Hosanna Restoration Church

We recently had a great discussion concerning the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. As we discussed these two concepts it was obvious that when we spend time with the Lord and grow in our love and relationship with Him our perception of these two thoughts goes through some changes. The closer we get the more we focus on the love, care, and share and the less we consider concern over falling into the hands of the living God.

For instance, when we think of comfort we tend to focus more on the compassionate concern and the guidance and we really do not see the work of the Holy Spirit in redirecting us as something painful, even though at times He can stretch us till it tingles. We see Him more as wrapping His loving arms around us and holding us back, while at one time we felt like He lassoed us around the neck and left us lying there to think about things.

When we moved into the consideration of the fear of the Lord, it was very hard for any of us to really get fear going. Previously I mentioned that my greatest fear would be that of disappointing or failing God rather than a fear of God Himself. We all agreed that as we get closer and closer we tend not to consider the idea of fearing Him because of the depth of the relationship. This attitude certainly does not take away from our reverence and respect for God. In fact reverential fear is something that is much easier to commit to as we mature in the Lord. Of course descriptions like this tend lean toward what we often refer to as Christian talk; that is when we use things that we may not really be able to explain ourselves, but they are the answers that people have given for generations!

After much consideration and discussion in attempt to come to some sort of understanding of fear of the Lord at all stages of our relationship, the word careless came out. When we consider this word, we can all agree that there is always cost when we are careless. It is when people become careless in relationships and take one another for granted that damage occurs. If a student becomes careless in their studies, damage will occur to their grades. If we become careless in our driving, accidents happen. As you consider this, there is no doubt that you can make your list based on your own carelessness or the carelessness of those around you. No wonder we are warned to guard our faith!

The realization that carelessness with our words, our actions, in our relationships, and our over all lives helped us all to see that in fact we should fear becoming careless in our walk with God. We can all see where we could be or have been careless. Remember there is always damage when we become careless; especially in our walk with God!