Showing posts with label fear for Jehovah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fear for Jehovah. Show all posts

Sunday, 9 October 2016

Knowledge of Christ and fear for God

Heart of Jesus
Heart of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)




We do have to come to know Christ Jesus and his heavenly Father.
In Jesus we should put our faith to be able to come closer to God.
Not so much should we fear ordinary man and therefore keep to the traditional sayings,
But we should dare to really listen to Jesus' teachings and come to follow the Law of God, fearing Him more than man.


"One aspect of wisdom is recognizing your need for My help in all that you do.
When your mind is sluggish, it’s easy to forget about Me and simply dive into your tasks and activities.
But eventually you bump into an obstacle.
Then you face an important choice:
to push ahead full throttle or to stop and ask Me for insight, understanding, and guidance.
The closer to Me you live, the more readily and frequently you will seek My help."
— Jesus Always
by Sarah Young 




"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
—Proverbs 1:7

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Friday, 11 October 2013

Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) by Chris Tomlin

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Find also to read:
  1. 7000 to 20000 words spoken each day
  2. Darkness, light, burning fire, Truth and people in it
  3. Greatest single cause of atheism
  4. Breathing and growing with no heir
  5. Facing disaster fatigue
  6. Fear knocked at the door
  7. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
  8. Walking alone?
  9. Fearing the right person
  10. Fear and protection
  11. Anxiety is the gap between the now and the later
  12. Vile language and behaviour plus little secrets
  13. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
  14. Condemnation of the World and Illustration of Justification
  15. Fear not tomorrow. God is already there
  16. Do not be afraid. Good news because a Saviour has been born
  17. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
  18. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #1 Prosperity
  19. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #3 Rejoicing in the insistence
  20. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #8 Prayer #6 Communication and manifestation
  21. I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late !
  22. Look for your Refuge by God
  23. Praying For What We Want or Don’t Want
  24. Prophets making excuses
  25. Would You Run?
  26. Control and change
  27. When discouraged facing opposition
  28. Only the contrite self, sick of its pretensions, can find salvation
  29. Try driving forward instead of backwards
  30. Be strong and take courage
  31. A small trouble is like a pebble
  32. Look for today
  33. Rejoicing in the day
  34. Give your worries to God
  35. God is Positive
  36. God Feeds The Birds
  37. God become master of our passions
  38. No fear in love
  39. Joy: Foundation for a Positive Life
  40. Wondering
  41. Eternal Word that tells everything
  42. Power in the life of certain
  43. Being sure of their deliverance
  44. Jehovah's Witnesses not only group that preach the good news
  45. Focus on Jehovah's Witnesses
  46. Focus on Charles Taze Russell
  47. Charles Taze Russell never claimed to have found a new religion, or a new church.
  48. Bringing Good News into the world
  49. A small company of Jesus' footstep follower
  50. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
  51. Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
  52. Breaking up with a cult
  53. Being religious has benefits even in this life
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Monday, 20 May 2013

Pope Francis I on the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we contemplate and re-live in the liturgy the outpouring of the Holy Spirit sent by the risen Christ upon his Church; an event of grace which filled the Upper Room in Jerusalem and then spread throughout the world.

But what happened on that day, so distant from us and yet so close as to touch the very depths of our hearts? Luke gives us the answer in the passage of the Acts of the Apostles which we have heard (2:1-11).
The evangelist brings us back to Jerusalem, to the Upper Room where the apostles were gathered. The first element which draws our attention is the sound which suddenly came from heaven “like the rush of a violent wind”, and filled the house; then the “tongues as of fire” which divided and came to rest on each of the apostles. Sound and tongues of fire: these are clear, concrete signs which touch the apostles not only from without but also within: deep in their minds and hearts. As a result, “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”, who unleashed his irresistible power with amazing consequences: they all “began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”. A completely unexpected scene opens up before our eyes: a great crowd gathers, astonished because each one heard the apostles speaking in his own language. They all experience something new, something which had never happened before: “We hear them, each of us, speaking our own language”. And what is it that they are they speaking about? “God’s deeds of power”.


In the light of this passage from Acts, I would like to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit: newness, harmony and mission.

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 Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and change, and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day.
 The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to “God’s surprises”? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded...
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


2. A second thought:
 the Holy Spirit would appear to create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony.
 One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – “Ipse harmonia est”.
 Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church. Journeying together in the Church, under the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry, is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit.

 Having a sense of the Church is something fundamental for every Christian, every community and every movement. It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous! When we venture beyond (proagon) the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Jn 9). So let us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the Church and with the Church?

3. A final point.
The older theologians used to say that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go forward. The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us.

 The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of the risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to reach everyone. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever” (Jn 14:16). It is the Paraclete Spirit, the “Comforter”, who grants us the courage to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The Holy Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ.

 Let us ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?

Today’s liturgy is a great prayer which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May each of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins, the Church, in union with Mary, cries out:“Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love!” Amen
- Pope Francis I

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Related readings:

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is controlled strength...
After the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles at Pentecost, the prime question of Judaic observance was debated. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and consulted with the other Apostles. This was a hint of how the Church was to resolve matters in great Councils. Given the stolid temperament and vivid personalities of the Apostles, the term “debated” might be an understatement. But they remembered that the Risen Lord had promised that his “Paraclete” would guide them. Only rarely does ancient Greek use that term, as when the orator Demosthenes used it for a sort of legal advocate, and not necessarily an ethical one at that. But Christ makes it mean the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. How the Apostles were helped by this divine Helper is not said, but they sent their decision to the scattered Christians, beginning with the words “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.”

