My dear brothers and sisters, dedicating your lives to singing for Jesus: “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence and his children will have refuge. THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS A FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, that one may avoid the snares of death.” (Prov. 14:26-27)
We know that it is very important for us to understand the “fear of the Lord”. It is necessary to know that there are two aspects of this fear, the most common one we hear about today is the “awe, reverence and respect” aspect but there is also the “fear of punishment” aspect.
“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. LIVING IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” (Acts 9:31)
The believers were seeing great miracles and amazing growth, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32) The Christians decided to sell what they could and build up the work of the Lord but as he always does, the devil tempted Ananias and his wife Sapphira, to hold back some money for themselves so they lied about how much money the received for their property when they gave their offering. Peter said why did you lie? The Lord struck Ananias and later Sapphira, dead. “And GREAT FEAR came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.” (Acts 5:11) “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples…INCREASED RAPIDLY…” (Acts 6:7)
HELP US LORD TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF FEARING YOU…
FaithLine, the bible says: “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence and his children will have refuge.
-Bill Stockham