Do We Have A Reverence And Fear Of God?

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they will respect.” Ivrim (Hebrews) 12:9 reads; “Furthermore, we had physical fathers whodisciplined us, and we respected them; how much more should we submit to our spiritualFather and live.”Reverence is respectful, submissive attitude of mind which results in affection and greatesteem for the person to whom it is directed. Therefore children reverence their parents,wives reverence their husbands, subjects reverence their ruler and all must reverence God.We reverence the name of God; Mattityahu 6:9 reads; “You therefore, pray like this: OurFather in heaven! May your Name be kept holy.”Genuine Reverence and self sacrificing love go hand and hand. You cannot have onewithout the other and expect to live a pleasing life before God. Someone may boast ofhaving reverence for God but unless he manifests it by conduct and obedience he is asJames has told us are dead. Ya’akov (James) 2:26 reads; “Indeed, just as the body without aspirit is dead, so too faith without actions is dead.” We must demonstrate our reverence byour actions. Ya’akov 1:22 reads; “Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Wordsays, but do it.” Irreverence produces disobedience, true reverence will produce andpromote obedience. The fear of God is a must toward practical godliness. The Word andGod’s Ruach are major elements that bring us to the knowledge of His mind and will.Yeshua lived out His life in perfect righteousness and maintained the deepest reverencetoward the Father.Ivrim (Hebrews) 5:7 reads; “During Yeshua’s life on earth, He offered up prayers andpetitions, crying out loud and shedding tears, to the one who had the power to deliver Himfrom death; and He was heard because of His godliness.” I like Young’s literal translation ofthis verse, it reads; “who in the days of His flesh both prayers and supplications unto Himwho was able to save Him from death--with strong crying and tears--having offered up, andhaving been heard in respect to that which He feared.” The term fear indicates reverentialfear. It is used of Cornelius of Caesarea who feared God. He manifested His reverence forGod. Paul used the same word at Antioch in Pisidia, he appealed to those that feared God.Kefa Alef (1 st Peter) 2:17 reads; “Be respectful to all--keep loving the brotherhood, fearingGod and honoring the emperor.”In the parable of the wicked husbandmen in Mattityahu chapter 23 beginning in verse 33-38 it reads; Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. Heput a wall around it dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, then he rented it to tenantsand left. When the harvest time came he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his shareof the crop. But the tenants seized his servants, this one they beat up, that one they killed,another they stoned. So he sent some other servants, more than the first group and they didthe same to them. Finally he sent his son, saying my son they will respect. But when thetenants saw the son, they said to each other, this is the heir. Come lets kill him and take hisinheritance. Reverence, respect, and submission is what is due the eternal Son of God, theLord of Glory, Yeshua. Its expression is what should be seen first and foremost in worship,if it is not seen there it will not be seen in other areas of life. A reverent deficient worshipwill lead to those who are shallow in commitment, in seriousness, and in holiness.1 st Timothy 4:7-9 reads; “But refuse Godless bubbie-meises (old wives tales), and exerciseyourself in godliness. For although physical exercise does have some value, godliness isvaluable for everything, since it holds promise both for the present life and for the life tocome. Here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted”. Shaul shows
the importance of this passage saying that it fully deserves to be accepted, Shaul is talkingabout the necessity of reverence toward God. Godliness here is the Greek word sebeia,meaning well devout, Godly and pious. It is referring to our total attitude toward God.Godliness is important as it sits among other virtues. 1 st Timothy 6:11 reads; “ But you, asa man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love,steadfastness, gentleness.” Kefa Bet (2 nd Peter) 1:5-7 reads; “for this very reason, try yourhardest to furnish your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with selfcontrol,self-control with perseverance, perseverance with godliness, godliness with brotherlyaffection and brotherly affection with love.” The word godliness in the epistles seems tomean a right attitude toward God, that is reverence and respect. It is all about the fear ofGod, humility before God and submission before God. In His Kehillah, is there a collapseof such reverence and respect? Many want a thrilling sense of God and glory, anoverflowing of His joy and Ruach, but this can only come with reverence. Our God mustalways be the only God we come to with reverence and submission. If we dislike reverence,we will only achieve a sham, a false counterfeit, a shallow emotional substitute. We do notneed to have sensationalism we need reverence, fear and awe of the one and only true God.The 5 th commandment in Shemot (Exodus) 20:12 reads; “Honor your father and mother,so that you may live long in the land which Adonai your God is giving you.” The Hebrewword for honor is Kabad, it suggest heaviness, weightiness, glorify. It implies long lasting, ora continuing sense and significant lifelong responsibility. In English, honor means to givehigh regard, respect, and esteem; to give special recognition to; to give respect, an outwardtoken, sign or act that manifests high regard for. Though this commandment is primarilyaimed at the function of parenting, but it is not limited to it. Why does God want us tohonor our parents? First the family is the basic building block of society, the stability of thefamily is essential to the building stability in the community. The more respectful we are ofour parents, the greater degree of respect will be carried beyond the immediate family andinto strengthening the community. The family is also the main building block ofgovernment. The lessons and principles learned from honoring, respecting and submitting toGod results in a society stable enough to promote the development of the whole person.Parents are God’s representatives, His agents, to begin preparations for God’s Kingdom.God is honored and revered in the parents when children obey them. When we keep thefifth commandment properly, it leads us to revere and obey God. Yeshua says worshippersworship Him in vain when their hearts are far from Him. Mattityahu 15:8-9 reads; “Thesepeople honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of meis useless.” It seems like we can say worship means having a bowed-down head and heart aswe revere our Maker. It is having an attitude of total and unconditional surrendering to theone we call Master, our Lord, our God, our Savior. Worshipping thus becomes a relationshipwith a holy God characterized by a bowed down heart in total surrender. It reflects one whois poor in Spirit, and one who mourns as he recognizes his spiritual bankruptcy. As we bowdown our hearts and heads to God in worship, crying out for mercy and to be filled withGod’s attitudes, we are comforted and filled. Tehillim (Psalm) 95:6 reads; “Come, lets bowdown and worship; let’s kneel before Adonai who made us.” when Iyov heard the horrificnews of the total loss of everything he once had; including his children, he did what manywould consider unusual. Job 1:20 reads; “Iyov got up, tore his coat, shaved his head, felldown on the ground and worshipped.” Here is a great reference to reverence and worship.Do some of the churches of today teach the fear of God, or has their teaching truned Him
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Do We Have A Reverence And Fear Of God?

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