Fear Factor contestants choose to place themselves face-to-face with their greatest fear. But these are staged situations for entertainment.
Would the reality of any of these make an impact on you:
- Do you fear frogs? Imagine teems of frogs everywhere. In your house, in your bed, in your cupboards...all over you. [Exodus 8]
- Do you fear the dark? How would you like being in a dark so dark you can feel it? For 3 days you can't see a single soul. [Exodus 10:21-23]
- Are you afraid of earthquakes? You're sitting in your tent one day when the ground splits open wide and swallows 250 people alive. [Numbers 16]
- Most fear death -- especially a gruesome one. Imagine someone walking along when he falls head first; his body bursts open and all his guts spill out. [Acts 1:18-19] Or what if you were thrown alive into a burning lake of fire? [Revelation 20:11-15]
All real! These people witnessed God's power, holiness, and wrath and knew the consequences they would face because of some of their choices. They chose unwisely anyway.
We do that, too. Sometimes we know that certain choices place us in a dreaded position before God. But what if you remembered to fear God first?
Jesus feared God. He fully grasped the wrath and justice of a righteous God. He knew what would happen to us if He did not die to save us. He may have carried that thought with Him that last month of His life that took Him to the cross. I believe fear of the Lord and coming judgment make a huge difference in our choices.
When your life is done, you will stand before a holy God. Would knowing that fact create a healthy fear to change some of the decisions you make?
Challenge #10: Fear God first. Write down the pitfalls you avoid because of it.
"... what does the LORD your God ask of you
but to fear the LORD your God,
to walk in all his ways, to love him,
to serve the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul,"
NOTE: I want to thank Debbra Stephens once again for authoring this post! Tomorrow will be another difficult post. Remember, if you want to go hard core and do all of the posts, that's great - but you can also skip a few, if things get too intense! A little warning... don't come thirsty. Sunday's Challenge #11: WATER
When I was younger,early 20's and living on my own, I had a fear of falling away from church and not being the Christian example that I should be. One thing I always did was to go to church no matter what. Sometimes I didn't live up to the way I thought a Christian should live but I knew if I stopped going to church and reading my Bible I for sure would fall away from God. I felt guilty many times but believe today that if I hadn't kept going then, I would not have the faith and strength I do today. I know God was with me all the time and still loved me and wanted me to be there.
ReplyDeletei hate it when people are mad at me or if i caused them sadness, and if i caused God to feel this way, i don't think i could live with myself. i know he'll always love me, but i still am afraid of upsetting him.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had to learn this lesson the hard way! I could have avoided a lot of problems and unpleasant consequences if I had learned to fear God. I might not ever know how fearing God now will make a difference later but it gives me wisdom in the choices I make to keep me out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I think one thing i really try to avoid is taking his name in vain (i.e. Oh my god, etc.)... it's one of the ten Commandments and a blatant disrespect of God. I think when i say that it makes me start thinking about Him and how big He is... so i avoid it out of fear.
ReplyDeleteI fear constantly not being able to turn in my schoolwork, get bad grades, upset my teachers/parents, etc, etc, etc. And yet, I do this all the time. And when I remember that I left it in my last class or in my locker because I was too carel;ess or lazy to put it in my bag, I go, "Oh, crap!! What have I done?!" and I get a zero. I totally get why God warns us about laziness-there are millions of people like me.
ReplyDelete(leslie)
ReplyDeleteone of the best things i have ever heard is that we should value obedience over experience. sure, there are some things that we want to experience- knowing that it is not what GOD wants. but we do it. b/c of my fear for GOD i have stayed far from sexual immorality. while i'm not saying it's been an easy thing to do- i have stayed away from it. i do not want to have to explain to my husband one day- OR my GOD- "i'm sorry, i couldn't wait, it's just that i value experience more than obedience to my creator--the smartest being there ever was, i guess i just didn't think my Creator knew best for me" i fear being sorry b/c i didn't listen to HIM in the first place.
