Are you sure you Know Him at all??

John 17:3-4

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

How close is your God?

This question is probably one the most important questions we as mere humans will have to face as we go through and live our ordinary lives in our ordinary world.

There are heaps of so-called Christians today who have cast off the 'fear' of God completely disregarding Gods principles, His plans for Eternity and God's very righteousness.

They can actually acknowledge God mentally but deny His existence in their hearts and in turn it is reflected in how they live.

A healthy dose of the 'FEAR' of the Lord is what keeps our hearts, wills, love and commitment all within reach of the Holy Spirit.

If we lose the very "fear' of the Lord then there is not much hope for us. Acts 13:26 says:- "Those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent."

So what do we mean when we say "Fear the Lord?"

Our God is amazing, He is incredible, He is loving with a love that knows no bounds, He is merciful and His grace is from everlasting to everlasting.

God is also Just and rightly to be feared. The fear of God, for the believer, includes understanding how much God hates sin and fearing His judgement on sin - Hebrews 12:5-11 says - "Son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you."

While God's discipline of the believer is done in all love it is still a fearful thing. Saying that Believers are not to be 'SCARED' of God - there is absolutely no reason to be scared of God - we have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us - and that nothing can take us out of His hand.

Fearing God means having a super reverence for Him and that super duper reverence will have a vast impact on the way we live our lives.

Fear of the Lord is also having a huge respect for Him - obeying Him 100% of the time, listening to Him when He rebukes and disciplines us and worshipping Him in awe and wonder.

God isn't like the children's favourite story  "The Wizard of Oz". God is not here granting wishes and unlike the Wizard of Oz - Our God is definitely NOT a fake - there is no little man pulling levers behind the curtain.

Our God is to be revered with a reverence almost beyond our understanding.

Do you personally know the revealed God in Scripture? Or do you believe in a God who is kind of like the wizard in OZ.

Satan is the most effective liar - that what he is best at - lying and deceit are his main weapons - God is not warm and fuzzy - He is just and holy and fearful as well as being merciful and full of grace.

God is ready to forgive us of our sins - we need desperately to repent - to revere God as He is Holy and Just and rightly to be feared.

We don't have to be scared of God - we certainly can look forward to eternity with Him - that is if we have given our entire lives to Him and that he has taken up residence in our lives.

BUT we are to have utmost reverence for God - holding Him in awe and wonder.

So where are you? - Do you know Him at all? He is far far more than "a granting wishes god".

"I will NEVER speak to you again!"

Offence is one of those things that affects most of us at some time or another - it is also used by Satan and is one of his most useful tools in driving and alienating people from one another and God.

I'will never speak to you again!!

We can get offended over the most trivial things or we get offended when people don't do the things we expect them to do.  Sometimes that person may be completely unaware of what we were expecting of them in the first place.

Taking and giving offence is a sin - it can be a two way race - giving offence is sometimes inadvertently done to someone who is super sensitive but does that make it ok? Not at all! It is still a sin and we as Christians should be extra careful in the way we approach people.

When we are talking to people we should become super-sensitive in our approach, language and conversation - taking huge amounts of care in the way we are talking and acting.

Taking offence is something that we are probably all guilty of at some time. Offence can drive families apart - can ruin churches and lead to all sorts of mayhem and disasters.

As John Bevere put it in one of his books - it is "The Bait of Satan"

Satan loves to use offence - he knows that offence is one of those personal sins - And because it is so personal it can cut at our very hearts where we hold our innermost thoughts and sensitivities.

If we are offended we feel let-down, victimised, bullied, disappointed, angry and revengeful.

All or at least some of these feelings usually come to the fore when we are offended - all of them wrong - all of them are sins and all with the potential to cause arguments, to seek vengeance and retaliation. Offence will ultimately cause separation from that person but more importantly from God.

We will get to the stage of complete estrangement from family, friends and acquaintances. But more importantly it can become total estrangement from our Lord and Saviour.

Jesus has the answer to this moral dilemma - But it takes a big commitment from us - a commitment to give ALL or yield EVERYTHING over to God, including our very nature - God can and will change us dramatically.

The sin of offence can be replaced with a peace and love for others that you would never think possible - YES God can change our hearts to that degree, so that offence will have no part in our lives at all.

Don't be deceived confession and repentance is great and so necessary BUT if we haven't yielded our ENTIRE life to God then we get caught in the sin-confess-sin-confess syndrome with sin having a BIG foothold in our life.

If God isn't everything in our lives - then he hasn't got any place in our lives at all.

It is one thing to say "yes" I will accept Jesus as my Saviour and Lord BUT if we still want to hang onto our old life with all the hang-ons then Jesus hasn't got the complete control that He needs to fully change our lives.

If you focus on immorality you will become immoral - If you focus on mud you will become dirty - If you focus on jealousy guess what? you become jealous and if you focus on offences you will become offended BUT... If you focus on Holiness you WILL become holy.

You become what you focus on -

The on-going consequence of sin in our life can alienate us entirely from our Lord and Saviour who so desperately want to hold us near

Satan gains most ground in our lives through our own attitudes of unforgiveness and taking offence.

We struggle hard to get the speck out of our brothers eye when all the time we don't notice the log of offence in our own. We easily see all the wrong in others - we easily take offence at what they may say, do or even think.

Giving and taking offence should have no part whatever in the Christian's life - If you are offended with someone or you know someone is offended in you - then it is up to you, with our amazing Lord's help, to make sure it is put right.

Confess Jesus as your Lord - give your life ENTIRELY to the Lordship of Him. Ask Him to change your life through His Spirit and to change you into a child of God.

Renounce the things of darkness - things like taking offence - stop living for yourself and start living for God - it is a freedom that you never thought possible.