our conscience (1 Timothy 3:9; Hebrews 9:9, 14). This is one of the great benefits of the new birth.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (17:9 NKJV). He is not speaking of those who have been born again, with a new nature, recreated in the likeness of Jesus. The Old Testament people didn’t have a new heart.
It would happen when Jesus redeemed our nature and gave us His. Due to the miracle of becoming a brand-new person in Christ, we have a trustworthy conscience. The challenge is keeping it pure. So now we must ask, how do we defile it? The full corruption doesn’t happen in a moment; rather, most of the time it starts with smaller matters and eventually, if not addressed, ends in a shipwreck.
In essence, when we disobey,
we deceive ourselves. We weaken truth’s protection, and our sense of moral navigation is compromised. We’re less aware of being in harm’s way.
what happens so often is we justify our behavior.
The wise person is always quick to respond with repentance to his or her conscience’s warnings; they know that to delay is dangerous.
Human skin seared with a hot iron loses all feeling. The same is true with our conscience.
The other consequence of searing is that it locks things in.
If a believer has seared their conscience, then they can no longer communicate with the Holy Spirit. His witness cannot reach
our soul,
let’s guard our hearts diligently.
The clarity and strength of our conscience can be altered. Our sensitivity is strengthened by holy fear and, conversely, is dulled by the lack thereof.
I will guard my heart diligently and be sensitive to the leading and voice of my conscience.
As holy fear grows within us according
to our increased comprehension of God’s glory, it purifies our motives, frees us from the fear of man, and produces true holiness in our lives. The manifestation of holy fear is immediate and complete obedience to God regardless of whether we see a reason or benefit or how painful it is.
the greatest benefit of all: intimacy with God.
intimacy, a word used to describe an affectionate connection between two close friends on levels far deeper than merely an acquaintance, which is someone you’ve met and know slightly but not well. To be intimate is a two-way street; both parties need to know each other’s innermost desires and thoughts.
God knows our intimate details beyond comprehension.
God’s thoughts toward us as individuals outnumber every grain of sand (v. 18). If
God’s thoughts toward each one of us outnumber every grain of sand on the planet, and He would never exaggerate, for that would be a lie, and it is impossible for God to lie. This is mind-blowing! Are you beginning to grasp His passion to know everything about us? He deeply desires to be close with each of us.
true intimacy is spawned from both parties knowing each other well, not just one. Just as He searches our innermost thoughts, even so we should passionately seek to create true intimacy.
God doesn’t know us as merely a number amid a mass of people; He knows us personally, individually, by name.
