When people are BIG and God is small....

....is actually a title from a book I read a few years ago.

The points Welch describes in his book include:

1. The fear of God is the best treatment for the fear of man.
2. Jesus was not a people-pleaser.
3. Having more fear of man than God is idolatry.
4. When we fear God we think of ourselves less.
5. When we spend more time with God, opinions of ourselves and what others think of us matter less.
6. We should love people more and need them less (only God can truly provide for our needs).
7. We love others because God first loved us.
8. When God is reduced to our feelings, He becomes less awesome to us while people become larger.

 

The "fear of God" may be defined as having a healthy reverence for God - He loves us and does not want us to be so afraid of Him that we are scared of having a personal relationship with Him.  Read the book and be encouraged to be more concerned about what God thinks and less concerned about what other people think!   When we have a healthy view of Who God is, we CAN say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6)

 

We need to have a God-centered life and not a me-centered life,

 

Many of us view God like we do our earthly fathers.  And, for many of us, this is a huge problem.  Earthly fathers are imperfect, human created beings just like us.  Don't get me wrong, I think I have a pretty great daddy.  However, I have an Awesome Heavenly Father.  At some silly point in my teenage life, I didn't "feel" my earthly daddy loved me.  Because I didn't trust God was Who He said He was, I went my own way in pursuit of physical love to "feel" love.  If you've gone this route, you too, can vouch for the black hole of disappointment and rejection this path leads to.  No matter how good, bad or indifferent the guy was, it was always about me.  The cycle of self-destruction was never-ending.  "Crazy is trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results."

 

Until I fully trusted and understood God's love for me was all about God, and have NOTHING to do with me, could I begin to investigate Who God really is.  And, although I still care about people, I am no longer enslaved to the lie that people's opinions of me matter more than God's view of me.

 

What are you afraid of today?

Our fears really do boil down to either fear of man or fear of God.

Or, fear of other created beings, or fear (awe, healthy reverence) of the Creator.

Get to know your Creator.

He is love.

He is righteousness.

He is holy.

He is justice.

He is all knowing.

He is all powerful.

He is ever present.

He is Comforter.

He is Counselor.

He is Price of Peace.

He is Mighty God.

He is infinitely beyond our wildest imaginations...and yet, intimately interested in a one on one relationship wih you (and me!)!

 

I love you all and pray for you daily!

 

PlanetWisdom.com Devotionals

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Go: Be Confident in Him Posted: 23 May 2009 11:05 AM PDT "So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?' " (Hebrews 13:6) I've never jumped out of an airplane before, so this is purely a guess. But I'd suppose there is a difference in the level of confidence felt between a first-timer and veteran jumper. Once they leave the plane, both will display trust in the parachute by pulling the ripcord; what else can they do other than plummet to their deaths? But the newbie will trust the parachute with a thrill of hopeful fear: "Boy, I hope this chute opens! Boy, I hope I don't die!" The experienced jumper will be much more confident that the chute will open and operate exactly the way parachutes usually work. His faith is not mixed with nearly as much fear about what gravity can do to him. What's the confidence level of your faith in God? How convinced are you that the Lord is with you, that He is your helper, that no person can hurt you in any way that will matter in the long run -- because you belong to God forever? How much of your faith is mixed with fear? Let's choose to be confident in Him today and enjoy the ride because He is completely trustworthy. Think: Is it possible for us to have our full faith in God but for our confidence level to waiver from day to day? Have you experienced a growth in your confidence in the Lord as you've seen Him provide for you through more difficult days? Pray: Ask God to help you to become more and more confident that He is with you, helping you, every day. Ask Him to help you to trust Him so much that you become less and less afraid of anything that might hurt you. Do: The writer of this verse had read Psalm 118. Take a minute to do the same thing. Visit PlanetWisdom.com for more great resources!