To claim private guidance from the Holy Spirit that departs from what has inspired the collective agreement of the successors of the Apostles, would be to confuse personal opinion with divine truth. But the Holy Spirit does help us in the ways of truth every day. Sometimes he even works through children: “. . . and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). The birth of a child may convert a parent to more intense faith, or a child's First Communion may inspire a young father to return to Confession. The Holy Spirit works through encounters that are often unnoticed. Yogi Berra, not to be underestimated as a philosopher, said, “Some things are just too coincidental to be a coincidence.”

Do You Speak in Tongues?
 What would you say if we told you that speaking in tongues was necessary for your eternal salvation? Many of you would be trembling in fear because you have never spoken in tongues. Yet there are members of the Pentecostal church who insist that you are not sealed by the Spirit of God unless you speak in tongues. In other words, speaking in tongues is the outward sign of your redemption and salvation.

Brief hiatus

First, a happy Shavuos (celebrating the giving the of the Torah at Mt. Sinai) to all those celebrating and a happy Pentecost (celebrating the Holy Ghost descending on the early Christian apostles) to all those celebrating.
These holidays are sometimes celebrated through study, and especially to those of you who are studying, I wish that you enjoy full fruits of your study and that your study brings understanding and wisdom.



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Thursday, 4 February 2010

Fearing the right person


"We fear man so much because we fear God so little."
- Unknown

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.
- Martin Luther

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith;
and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
- George Müller

"In Jehovah’s promise I can jubilate,

In God I will praise his word,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
I will not fear what flesh can do to me
Psalm 56:4

“In God (I will praise His word), In Jehovah I will give praise to His word,
In God have I put my trust and hope,
I will not be afraid; What can man do unto me?”
Psalm 56:10-11

I say with faith, You Lord are my helper and my ally.
I have to fear nothing. What can a human do to me?
Give that my faith in You can radiate and give appetite to others to reach You also.



Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Vrees hebben voor de juiste persoon
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2013 update:

03.365 (02.08.2009) Faith
03.365 (02.08.2009) Faith (Photo credit: hannahclark)

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Monday, 21 December 2009

Not all will inherit the Kingdom


(1 Corinthians 6:9-11) 9 What! Do YOU not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, 10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God's kingdom. 11 And yet that is what some of YOU were. But YOU have been washed clean, but YOU have been sanctified, but YOU have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.

Jesus said that we must, first of all,  take in knowledge of both "the only true God" and the one that he sent forth:
(John 17:3) 3 This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.
Therefore we do have to work, because taking in knowledge does not go from itself. First we have to get to know Jehovah, the Elohim and we have to believe fully in Him. We also do have to believe in God's Plan for sending His promised Saviour, the Messiah Jesus Christ, the Nazarene whom  Jehovah provided as our ransom sacrifice:

(John 3:16) 16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.
In case we want to be called Christians, we do have to follow Jesus, which mean that we should do that what he said that we must do. He gave several tasks to his disciples, and when we want to be a disciple of Christ, it means those wishes of Christ are also fro us. Also did he urge to do  the will of his Father who was in heaven:
(Matthew 7:21) 21 "Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will.

Jesus here gives a hint that perhaps many may call themselves disciples of him, but would not be recognised as such by him. Namely those who not imitate Christ, obey not his commands, and shall not enter the Kingdom. Only those who follow the commandments (=do that work) and live by his teachings shall be saved and be able to enter God's Kingdom. What Jesus put first in the model prayer was that we should pray for the Father's name to be sanctified, and our attitude of, and reverence for that name is of paramount importance. so we do have to work on that attitude.


(Malachi 3:16-18) 16 At that time those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name. 17 "And they will certainly become mine," Jehovah of armies has said, "at the day when I am producing a special property. And I will show compassion upon them, just as a man shows compassion upon his son who is serving him. 18 And YOU people will again certainly see [the distinction] between a righteous one and a wicked one, between one serving God and one who has not served him."
(Romans 9:17) 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very cause I have let you remain, that in connection with you I may show my power, and that my name may be declared in all the earth."
(Romans 10:13) 13 For "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved."
This latter verse is a quote from Joel 2:32:
(Joel 2:32) 32 And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will prove to be the escaped ones, just as Jehovah has said, and in among the survivors, whom Jehovah is calling."

We need to associate with God's people, as Christians in the first century did, however Jesus said that along with the "wheat" there would also be mixed in with them the "weeds". So we have to examine the beliefs of those we consider to associate with to see if these are in harmony with the Bible.

We need to obey the Christ. He gave all true Christians a commission, as recorded at Matthew 28:19,20, and that is what Christians do. Another example of a command that we obey is found at Acts 15:28. We should use God's name, preach to our neighbours about God's Kingdom, teach interested ones free of charge about what God requires of us, and practice what the bible teaches everyday in such things as the sanctity of blood and the right way of living.


Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Niet allen zullen het Koninkrijk beërven

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Fear not tomorrow. God is already there


"Fear not tomorrow. God is already there."
- Author Unknown

"Do not worry about tomorrow.
Remember, that is from God and not from us."
- Edward B. Pusey

"Be content with what you have, because God has said,
'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'
So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'"
Hebrews 13:5-6

“Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them:

for Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee;
he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
And Jehovah, he it is that doth go before thee;
he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee:
fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Deuteronomy 31:6,8
I'm glad to hear that you will not leave me
and will always remain with me, oh Lord.
I continue to hope and trust you.
Support me and make me strong
and let me not be undermined by people.


Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Vrees morgen niet. God is er al
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2013 update:

Fear of Tomorrow
Fear of Tomorrow (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 
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