Fear God!

And now, O Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you except that you fear Jehovah your God so that you would walk in all His ways and love Him and serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 10:12

Twenty one years ago on 1st January 2003, the Lord spoke to me using this Bible verse after a whole night of fasting and prayer and after over a month of praying concerning the Lord's perfect will for my life. It was this speaking of the Lord that directed my life to fully consecrate my whole life absolutely to the Lord to live and serve Him. The Lord has been faithful and ture to His calling. He has been preserving me till today. The ministry of the word succinctly explains what this verse means. I quote verbatim here below.

The renewed training by God was His charge to His people in nine matters:

A. We must fear the Lord; to fear the Lord is to be in fear of offending Him, of losing His pres ence, and of not receiving Him as our reward in the next age; we should be in fear of missing the Lord’s smile in this age and His reward in the next—Prov. 1:1, 7; Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 5:9-10.

B. We must walk in God’s ways; whatever God is, is a way to us; hence, to take what God is as our ways and walk in these ways is to live God, to live Christ; to take Christ as our way is to live Him, and to live Him is to express Him, to magnify Him—John 14:6;

Phil. 1:19-21a.

C. We must love the Lord Jesus, who is our God (John 20:28); because God loves us and has set His affection on us (Deut. 10:15; Jer. 31:3), we should love Him in return by setting our affec tion on Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

D. We must love and serve God with all our heart and all our soul; our heart is linked to our spirit, for our conscience, which is a function of our spirit (Rom. 9:1), is also a function of our heart (Heb. 10:22); thus, to love and serve God with all our heart and soul indicates that we love and serve Him also with our spirit (Rom. 1:9), which is a spirit of love (2 Tim. 1:7).

E. We must keep His commandments and statutes for our good; this means that today we need to keep Christ as the reality of God’s commandments and the riches of Christ that have been ministered to us so that we may be blessed—Deut. 10:13.

Exceprt from "Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good and for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to Make Herself Ready for the Lord's Coming" Message 2.

While dwelling on this verse, my focus was mostly in loving and serving Him. I did not see much on the phrase "fear Him". These days, the Lord has been speaking again and again on the spiritual significances of fearing God. To fear the Lord is to be in fear of offending Him, of losing His presence; we should be in fear of missing the Lord’s smile. In everything I do and say or even think, I must have the reverend fear of the Lord and not be loose. I dare not think, say, or do anything that would offend the Lord. I must be so exercised not to lose God’s presence and His smile. My life these days has been controlled by this "fear of God."

Last Lord's day, I recited the Bible verse Deuteronomy 10:12 and prophesied on the same with an emphasis on fear God. I released the burden for myself and also for all the saints to fear God. God sees all, knows all, and understands all. I must look to the Lord for grace that I may have the proper fear of God all the time. I shared the same to a couple whom my wife and I visited last Lord’s day night how the fear of God within me delivered me from participating in the evil intent of my teenager friends some thirty years ago. Last night, I shared the same burden to a group of believers from Madhya Pradesh in an online meeting. The Lord anointed His words and the burden was released. This was the message the Lord gave me these days.

Now therefore if I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know now Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may continue to find favor in Your sight. Consider also that this nation is Your people. And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. (Exodus 33:13-15, RecVer)

When Moses asked God His ways, God simply replied, "My presence shall go either you." The presence of God is God's way. Once we have His presence, we will walk in His ways, which is Christ as the way today. If this be the case, we will love the Lord and serve Him with all our heart and soul. Everything stem from God’s presence. God's presence means everything in my Christian life, church life, and service life.

I echo what Moses told the Lord, if Your presence does not go with me, do not take me anywhere.

Lord, preserve me in the fear of God all the days of my life. Lord, preserve me in Your sweet presence all the time. Deliver me from anything that would offend You. Lord, grace me Your presence day by day.