Proverbs 8 - Fear of the Lord

Arise and shine for the glory of the Lord has risen among you.  Isaiah 60:1

Sometimes I feel as though life is walking on a tight rope.  It's a fine line between pleasing the flesh and pleasing God.  Lines sometimes blur and the road narrows.  Once I gave my life fully over to Jesus, I never, ever wanted to look back.  I was so depressed and hopeless.  I couldn't see very far in front of me.  Everything was dark and chaotic.  Every decision I made at that time seemed to only lead downward...and I couldn't stand without falling.  I didn't know how to pray.  I didn't have anyone pointing towards the light.  We were all in the dark.  That was all we knew.  So when the light of Jesus' love came shining down like a beacon of hope, I never wanted to ever not walk in that light. 

Life has been so far from perfect since that day I surrendered my life to Jesus...but let me tell you something...It has been so much more full of hope, peace, joy, light and love.  I had to battle to get to where I am now.  I had to fight.  I had to fight my fleshly desires of longing for destructive behaviors.  It was how I was conditioned to live.  It was all I knew...As Holy Spirit shined his search light into the deep places of my insides...my heart...my brokenness.  I had to choose whether or not I would give him those parts or I would remained ashamed, hidden and condemned in those deep, dark places. 

How much we want to be healed and set free is always our own choice.  When I decided to stop smoking.  I had to fight that demon of addiction.  I had the power of choice.  When I decided to stop drinking.  I had to chose...I had to fight that demon of addiction.  When the enemy would torment me over past pains and aches...I had to fight the accusations and lies that would have led me right back into that dark world.  See, we have the power of choice.  We can chose this day whom we are gonna serve.

We don't realize that everyday is a battle.  It's a battle for our souls.  God has a destiny for our lives and so does the prince of this world.  The flesh loves the comforts that the prince of this world offers.  Instant gratifications.  Instant pain relief...Instant fixes...Instant releases from tormenting thoughts....Instant pleasure...Instant fulfillment...Both with the instant empowerments...come a quickly and sudden let down of fulfillment and desires.  We are usually left with more of an emptiness than what we started out with.  We were made for purity.  We were made for commitment, covenant, loyalty, perseverance, righteousness...We are made in the image of the trinity...Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  In Genesis...in the beginning....God said, "Come let US, make man in OUR image..."  So all the potential goodness we read in the word of God is our potential. 

 Even though it may seem we have a bend toward evil desires by succumbing to the lusts of our flesh...We also have a bend towards righteousness and holiness...we are made in the image of Christ.  Our flesh will always be weak...Our spirit will always be willing.  It's a continual battle.  We are in a daily battle.  So the people who say, there is no god....In essence they are bowing down and serving something.  When we serve our addictions, our lusts, our sinful nature...it becomes our lord.  It is our master.  Why do you think so many people say, "I just can't stop.  I just can't quit.  I just can't...."  They have become the slave to the very thing they give into.  Jesus came to show us the pathway to the Light...to step up out of that darkness and even though we become a slave to righteousness...it's so much better than being a slave to sin.  There is hope, peace, love, joy, righteousness, goodness, kindness, every good thing abounds in and around us because we are an open heaven...The kingdom of God is within us.  So even though the darkness surrounds us, we become the light because the light of the world dwells inside of us.

I started this morning asking the Lord what He had for me in scripture and I heard him say this:

Proverbs 8:13-36-  You can read this on your own.  I will put a link to biblegateway.  Proverbs 8

"The FEAR of the LORD is to HATE evil!  Pride and ARROGANCE and the evil way and the Perverted speech I hate."  The fear of the Lord is also the beginning of wisdom.  Proverbs 8 is talking about the benefit of Wisdom.  It will protect us and guide us in our life.  Because everything starts with knowing that in the darkness, God still sees you...JESUS is the LIGHT of the World.  So you cannot hide from God.  Scripture says that even if you go to SHEOL (HELL) you cannot hide from him.    I see so much pain on the faces of such beautiful creations...God's lost sons and daughters and my heart hurts for them.  Because stubbornness, pride and arrogance keeps them separated from God's love.  They chose darkness over the light because of pride...Pride comes before a fall...That pride puffs up and it's not love.  The prince of this world...wanted to BE god...He wanted to ASCEND higher than God's throne...He became so full of pride and arrogance.  That is why this verse is saying the fear of the Lord is the hatred of Evil.  Pride and arrogance and perverted speech are the fruit of who people are bowing down to.  It's the evidence of the god with a little 'g' they are serving. 

There is another way.  It's a way that leads to life.  It's to walk in wisdom.  It's to surrender to the one that loves us more than we could ever possibly know or understand.

The specific scripture I heard the Lord say to dwell on this morning was Proverbs 8:15.

Wisdom is saying, "By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice!"

God seats us in heavenly places to rule and reign with him in justice and righteousness...We have royalty in our blood....We are made in the image of the king of kings and Lord of Lords.  We just have to surrender everything to God and trust him...Trust him in every detail of our lives...

Father,

We thank you.  We thank you for the hope of your word.  We thank you for the light of Jesus's love that shines into the deep dark places inside of our brokenness and calls us out of darkness into your glorious light.  We thank you that you love us and you want us to walk in all that you created us to walk in.  Father, I pray you strengthen our spirits so we can resist the devil and he will flee from us.  I thank you that you strengthen us to stand up to the fleshly desires that weigh us down and cause us to self-destruct.  I thank you for you love.  I thank you for the blood of Jesus.  I thank you for loving a wretch like me.