What do the people we are ministering to need the most? There is obviously a number of ways we could answer this question. But this week I have been meditating on the idea that above all people need a true knowledge and fear of the Lord. To truly know the triune God in His holiness, love, grace, justice, kindness, gentleness, mercy, sovereignty, etc. To know Him with overwhelming joy and trembling. A knowledge and fear that leads to joyful worship, humble surrender, faithfulness in mission, growth in wisdom and delight-filled obedience. In our evangelism and discipleship, I am encouraged to continue to faithfully share the Gospel and all of who God is as He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. And to do this with great joy and trembling. The delight and worship of the Lord will change lives. Here is a quote from Michael Reeves’ book, “Rejoice & Tremble” that I read this morning on the importance of the fear of the Lord and how it changes us for God’s glorious purposes in our lives… “From the moment of regeneration, when he breathes new life into a soul, the Spirit’s work is to move us from spiritual lethargy to vivaciousness, where we share Christ’s own vitality and delight in the fear of his Father. And that work is precisely all about growth in the fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord is to be more alive; it is for our love, joy, wonder, and worship of God to be more acute and affecting. For when we rejoice in God so intensely that we quake and tremble, then are we being most heavenly…we cannot simply will ourselves to love God more; the love of sin can be expelled only by the love of God…for the filial fear of God is the soul of godliness and the essence of the new life implanted by the Spirit. It is the ultimate affection and the very aroma of heaven. It is the affection that expels our sinful fears and our anxieties. It is the affection that expels spiritual lethargy. To grow in this sweet and quaking wonder at God is to taste heaven now.”

Posted by Hudson Belk at 2024-05-24 14:12:18 UTC