TargetPoint Volume 4 of 32
Todays Verse/Thought: Holy Fear, A Personal Testimony
Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.
Life Implication:
As we progress in our study of fear, I want to first dwell on the area of wise or godly fear. This will be in contrast to most of our remaining volumes, where our emphasis will be on gaining freedom from negative fear. Our goal, in this series, is to move away from allowing negative fear to dominate us, and to move toward allowing Godly fear to dominate all areas of our lives.
As I grew up, I acted fearless about most things. I lived in and of the world, and thought I could dominate and manipulate most anything to my own advantage. In a very scaled down version of my story, I married my high school sweetheart, Cindy . . . Cindy subsequently found Jesus . . . I later accepted Christ as my Savior . . . but continued to live an unchanged life. Then came the breaking point. Cindy uncovered the secrets in my life that I was struggling to keep hidden. God's giant searchlight had landed on my sinful path, and I was dangerously close to losing the people I loved most in life, my wife and my children. I WAS MOST DEFINITELY AFRAID! This was Godly fear, a fear that became the beginning of wisdom. Almost like touching a hot stove, once you do so, you have wisdom about hot stoves that stays with you for a lifetime.
Let's head toward developing a positive and reverential fear of God . . .
Life Application:
To put us on the road from negative fear to positive fear, TRY WRITING OUT A NOTE TO THE LORD. It could go something like this: Lord, I do not want to be dominated by the negative aspects of fear. My desire is to know you better, to be directed by a true fear of You, to have you shine your search light on all areas of my life. Help me experience the incredible healing that comes as I develop and grow in wisdom and knowledge of You. Give me clear direction as I go through this series on fear. Please change my thoughts and tendencies from the unhealthiness of negative fear to a mind and heart that is clear of negative fearful debris. Thank You, Lord.
Tomorrow In TargetPoint:
Pick Your Fear and Toss It!