ONE WAY TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE THE FEAR OF GOD ~ PRECIOUS VICTOR AKAH
How do you know if you have the fear of God in you as a born again Christian? This blog post is written to genuinely born again Christians, because you can't have the fear of God except you are first born again. However, one can be genuinely born again and still not fear God. Why? They either have backslided in the faith or they have become carnal and worldly thereby killing the fear of God in them.
One Way To Know If You Have The Fear Of God In You:
If your NUMBER ONE reason for saying NO to ANY FORM OF EVIL and to EVERYTHING bad and sinful is because of God - not wanting to sin against Him, not wanting to displease Him, then we can say you have the fear of God. But if your number one reason for saying NO to anything evil, sinful and bad is because of man - not wanting to displease, hurt or wrong a particular person(s), people, or loved one(s), then we can't say you have the fear of God but the fear of man.
Joseph in the Bible, when tempted to do evil, said, "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). He did not say, "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against my master or my parents or the other servants looking up to me," but God was his first priority, God was his number one concern because he feared God. If it were someone with the fear of man, their first thought would be: How can I do this and sin against my master or disappoint my parents.
A lot of people we think have the fear of God in them because of their refusal to do what is bad, evil and immoral, do not have the fear of God but the fear of man.
If as a young person, your NUMBER ONE reason for refusing to get involved in anything bad in school is because you don't want to hurt or disappoint your parents, we can't say you have the fear of God, but the fear of your parents.
As an employee in an organization, if your NUMBER ONE reason for turning down offers from your colleagues to defraud, cheat or embezzle the funds of your company, and for spurning all office shenanigans is because you don't want to risk your job or imprisonment, it is not the fear of God you have, but the fear of what man can do to you.
If as a married man or woman, your NUMBER ONE reason for not getting involved in extramarital affairs and for choosing to be faithful to your spouse is because you don't want to hurt them, it is the fear of man that is driving you and not the fear of God.
As a professing Christian, if the NUMBER ONE reason you attend church services regularly and volunteer to work in a service unit in your local assembly is because you want to please your pastor or priest and be in his good books, so he can be favorably disposed to you always, it is evident that you are without the fear of God.
And if your NUMBER ONE reason as a civilian, for distancing yourself from anything illegal, illicit and unlawful is because you are afraid of the legal system and the long arm of the law, you really lack the fear of God.
Several Christians do the right thing because of the fear of man and not because of the fear of God. This ought not to be so. Because when you do the right thing because of the fear of man, when man is absent or when you think no man will ever find out, you'll easily give in to the temptation to do what is wrong and evil. This is where the fear of man greatly falls short.
So a lot of adults with the fear of man are stealing from the company they work for when they feel they can't be seen, traced nor caught. Many young people too, with the fear of man, are getting involved in so many sexual sins: lust, fornication, masturbation, watching of pornography, reading erotic novels, viewing nude pictures..., because they do not have the fear of God, and their parents, older siblings, guardians, teachers and mentors they fear can't see them doing these things since they're acts that can be done in secret without people knowing.
"With the fear of man you can be chaste. But it takes the fear of God to be and remain sexually pure. Because of the fear of your parents, you can avoid premarital sex; because of the fear of your spouse you can avoid extramarital sex. But it is only with the fear of God that you shun sexual immorality in all its forms: lust, masturbation, pornography, nudity, homosexuality, (kissing, petting, sexting in premarital relationships)..., and be sexually pure."
Another reason the fear of man is not a good deterrent from evil is because man is not the one to judge you at the end of your life, but God. So, some things may be acceptable to men but unacceptable to God (a lot of things infact) because God's standard is not man's standard. Your parents (that you fear) can be okay with getting a woman pregnant before marriage, but God is against such. Your employer or superior at work (that you dread) may ask you to sleep with him or her for job promotion or job security, but God frowns at such. Your guardian/mentor (that you fear) may be okay with you being homosexual, but homosexuality is evil in God's sight. Therefore, the fear of God is the best and most effective deterrent from evil.
Do you have the fear of God or is it the fear of man that propels you to do the right thing? Examine yourself and the NUMBER ONE reason you avoid any and everything evil and you'll discover who you fear. If it is man, I encourage you to first be born again, so you can have and exercise the fear of God. Because anyone not born again cannot fear God. The fear of God only comes on those who have first been born again by the Holy Spirit.
It is with the fear of God that you shun immorality and evil after being born again and live holy to please God (hence stay rapturable). But with the fear of man, you're sure to miss the rapture because you can't meet God's standards with the fear of man. You meet God's standards with the fear of God. Be born again and embrace the fear of God today.
Proverbs 3:7: "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil."
"All who fear the LORD will hate evil." Proverbs 8:13
God bless you.
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