What keeps us standing

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Oh, what an incomparable day, when the Holy Spirit reveals to us the Holy Way, which is the Lord Jesus! On this day, we learn that by walking down His path, we achieve Salvation.

In the beginning of the journey, most Christians are fearful, because the memory of their bitter past is still quite vivid. However, without properly caring for their spiritual life, time causes these memories to fade, and their godly values are gradually lost.

The fear of the Lord and His Word is the most important one of these things, because this is what makes remaining obedient possible. In the absence of this fundamental principle of Christian life, the person is loose, without restraint to any temptation.

This means that he is in great danger, because everyone gets encouraged by evil to sin in some way against God. The Lord Jesus Himself faced this conflict and was tempted by the devil. Nevertheless, because He reverently feared His Father, He remained firm and taught us how to react quickly against the acts of darkness.

But, when faith no longer walks hand in hand with fear, the person becomes vulnerable to the attacks of evil.

– Without fear, you can no longer maintain your integrity because of how easy it is to be dishonest or steal.

– Without fear, you will not be able to resist the temptation to click on pornographic material that routinely pops up without prompting.

– Without fear, it is impossible to keep a pure heart when someone harms you or you are betrayed by a loved one.

– Without fear, you will not remain calm and not retaliate when you’re slandered.

– Without fear, you will no longer oppose the massive influences you receive at work, school, among friends, etc., to use drugs, lie, have sex and do evil.

– Without fear, you will no longer protect your faith when you’re wronged or judged.

– Without fear, desires will grow in your open and unprotected mind, and sooner or later, you will succumb to your flesh, which screams for relief

And this is how sin is born.

Those who are not fearful have many excuses to validate their fall, but those who are fearful, remain faithful, even though they have many unfavourable motives. They have every reason to turn away from the faith, but fear is their defence, so they fight to keep their thoughts, intentions and ways pure.

This is a magnificent understanding of fear:

“My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.” (Psalm 119:120)

The psalmist says he doesn’t only feel love for the Word of God, but his soul trembles with fear at the thought of the Almighty’s judgment in response to sin. The hairs on his body stand up with chills because of the fear of the discipline he could suffer due to transgression.

Notice that he has fear of God and is afraid of God, so he turns away from sin.

Those who have this fear, tremble at the thought of losing the privilege of having the presence of the Almighty. For this reason, he does not take any risks; he improves every day in his relationship with God. Each word heard or read in the bible speaks profoundly and nourishes his spirit.

On the other hand, those who have lost this fear, may have knowledge about the same things, but will wander the crooked paths of sin in their mind until the time comes when the devil drops them with a single blow!

Building your life upon fear is building it upon the Eternal Rock and so living safely forever.

Bishop Edir Macedo
www.bispomacedo.com.br/en
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