FEAR OF GOD LEADS TO OBEDIENCE TO GOD

Below is the message that God gave to the Church of God in Jesus Christ in Goa on 09.10.2009.

In Ecclesiastes 12:13 & 14 we read,

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.

In the above verses we see that the whole duty of man is to fear God and to keep His commandments. Fear and obedience are rather like the two sides of the same leaf, which cannot be separated. We see in Genesis 22 that Abraham, because of fear of God, sacrificed Isaac his son (although, God did not allow Abraham to physically sacrifice his son). In Gen 22:12 we read, And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Further, we see in I Samuel that King Saul feared his people and disobeyed the commandment of God. In I Samuel 15:24, we read - And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Whomsoever we fear, them will we obey. Saul feared the people and obeyed their voice.

As we read in Psalm 34:11 - Come ye children hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD - God teaches His Fear to the humble.

We also see that when Saul was lowly in his own sight, that is when God lifted him up. In I Samuel 15:17, we read, And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? But as soon as pride came into his life, he started to fall.

Therefore as long as we are humble we can live in the fear of God, and remain obedient to His commandments. But if pride comes into our lives, we will lose the fear of God and thus become disobedient to God. Therefore let us pray that, God may always keep us humble and lowly and continue to live in fear to him and continue to obey Him.

Also, we see in Ecclesiastes 12:14 that we have to give an account to God of everything we do, even things done in secret, whether good or evil. Therefore we should learn to live in God's presence, and should not seek appreciation from man. As we see in Gen 14:18-20 – And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Melchizedek, king of Salem, did what he was supposed to do, without seeking any appreciation of man, so also we should do all things to please God alone.


God Bless You.

This message was typed by Bro. Socorro Mota and edited by Pastor Suryapakash. I just posted it onto the forum!