Sometimes we think that the fear of God is just an 'Old Testament Thing'. The truth is that the same fear of God that the midwives had at the start of Exodus which made them spare the Hebrew babies, is the fear of God that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10 when He told us 'Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28). Which is the same fear of God that Paul talks about in one of his letters when he teaches us to 'work towards complete holiness because we fear God' (2 Corinthians 7:1). Scripture is full of examples of fearing God being a positive thing.
However, how many times does the Bible tell us to not be afraid? 365 times.
And I know from my best friend's constant reminder that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). The problem arises when instead of fearing God out of reverence, we get afraid of God. Afraid of His perfect power. Afraid of His perfect will. I don't think that's what God has for us. He is our Father, He loves us, He doesn't want us to be scared of Him.
The Holy Spirit is God.
If you believe that statement please bear with me here.
The Holy Spirit is God.
Perfect love comes only from God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
Perfect love casts out fear.
The Holy Spirit is God.
We don't need to be afraid of the Holy Spirit.
He is God. He is good. He works only for our good.
Jesus told us as believers 'it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you' (John 16:7). Jesus told us that it was better that we have the Holy Spirit with us, than having Jesus with us. Jesus said that. Not me.
God is constant, He doesn't change.
This means that the Holy Spirit is constant, He doesn't change.
He was there at creation, hovering over the water, and He is here now, within every believer.
The idea that the Holy Spirit comes in crazy spurts here and there is just not biblical. Yes, sometimes the things that happen through the Holy Spirit are huge and crazy and miraculous, but that does not excuse the fact that He is ever present, ever working, ever comforting, ever counselling. I worry that when we constantly only seek God in the spectacular, we miss His beautiful work in our everyday, simple lives! The Holy Spirit is steady - always present and always at work, whether in the spectacular or in the simple.
I know how very human I am, I know this might not make sense to you.
My prayer as always is that if there is something that God would want you to take from reading this that it would indeed take root, and if not: you'd forget you even opened the page.
My prayer for myself and for anyone who reads this is:
a) we would never forget to fear God, but that we wouldn't be afraid of Him
b) we would trust God because He only wants the best for His children, always
c) we wouldn't be scared of the Holy Spirit, because it is Him living in us that allows us to show people Jesus in our everyday living, it is Him that brings the words of the Bible so completely alive and it is Him who guides, comforts and intercedes for us, always.
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