OK, now that makes sense to me Ken, and the link Babs provided reinforces that definition. When I think about fearing someone or something, I guess I do afford them a kind of respect. It’s more a respect of what they are capable of I think. In the last few years, my relationship with my Creator has become my closest relationship.
As I understand, @Ina I. Wonder, the word fear, as written about fearing God, meant to revere God or have reverence.
The Upper Room Devotional for today, November 6, 2017, is titled Spiritual Investment by Jeremy Stuart (Massachusetts). The scripture reading is from Ecclesiastes 12:1-7, and is taken from The Message Bible: 1 Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young, Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes, 2 Before your vision dims and the world blurs And the winter years keep you close to the fire. 3 In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on the world. 4 You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. You are wakened now by bird-song. 5 Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors. Your hair turns apple-blossom white, Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body. Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest, While your friends make plans for your funeral. 6 Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. 7 The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it. TODAY'S PRAYER Dear Lord, foster in us the desire to remember you today so that we will continue to trust in your faithfulness throughout our lives. Amen.
@Ina I. Wonder , our devotional, this evening from the upper room was really good! It is "God of all Seasons" (of our lives), written by Joan Campbell (Gauteng, South Africa). The scripture is Psalm 1:1-6, from The Message Bible. I just love the language of this version. 1 How well God must like you - you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road, you don't go to Smart-Mouth College. 2 Instead you thrill to God's Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. 3 You're a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom. 4 You're not at all like the wicked, who are mere windblown dust - 5 Without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people. 6 God charts the road you take. The road they take is Skid Row. TODAY'S PRAYER "Dear God, thank you for accompanying us through all seasons. Help us to look to you for guidance through every transition. Amen".
The Upper Room Devotional for today, 12/06/17 is titled "Practice, practice, practice", written by Gary B. Swanson (Maryland). "One of my loved ones is not a Christian. He often says that his aversion to Christianity comes from his personal observation of hypocrisy in the lives of too many Christians. I have noticed others who point out mistakes that Christians make and say, “If that’s what Christians are like, then I want no part of Christianity.” "To me, becoming a mature Christian is like learning to play tennis. We might say, “I play tennis miserably, but I still enjoy it. I get out there on the court and swing at the ball. Even though I make mistakes, I know that if I keep at it I will improve. Good or bad, I am still a tennis player.” "Just as taking up tennis doesn’t automatically make a person a tennis star, becoming a Christian does not make a person sinless or incapable of making mistakes. Both will increase in self-confidence and ability as they practice. This is what is meant by discipleship. To a tennis player, practice means going out on the tennis court and hitting the ball. To a Christian, practicing means spending time with God through prayer and Bible reading and transforming into the image of Christ a little more each day by loving those whom Christ loves". The scripture is John 17:15-19, and is from The Message Bible: 15 Just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. 16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. 17 Make them holy - consecrated - with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. 18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 19 I'm consecrating myself for their sakes So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission. Prayer: Dear Jesus, come into our lives so fully that others may be drawn to your loving care for them. Amen.
The Upper Room Devotional for Mother's Day is titled Mother's Legacy. The scripture is Psalm 146:1-10, and is from The Message Bible: Psalm 146 1 Hallelujah! O my soul, praise God! 2 All my life long I'll praise God, singing songs to my God as long as I live. 3 Don't put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life. 4 Mere humans don't have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them. 5 Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing! 6 God made sky and soil, sea and all the fish in it. He always does what he says - 7 he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry. God frees prisoners - 8 he gives sight to the blind, he lifts up the fallen. 9 protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows, but makes short work of the wicked. 10 God's in charge - always. Zion's God is God for good! Hallelujah! Prayer: Dear Jesus,thank you for your faithfulness, and thank you for being a friend to us, Amen.
The Upper Room devotional for today is titled Spiritual Reserves, written by Linda Sutton (South Australia, Australia). Today's scripture is Jeremiah 17:5-8, and is taken from The Message Bible. Jeremiah 17 5 God's Message: "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight. 6 He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows. 7 "But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. 8 They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers - Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season. TODAY'S PRAYER O God, give us the right words to share our faith with someone we meet today so that they can know your love and grace. Amen.
Today's Upper Room Devotional for 08/20/118, is titled "A Refuge For the Wounded", and is written by Debra Pierce (Massachusetts). The scripture is Psalm 16, and is taken from The Message Bible: A David Song 16 1-2 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without you, nothing makes sense. 3 And these God-chosen lives all around— what splendid friends they make! 4 Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names. 5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I’m your choice! You set me up with a house and yard. And then you made me your heir! 7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go. 9-10 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell— that’s not my destination! 11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way. Prayer: God of comfort and healing, thank you for being our refuge when we suffer from life’s wounds. Amen.
Corinthians Chapter 13, from The Message Bible The Way of Love 1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth*, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. * the unfolding of God’s word
"When you give all you know of yourself...to all that you know of Him, then you can accept by faith that you are filled with the Spirit of God. That means that He can have all of you. Commitment actually is surrender....total, absolute,unconditional, irreversible surrender." - BillyGraham "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." Hebrews 10:22
"To the Christian, death is said in the Bible to be a coronation. The Bible says we are pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven. To him who is faithful, Christ will give a crown of life." - Billy Graham Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12 RSV
Today's Upper Room devotional is titled "Rejoice In Every Blessing", written by Lisa Braxton (Massachusetts). The scripture reading is I Chronicles 16:34-36, and is taken from The Message Bible: 34-36 Give thanks to God—he is good and his love never quits. Say, “Save us, Savior God, round us up and get us out of these godless places, So we can give thanks to your holy Name, and bask in your life of praise.” Blessed be God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then everybody said, “Yes! Amen!” and “Praise God!” Prayer: Dear God, give us grateful hearts so we may appreciate the work that you do in our lives. Amen.
The Christmas Story From The Message Bible Luke 2:1-20 1 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. 2 This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. 4 So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. 5 He went with Mary, his fiancé, who was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. 8 There were sheep-herders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. 9 Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. 10 The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: 11 A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. 12 This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger." 13 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises: 14 Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him. 15 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheep-herders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." 16 They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. 18 All who heard the sheep-herders were impressed. 19 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. 20 The sheep-herders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!