I have been enjoying a day with our
Father and it was truly restoring. It’s amazing what being alone with God can
do for you. Today’s topic is “Are You Serving God out of Fear or Love?”…I want
you to ponder that question and really think about it, remembering WHY you
accepted Christ in the first place. Did
you do so because you were compelled to do so by the Spirit of God, did you do
it because you were forced or constantly nagged to do so by someone in your
family or a friend, or did you do it because you were afraid of what would
happen if you didn’t serve God – based on what you’ve heard?
It’s a sad truth but many people in the church are not
serving God with the right motives and with pure hearts – this is another
reason why Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:23 that many will call out to Jesus
during judgment saying what they did for Him and He will reply – Depart from me
I never knew you! There are those who are serving God out of fear of what those
around them will say (you grew up in a religious family and if you don’t serve
God you’ll be an outcast) and still others (many, many others) serve God simply
because they are afraid to go to hell.
For a long time I was one that served God out of fear of
what those around me would say if I didn’t, then I served because I was afraid
of hell – but none of that ever grew me, it just produced more and more fear
and frustration in my walk with God. So much so, that I became disgruntled and
disconnected – serving God felt more like a burden than freedom and I spent a
lot of time resenting God feeling as if I had been forced to serve Him rather
than truly enjoying the freedom that comes from serving Christ – and
furthermore, enjoying His love and HIM alone.
This type of service to God is not service at all – in fact,
serving God out of fear, makes fear the center of your relationship, not God,
and it places a blocker between you and our Father that prevents you from
walking in the fullness of His power and really experiencing the beauty of
relationship with Him. God doesn’t condone or give fear to any man and some of
us are in bondage to this very emotion, but today, God is saying, I have come
to set you free. First, I would like to
share two messages with you from Joyce Meyer titled “Overcoming Fear with
Faith”, this was a true blessing for me today and I know those who take the
time to watch (be it now or later this evening) will surely be blessed by it.
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