Fear of Man vs. Fear of God

     One of my greatest weaknesses is speaking out when God has given me words to say.  I have this fear of man that leads me to believe that what I have to say isn’t of any importance and that when I speak people aren’t going to listen.  I also have this fear that people will become angry with me when I say what God has asked me to say. I’m afraid of people turning against me because of what I say.  It’s quite horrible and it has caused me a lot of pain and heartache, we aren’t created to be silent when the Lord asks us to speak.

     I didn’t realize that this was something I struggled with till a couple months ago and since then I have been trying to change.  But it hasn’t been easy, it’s been a huge struggle and every day I ask God to give me boldness and a fear of the Lord.

     My deepest desire is to love God and to love God is to obey Him, and to obey Him means you fear Him.  What I’ve come to realize is that when I fear man I feel little and weak and in the end I have regrets and heartache. No peace.  But when I fear the Lord and obey what He asks me to do I have joy, I have peace and this overflowing feeling of love.  I feel secure and accepted, maybe not by man, but by God.  When you feel accepted by God you don’t need to feel accepted by man.

     So that’s my weakness, I know what it feels like to fear the Lord and obey, but it’s not something I do all the time, it’s not yet a part of my routine.  I struggle with being bold.  I struggle to speak out.  But now that I know this weakness I’m never going to stop asking God to fill it and for His power to shine through it.

“His power is made great in my weakness.”