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(Psalm 145:18) "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, To all who call on Him in truth (without guile). He will fulfil the desire of those who fear and worship Him [with awe-inspired reverence and obedience]; He also will hear their cry and will save them."

This week, many Bible commentators seem to have taken it upon themselves to post their thoughts on the word ‘fear.’

Most of it was interesting, but rather than take what they said as rote, I did my own research and came up with the following:

(Luke 18:1-8) The Parable of the Unjust Judge finds Jesus describing the judge as one who “…neither feared God nor cared for man.” Take note that some Bible translations, such as the New International Version, periodically replace the word “fear” with “reverence”.

Having said all that, I felt I was going down a rabbit hole and approaching it from the wrong direction, so I turned around, and the following Scripture slotted in perfectly!

(1 John 4:17) "In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].

It bears repeating that for those who accept Jesus the Christ of GOD as Lord and Savior, the punishment for sin is not administered by GOD the Father on his children. GOD no longer punishes us for our sins; Jesus took that punishment upon Himself at the Cross!

Holy Spirit, please touch the heart of whoever is reading this. Draw them into Your presence and show them that You continue to speak and answer prayers today. Amen. 

Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve those who are sick amongst us—such as Barbara and Ian fighting cancer. We also pray for a quick and complete healing for James, Keiron, Jay and Liliana. Please grant your healing power to those who minister to all the sick among us so they may be strengthened in their weakness and have confidence in your loving care. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.