Why we should fear the Lord?
I couldn't seem to find where to make a new post, but when reading your post here I think my thoughts tie in to yours well. This is something I've been giving a lot of thought to this morning and wanted to open the thought to the community and see what other believer think about this subject.
Let me preface by saying this is not a thought to create doctrine on, but I think it encourages discussion that can encourage Christians to grow as well as understand salvation when speaking to unbelievers. Thanks for your responses in advance:
Why is it so important to fear the Lord?
I think that Paul was really on to something when he said "work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" Philippians 2:12. As a believer who follows the belief that once you gain your salvation you cannot lose it, it makes one question what's left, if I live by grace then what's it really matter how I live; Paul speaks of this in Romans 6:1.
When I pray about this a few things come to mind, mostly the idea of accountability. Meaning that just as we understand that there is a time of accountability that children reach, I think the same is said for all believers. Think about this, is salvation simply obtained by just an inkling of belief in Jesus Christ? How much faith is required to obtain salvation? I submit this, can faith really be measured by men? So if salvation is obtained through faith and faith is not something that we can measure (just as we can not measure God), then who are we to determine someone's salvation; can we determine our own salvation?
This thought is not to encourage doubt or create confusion, but rather to make a point. If I believe salvation is by grace and faith in Jesus Christ, but I can't determine by what measure of grace or faith, then my only option is to fear the Lord and draw near to Him that my faith might increase. We understand that a child's salvation is based on their accountability of their understanding of Christ and their transgressions against Him, so I submit that what God might require from each individual is the faith to match their competence. For example: my own testimony speaks of how I only raised my hand to except Christ as a savior and not as Lord of my life, yet I believe that day I raised my hand and prayed that prayer I was saved, but only because God knew that when I became competent of the fact that He has to be Lord as well, I would allow Him that position as well. If God knew that I would never place Him as Lord of my life, then I don't believe He would have granted me salvation that day. You see that man can see God working in a person's life, but they can never measure their place with God, so its important that we fear God in such a way that we are always growing in His grace.
When you see novels or movies about the end times, and they show the pastor or church leader who got "left behind" from the rapture, do you think that's because they didn't have at least the simple faith that a new believer had on the day they gave their life to Christ; possibly only moments before the rapture even? What would make the two conversions result in different outcomes? Did one person just mean it more in that moment of prayer to God? Or is because the new believer was only accountable to their faith at their moment in life, and the pastor/church leader was accountable to more?
If this thought is too provoking, consider this thought as well: Why does the enemy attack God's elected so much? What does he have to gain? Are the souls of the spiritually mature not something he can gain, and so his only reason for attacking them is to destroy their witness so that others might not come to God? Is that the only reason, or is he still fighting for their souls as well?
I watched you writing that last night ! You made my night ! :thumbs_up Please post all of your heartfelt notes about Gods Truth . Love 