I have alot of fears, and GOD is one of them. I fear that i am not good enough and that i do not show enough of him in my life. I'm working on it, but i need all the help that i can get. 1Month2Live is helping me do more of that.
ReplyDelete-hannah martin
If I had learned to fear God earlier, I could have avoided a lot of the heartache and pain that I caused myself and the people close to me. On the other hand, fear of God's wrath is what finally convicted me to change my life and to make Him Lord of my life. It was mainly fear, not love, that first turned me away from sin towards God. I think that God uses fear as a learning tool sometimes. As Psalm 111:10 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
ReplyDeleteI honestly dont know what to say about this one. I dont think I fear Him. I fear many things... some external like snakes and spiders and bridges... and some internal like not being good enough, not loving people enough, not caring enough. But at the top of the latter list is not spending enternity with God. Fearing that I cant do enough or tell about Him enough of that I simply doubt too much. But I dont think any of that comes from fearing God. I think I should fear Him and maybe that is why I do some things cautiously... I dont know. I have to think more on this.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of things that I avoid out of fear of God, but there are also a lot of things that i do not fear because i get so caught up in the loving and forgiving God that I forget how powerful He is. I pray that I begin to avoid more things and realize how strong God is and how i should not take advantage of his love and grace.
ReplyDeleteBy fearing God first, the pitfalls I avoid are:
ReplyDelete• Not playing my role in the Great Commission.
• Not forgiving others.
• Not loving others as I love myself.
• Loving this world too much and taking my eyes off eternity.
• Being lukewarm or asleep in my belief.
• Not being obedient in the tough things (ex. James 5: 19- 20).
Just to name a few. :)
~Natalie
Dylon
ReplyDeleteThere are alot of things to fear in the world,but just knowing that God made all of them makesz me fear him. When we fear God it's like we respect him and honor him,but we should also love him meaning he is a part of our lives.When you fear God there is nothing else to fear.
I fear alot of stuff in this world like will always praise god or what does God want me to be. But i fear that when I play baseball that i won't think God gave me this talent but think that I am only good because me and not of God.
ReplyDeleteBlake
I try as much as possible to have a positive attitude and see the "cup as half full" as God has designed me. On the other hand, I sometimes wonder if I'm too much positive and not enough negative or realistic. I truly believe that God wants us to be a reflection of Him and in the process reflect His light as He has molded us to.
ReplyDeleteI fear disappointing people. Mostly God. I feel like I have to be perfect all the time which is obviously unobtainable but I always feel the need to do everything I possibly can to get as close to perfection as I can so I don't disappoint him (and others..) But, this is something I've been working on a lot lately. I've been learning just how merciful and loving He is and realizing that that's not exactly what He wants from me.
ReplyDeletemy biggest fear is not being enough. i have this fear that i won't be enough for God that no matter how much i try i won't be enough. i don't know how long ago but i once started to feel that i wouldn't ever met my standards that i held myself to and i wouldn't ever met the standards that i thought God held me to so i just stopped trying. i think i fear that somehow i'll get back there and i'll never be where i want to be in my relationship with God.
ReplyDeleteI fear God because I always fear that I'm not good enough. Also, I can be lazy at times and I fear that that will somehow catch up with me later on in life and mess things up. I fear that I will get so frustrated that I will start to blame God for things that has happened to me, which is never what I should do, even though I know it is normal to question God about things that has happened to me.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have a fear of God, but I think sometimes I don't use it for good. Like, I get all scared because my biggest fear is that I will die without fulfilling a purpose in life, but I let my crazy, indecisive nature run wild and can never focus on one thing. Soooo I end up doing a lot of things average-ly, but not really doing anything to my full potential. My fear, respect, and love of God is what makes me seek out this purpose, but I need to recognize myself as a masterpiece of God and use the talents and strengths He has given me.
ReplyDeletei fear God in my school work
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeletei fear the thought of disappointing
the people that i love
Faith
I do fear God. Sometimes I fear that I am going to disappoint him and that i am not good enough.
ReplyDeletei fear GOD! and the dark.
ReplyDeleteI fear God when I am disrespectful to anyone.
ReplyDelete