Father, we are grateful unto You, who made it possible for us to be among the living. Thank You for another week by Your grace to learn at Your feet.
We ask that You open our understanding to every word You will speak to us, let there be clarity in Jesus name. Amen!
By His grace this week we will be taking a series on “our relationship with God, what He expected of us as His children and how best to stay focus on Him alone”.
Hope you follow on as the Lord reveals Himself to us afresh. Don’t miss out. We will be considering today “who are God’s friends and the terror of the Lord. Consider further:
“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”—John 15:15
You do not choose to be a friend of God. That is by invitation only. Only two people in the Old Testament were specifically described as “friends of God.” Abraham walked with the Lord so closely that God referred to him as His friend (Isa. 41:8). Moses spoke to God face to face as a man speaks with his friend (Exod. 33:11).
By His very nature God is a friend to us. He loves us with a perfect love and reaches out to us with salvation when we can offer Him nothing in return. It is quite another thing when someone has a heart so devoted to Him that God initiates a special friendship. David’s heart was totally devoted to God (1 Kings 11:4). Although David was not sinless, he loved God. David hated sin (Ps. 103:3); he loved to worship God (Ps. 122:1); he took genuine delight in God’s presence (2 Sam. 6:14); he loved to speak about God (Ps. 34:1); he was keenly aware of his transgressions (Ps. 51:3–4); and he delighted in offering gifts of song, thanksgiving, and praise, asking for nothing in return (Ps. 100). So closely did David walk with God that his words were on Jesus’ mind as He hung upon the cross (Matt. 27:46).
Jesus called His disciples friends. He said He would disclose to them things that the Father had shared with Him, because they were His friends. There developed such an intimate friendship between them that He would share what was on His heart with His friends.
Dear reader, is that your case with God? Do you desire to be with Him? Do you enjoy your fellowship time with Him? Do you obey His commands or chose your own course instead of His? Do you help others to love and worship God or do you see yourself so blessed as a result to your righteousness? Remember, if you must be God’s friend, you must imbibe those virtues in David as a way of life.
Let us consider another nature of God. As much as God is a loving and a caring father; do you also know that He is a consuming fire? When they people rebel against Him, He was vexed with them (Isa 63:10). Dearly beloved, may we not see the terror of the Lord. Read further:
Knowing, then, the fear of the Lord, we persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well.—2 Corinthians 5:11
The fear of God is the greatest deterrent for sin (Exod. 20:20; Prov. 16:6). Those who perceive God as a benevolent and gentle grandfather will treat their sin superficially. They will worship halfheartedly. They will live life on their own terms rather than God’s. But a reverent fear of holy God will dramatically affect the way a person lives. Even though Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, he feared God and knew that one day he would stand in judgment to give an account for everything he had done (2 Cor. 5:10).
Our world does not applaud fearfulness. We teach our children to love God, but not to fear Him. We want to present a loving and nonthreatening image of God to nonbelievers in the hope that Christianity will be more appealing to them. One of the great condemnations of our day may be that we have lost the fear of God.
We promote Him as a “best friend” who saves us and “lives in our hearts,” but we do not fear Him. It is true that we are God’s adopted children and that we are fellow heirs, even friends, with Jesus (Rom. 8:16–17; John 15:14–15), but we are not His equals. He has forgiven us, but we are still His creatures. He is God, and we are not!
If you find that you have become complacent with God’s commands and have become comfortable in your sin, you are completely isolated from God’s holiness. Take time to meditate upon the awesome holiness of God and allow the Holy Spirit to instill into your life a proper reverence for almighty God (Isa. 40:12–26). A deep sense of awe is essential to knowing God.
You must reverence Him in holiness (1 Pet. 1:15-16). May the grace and power to fear God rest upon you now in Jesus name, Amen. Pray that God will put in you, His nature. How? Join me tomorrow as God reveals more mysteries to us.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
