Anglican Devotional 28 July 2022 – Do Not Fear: Draw Nearer God

The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 28 July 2022 – Do Not Fear: Draw Nearer God

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TOPIC — Do Not Fear: Draw Nearer God

TEXT: Exodus 20: 18-26 (NKJV)

18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw [it,] they trembled and stood afar off.
19. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
20. And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”
21. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God [was.]
22. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23. ‘You shall not make [anything to be] with Me — gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
24. ‘An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.
25. ‘And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.
26. ‘Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’

THE MESSAGE:

God speaks in the way that best accomplishes His purpose at every point in time (1 Kings 19:11-12).

The manifestations of God on Mount Sinai caused the Israelites to cry out to Moses that he should speak to them as the representative of God. They did not want to hear God directly to avoid death (verse 19). Moses simply told them to “fear not.” God did not want His people to be afraid of Him like a servant before his cruel Master. He is a loving Father. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). God wants us to follow Him out of love not out of fear. To overcome fear, we must think more about God’s love (1 John 4:18). One basic evidence of embracing the love of God is the desire to draw nearer Him every day. God Himself cherishes this relationship so much that He wants you to always approach Him. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Fear is different from reverence and awe. The closer we are to Him the more we lose sight of the world and its destructive pleasures.

Therefore, begin to express love and not fear in your relationship with God. Though He is awesome, powerful and terrible, God is ever loving and approachable. You can draw nearer Him every day.

PRAYER: Father Lord, give me the grace to overcome every form of fear in my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.