Work our your salvation with fear and trembling.

God is a great God of love, joy, peace, and mercy. So why should we be afraid of Him? Should we be afraid of Him at all? Aren’t we adopted into the royalty of sonship? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that we are safe from our own stupid decisions.  We are told by Paul, Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Cor 7:1) And, Work our your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12)

There is definitely a place for fear in our relationship with God. Why? Because He has absolute rules of grace. He will bless and keep you safe but you have to diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Zech 6:15) We need to walk the fine line between having fear of God and walking boldly into His throne room. We can live a little too boldly for our own good. Too many great leaders in the kingdom have fallen because they lost the fear of God in their lives. They trusted too much in their own ministries, their confidence that they could never fall because they know so much. But on this one I will look, on him who is poor and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at My word. (Is 66:2) A little fear is a good thing to keep us on the straight and narrow. We need to always remember from what we’ve been saved.