The Grip of Fear
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - (Psalm 27:1)
We all know what it’s like to be gripped by fear. And fear works with its close buddy, worry. The two often work together. You can get caught up playing that what-if game, tying your stomach in knots.
In fact, modern medical research has proved that worry can actually break down your resistance to disease. More than that, it actually diseases the nervous system, specifically that of the digestive organs and the heart. Excessive worry can even shorten your life.
We all know what it is like to be afraid of something, but far too often we are afraid of the wrong things in life. At the same time, we are not afraid of the right things in life—or maybe I should say the right One in life. We don’t fear God. Yet the Bible tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
To fear God doesn’t mean cowering in terror before Him. Rather, the fear of God has been properly defined as a wholesome dread of displeasing Him. If I have sinned, it is not the fear of what God will do to me. Rather, it’s the fear of what I have done to Him. That is what it is to fear the Lord.
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else. On the other hand, if you don’t fear God, you fear everything else.
David said, “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1 NKJV). Only the person who can say, “The Lord is the strength of my life” can then say, “of whom shall I be afraid?”
Are you gripped by fear and worry right now? Then let the Lord be the strength of your life.
Copyright © 2017 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Social media summary: When you fear God, you fear nothing else
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.
Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.
SPECIAL OFFER
Read the story behind the hit song
You can receive a copy of I Can Only Imagine. Bart Millard of MercyMe lived a troubled childhood because of an abusive father. But by the power of the gospel, Bart says, “God transformed the monster I hated into the man I wanted to become.” Read the story behind how Bart’s father became a new creation in Christ and the influence it had on the creation of the popular song “I Can Only Imagine.”
Get a copy of this compelling memoir in thanks for your generous donation to Harvest Ministries today.