A healthy balanced fear of the LORD is a good thing. A very good thing. But when it isn't balanced by His perfect love, it becomes twisted and a tool of the enemy, a lie.Like this picture. It appears awesome, but it is fake. Digitally doctored up.
Like I stated in a previous post, I must not focus on one attribute of my Almighty God. I must remember ALL He is. He is my judge, and has every right to chasten me. But He is also the Lover of my Soul who loves me with an everlasting love.
As I stated before, the Lord disciplines in love and for my good. But the enemy wants to twist that into a constant fear of God smacking me each time I mess up. I tend to be an overthinker. Add to this that sometimes I have a difficult time discerning what is God and what is just me, plus having been recently admonished by the Lord, I find myself bracing for consequences for having failed to listen to God, yet again.
I have been battling this unhealthy fear off and on during this restoration time. It has been stressful. Condemning. And once again my loving Father touched my life with His fingerprints. I was looking through some old sermon notes and came across the perfect answer in my own handwriting. It was about a sermon on conquering fears, I had written down "Though God chastens, He is not out to get you, waiting for you to mess up again. Because of Christ's blood, you have peace with God. Perfect love casts out fear." Oh, the power of truth. Sunshine flooded my soul!
The notes also talked about unconfessed or condemning things from the past allowing fear to torment. So I went digging within. And I found certain past sins that though confessed and forsaken, I was still condemning myself for. I know I deserve punishment for them. And I know the Lord has had mercy and forgiven me. But the shame and guilt hung like a heavy chain around my neck. Then the Lord reminded me of my pastor's recent sermon on forgiveness. I reread those sermon notes. Oh, what words of life to me! For I suddenly saw I was struggling with forgiving myself. "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." I released that to the Lord and the weighty chain fell off. Another part of me was restored.
"Fear the LORD and depart from evil" but also remember "perfect love casteth out fear" Soak it in like sunshine. The LORD knows every broken, sinful part of us. Yet loves us more in a moment than anyone can in a lifetime. Abide in Christ's love.
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