Healthy Fear (Part 1)

One  of the greatest privileges we have as God’s creation, I believe, is to worship Him. Worship is a very important act and responsibility, essential to our very existence in His kingdom.

In past blogs, we’ve touched on various aspects of worship. From praying and dying to self and living righteously by the power of the Holy Spirit that Paul describes as our “spiritual service of worship” Romans 12:1, to acknowledging God’s divine providence in all things, and bringing that forth in our worship to Him and of Him.

All of that plays a role in biblical worship, and should always be applied by us as followers of Christ. 

But what happens when we, as fleshy human beings, get complacent or don’t always apply those biblical principles in our daily lives? 

“Grace abounds!” I hear someone exclaim. 

Amen, and thank God for his renewed mercy and grace each day.

 But I’m not quite referring to, let's say, issues with others. For instance, you approached someone with less grace than you should have. Or maybe you ‘came in a little hot’; handling a situation totally wrong, and now filled with remorse, you pray, asking God for His forgiveness (and hopefully any other party involved as well).

These are instances where God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness come forth, because we are all imperfect, and although we don’t mean or desire for these things to happen, they sometimes do. We have all been there. None of us are perfect.

What I am referring to here is our personal interaction with God. The way we “view” and therefore “approach” God. How do we view and approach Him in our prayer life and the reading of His Word, and does that view govern our lives and therefore our worship? Let me explain by offering some personal background for context:

I was raised Catholic. Catholic grammar and high school. Catholic church. As a child my parents had me baptized. I received first Communion in 2nd grade and was confirmed in 10th grade. I served as an altar boy from 4th through 8th grade, went to Church most Sundays (more as an altar boy), and generally believed what I was taught.

Admittedly, I wasn’t taught about a true relationship with God. An intimate, love relationship made possible through the new covenant that Jesus established during His time on earth. All of that came many years later in my life, when I truly accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and asked Him into my heart forever.

Now in no way am I trying to bash or put down catholicism. Quite the contrary, as there is something that I learned in those formative years that I have always carried with me throughout my life, even though I was living in total sin and rebellion towards God.

This basic understanding has only been magnified after giving my life to Jesus, and I am grateful that it was instilled in me from a very young age. 

It has shaped and directed the way that I view, and therefore approach, God.

It is the fact that He alone is God; and I am not. Isaiah 46:9

He alone is holy, majestic, mighty, powerful and capable of all things. Exodus 15:11 

He alone is sovereign. Creator and commander of all things. Colossians 1:16

He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, blessings and praise. Revelation 5:12 

You see, before surrendering my life to Jesus, I already had a very lofty notion about God. I understood (to some extent) that He is God, and I, His creation. I always saw Him as all powerful and mighty. Yet I didn’t have a relationship with Him. I didn’t talk with Him daily. I didn’t listen for Him to speak to me through the reading of His Word. I wasn’t serving Him. I was serving me.

In fact, I wasn’t capable of doing any of those things because I hadn’t accepted Jesus into my heart. His Holy Spirit was not dwelling in me, teaching and guiding me by His grace to actually live out those beliefs in my life.

It happened that on the day I finally lay alone, stripped of all selfish pride, crying out to the Lord for forgiveness; for Him to come into my heart and take control of my life, that the Holy Spirit brought all those things forward which had been taught to me as a child.

It was the awe of God.

Pure and simple, I was in awe of my Holy Father.

I didn’t know it at that time, but once I began studying His Word I soon found out that Scripture describes this as the “fear of the Lord”.

The fear of the Lord is a foundational concept in the Bible, representing a profound reverence and awe for God, which is central to the Christian life of faith. It is a deep-seated respect and acknowledgment of God's power, holiness, and authority. It is both the beginning of wisdom and a guiding principle for righteous living.

Over the next few weeks/months we are going to examine this foundational concept as thoroughly as possible as it is the key to both how we view and approach God in all things.

It dictates, or should dictate everything we do. Every activity we choose to engage in. What we let into our eye and ear gates. What we allow into our hearts and minds.

Ultimately, I believe we will come to the conclusion that the fear of the Lord (or lack thereof) will be reflected in our corporate worship services in church, and will manifest with us bringing forth either acceptable worship before the Lord, or the exact opposite: strange fire. Stay tuned! God bless!

-Jorge Velez

Worship Director @ Living Faith