What Does the Lord Require of Thee?

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Deut. 10: 12-13 KJV

Moses was speaking to the children of Israel, telling them that this life is very simple. If we can walk with God and be obedient to His word, we will find out that life is very simple. Moses had lied in Egypt for 40 years and led the children of Israel for another 40 years. In all of this journey. he found out that the life we should live must be simple. 

The simplicity of life is hinged on an overlying principle; which is the bedrock of Christianity. They that love God must imbibe this principle as seen in Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." The bible says the memory of the righteous is everlasting. We are to worship him, serve him regardless of the situation, with all our hearts, keeping his commandment in all situations. Obedience to God and his words is for our own good. If we refuse to serve God, it doesn't change who he is. It doesn't take away anything from him. We have to take time to know God, to worship him and to honour him. This is the way we can proper. We turn our own desire and our own control into our gods. We also seek out gods that would tolerate all manners of misbehavior and sin. We expect to serve God and expect to eat our cake and have it. 

When Moses went up into the mountain, the children of Israel sought to make a convenient god for themselves. They made a god out of that which they took out of Egypt and on completion proclaimed the image as the god that took them out of Egypt. God cannot be boxed into an image.

Man has over complicated life and living. We begin to seek things beyond and outside God. The things we do in our youth will be evident at the time of old age. God telling us to live right is not for himself but it is to preserve our lives when we have become old. In the bible, there are laws of diet and daily living that we should follow. If we follow them, we will not fall sick. 

When we begin to fear God, we begin to have knowledge and understanding. If we do not fear God sufficiently, we open ourselves to lack and not having enough and sometimes we may even be faced with sudden death. "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" Acts 5:3 KJV. We don't fear God today because of many things and we seem to get away with it but at the end we would face the consequences. 

 

We have to respect God because He can move at any time and act at any time. We do not need to wait for instances like that of Ananias and Sapphira before we fear God. 

Make up your mind that in your home, family, business and all, that you will fear God. Make up your mind that you will do your best to do things that please God. Make up your mind to fear God. Make up your mind "to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord". 

Where does disrespect of God takes us?

"And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things." Acts 5: 5 KJV

The story in Acts 5 was as a result of people living from a common purse, helping each other grow and looking out for each other. But Ananias and Sapphira his wife, decided to also add to the common purse but held back part and told a lie. They pretended to do good not knowing that we cannot pretend before the Spirit of God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Prov 1:7 KJV

Most of the problems that we have today; the sudden deaths, the lacks, poverty, is as a result of 2 things.

1. We do not fear God sufficiently
2. We lack wisdom

In the story we read in Acts 5, we see that the fear of God was lacking. They had no respect for God and so lied and decidedly mocked the holy spirit of God. They willingly lied. The property they sold was theirs and no one would have faulted them if they didn't want to share the proceeds from the sale with the brethren. This tells us that God sees our hearts and the intentions therein. 

To live in peace with man and to weather the storms of life, there is the need to fear God (have respect for God, have reverence for Him). This respect (a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements) puts us in a place of deeper wisdom and knowledge of life in Christ. To live a life that reflects Christ what we need first is the fear of God and this fear (respect) gives birth to knowledge. 

A man who does not fear God would find it easy to live in sin. A life that does not have respect for God would not seek to please Him. As Christians (believers) we are not serious as believers and hence we are have difficulties enjoying the benefits and dividends of Christianity. If your desire is to be a Christian, be a Christian. If your desire is to enjoy life and its material things, then by all means enjoy life. 

Simply because judgement doesn't come swiftly does not mean God is not seeing and hearing. But His grace through Christ Jesus gives us the second and many other second chances. God gives us a long rope and we take it for granted, thinking God does not know. This is a lack of fear for God exhibited by man. 

If we look around we would see challenges and problems all around us. We see people in need of help or in need of a way out. One of the ways by which believers show their lack of fear of God (disrespect for God) is taking part in sexual promiscuity (immorality). The resultant effects of this level of disrespect for God opens doors to sorrows and pain; it results in challenges that we otherwise should not have experienced.

The disrespect for God through sexual immorality leads to:

1. The person looses his/her place in destiny Gen 35: 22; 49: 4. Reuben lost his place among the children of Israel because of the act of sexual impurity
2. Major family conflicts would arise
3. Confusion and crisis in the family Gen 16: 3; Prov 6:33
4. Unwanted pregnancy and strange children Gen 19
5. Spiritual covenant. Every act of sex is an act covenant with an authority over the sexual partner
6. It leads to abortions that limits progress and causes death Gen 4: 8

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. "Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning." Prov. 1: 7 MSG We must be willing to bow down to God, surrender to Him and giving Him the respect that he deserves. A respect for God would lead to that respect for our body and the respect for our future. It would automatically move us to separate us from anything that brings dishonour to Him that we respect and bow to. 

The Christian character Part 1

A christian's life is not one of convenience or ease but a life of determination and keeping your eyes on the goal.
The christian life must be tailored on the example of Jesus Christ. Our life must be seen to live by the following characters

1. humility
2. fear of God
3. passion

Humility is a human quality that brings us low before God and makes us to not see ourselves as better than other people around us. The word tells that the "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." For us to have the grace from God we must put ourselves in that place of humility. Bringing ourselves low before God so that He can lift us up. 

Humility comes hand in glove with reverence for God. It is almost impossible to be a humble Christian believer and not revere God. Therefore right their after humility is "fear of the Lord". Our God does great things and fearful things. 

Having a strong feeling about and for something or someone is a character that is needed to succeed in any area of life and relationships. This strong feeling is passion.  A passionate person brings everything he has and feels into what he does. He is not bothered by challenges or the pains that may result from walking the path he has chosen. A Christian's life must be one of passion; we must be passionate about what we do for God and our fellowship with Him. 

As we go about our daily living in the next month we must do so with a humble heart, a life that reveres God and a passion that brings people to Christ. Let us live by the example that Christ laid down for us.