Do you know that there are wonderful benefits to those who fear the Lord and keep His word? King David tells us in the book of Psalms,
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. {Psalm 103:11-18}
There is such mercy that is given to those that fear the Lord. Without the mercy of God we will all be lost on this earth. It doesn’t matter how smart or how rich and educated we are, one way or another, you and I will need the mercy of God. None of us can save ourselves in this life and from the judgment seat of Christ. Only the Lord can save us. And who else would we rather have on our side than the Lord? As the scripture tells us,
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? {Romans 8:31}
If you have the Lord on your side you have nothing to fear, not even a band of armies against you. Remember that scene with Prophet Elisha and his servant with the army of Syria surrounding their house? The servant was so scared. Elisha had to comfort him. He told the servant,
Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. {2 Kings 6:16}
The Bible tells us,
Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. {2 Kings 6:17}
So when the Lord is for you and is with you, you have nothing to be afraid of, even if an army is against you. There is nothing they can do against us that can prosper. The key thing is we have to fear the Lord and keep His commandments. This is what King David said:
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. {Psalm 103:18}
Sticking to the Lord and loving Him at all times, no matter what happens, pays off. Even if it’s not “cool” anymore to do what God tells us to do because we live in a wicked generation now, keep doing what He says to do. Keep studying His word so that we will know the ways He approves of, and we will not be taken in by the false ideologies the world is pushing. Remember, only what God thinks matters in the end. We might not see Him right now, and judgment is withheld to those who sin for a season because the Lord is merciful. The Bible tells us,
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. {2 Peter 3:9}
We still need to keep doing what God wants for us to do. It is by God’s grace and compassion fires from heaven don’t come and zap everyone that goes against the word of God. Otherwise hardly anyone would be around. But just because it seems like people these days continue to get away with murder and do whatever they please without any regard for the word of God, it doesn’t mean the Lord’s judgment is not coming. Be holy, be upright, be kind always but most importantly spend time with the Lord. At the end of the day, the only one who can keep us from falling into the trap of the ways of the world is Jesus Christ. No one else can do this for us except the Lord. We are not strong enough to resist the pull of the spiritual warfare that is happening in the principalities around us. Satan and his angels are vying and fighting for our souls. They want us with them in hell, suffering forever with them. These strong-holds are too strong for us to resist. Take for example the Internet. Practically everyone now has access. It seems like we can’t survive anymore without it. Our children know how to use it better than we do sometimes. Movie watching is the norm everywhere in the world now. It doesn’t matter where you look, the influence of the world is around us. If we’re not careful we could think many things we see everyday are acceptable to God. We could end up sinning in our hearts and not even know it. Only by spending time with Jesus always can we be saved. He will show us the way, the truth, and the life, because He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one goes to the Father, except through Jesus Christ.
It is just a matter of time when His judgment is going to fall, whether to that singular man or woman who sins, or to the whole nation who turns away from God. No one is going to get away with murder. Satan might like to think he owns this world and the souls in it, but he has lied to himself. After all he’s the father of lies. There is no truth in him. The fact is everything in this world, including every soul and spirit, belongs to God. He owns the whole world and the whole spirit realm. No one is exempted from this, even when we like to own our soul and don’t want to listen to Him, He still owns us. When this life is over we all go back to Him and are going to be judged by Him according to our works. Our only hope of salvation is the blood of Jesus that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
The best thing to do is to fear Him. Fear the Lord and serve Him. There is no other choice for us but to do this if we want to be saved. The Bible tells us,
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. {Ecclesiastes 12:13-14}
We will never lose out when our hearts are right with God and we fear Him above all. The benefits that surround those that fear God are innumerable: His mercies, His grace, His love and forgiveness, His comforts and strengths, even eternal life with Him. It goes on and on. The Bible tells us He will provide all our needs. Whatever we are in need of in this life will be given to us. When our heart’s sole desire is to fear the Lord it is well for us, because His mercy will be upon us always. The Bible tells us,
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. {Luke 1:50}
Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. {Psalm 128:1-2}
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. {Psalm 147:11}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, my hope and trust is in You. You are my life and my everything. I need You everyday, Jesus. I am lost without You.
I thank You Father, for Your grace and mercy upon me in this life. I thank You that You promised to never ever leave me nor forsake me, and that it is well for me because my hope and trust is in You.
Lord Jesus, please Father, help me to continue to fear You above all fears in this life. Help me to know You and Your great love for me, so that I will continue to come to You and do Your will. I am nothing without You, Jesus. I have no strength or holiness of my own to save my soul with. All my holiness and righteousness depends on You. Without Your Spirit I have nothing. I pray for Your grace and mercy and salvation upon my soul everyday. I pray for Your continued leading upon my heart to do what is good and right in Your eyes. I pray to love You always and fear You always above all things, until the end. In Your most wonderful and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
#repost5/2019
