As you draw nearer to God and begin to experience the sweetness of knowing Him personally and intimately, you also become aware of who you are relating to. And that's where the fear of God comes in.

Scary? Not when you consider that the fear of God is the key to an incredible treasure provided by Him for you.

In this 21st episode of the Led Into Love podcast, I look back on the way God led me into it in the first place ... and why. I also share with you what is now on my heart, as we move forward together into this year.

As this world spins increasingly out of control, and many believers find their faith in God and His promises beginning to waver, only those who truly know God and love Him with their entire being will be able to stand ... while others waver and their love grows cold.

My prayer, as we go through this year together, is that your heart will be open to receive all that is in my heart ... so that, together, we will give God the desire of His heart.

By definition, the future is not yet here. No matter how much you try to know it and secure it, there are many potential unknowns. If you don’t have the certainty of God being with you in the future, how do you approach it? At best you can try to be optimistic - identifying things that give you some sense of security … even excitement. At worst, the future is a very scary place, fraught with insecurity and full of fear.

But the hope God gives is always about sure things. It is not about what might take place, but what will take place. “…faith is being sure of what we hope for”.

Sin is not talked about so much these days. Not even in churches. But sin is still sin, and it separates us from God as much as it ever did. Without God and the forgiveness He freely offers, none of us have any hope of being free from sin.

Whenever God forgives, He also lovingly cleanses us from our sins. Only then can our personal relationship with Him be truly restored.

Many believers see relationship with God as something that offers benefits at little or no cost. To them, being a ‘committed Christian’ is about what they stand to gain rather than the opportunity to give God the one thing above all else that He desires from them.

Jesus was unequivocal about this: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Genuine relationship with God is wonderfully simple. It is what you were created for, and if you give yourself to Him with childlike faith, He will fill your life and keep on filling it. So instead of anxiously trying to change yourself, why not allow Him to transform you from within, by His Spirit?

The devil is very real and extremely evil. He is the personification of evil, just as God is the personification of Love.

Yet, Jesus came into this world to destroy the devil's work and to set his captives free. He made God known, He suffered and died for our sins and rose from the dead - breaking the devil's hold over humanity and opening up the way back to God for us all.

Living for God is very simple. Yet it is also very total. It is about knowing beyond any doubt that every word God speaks to you personally is the truth by which you must live. Nothing else can substitute for that.

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command". When you come to God on His terms, He is quick to respond. He will speak to your heart, open your eyes, and transform you from within. He will also begin to make you aware of what He requires of you ... and that's where obedience comes in!

You were created to know God, personally and intimately, here and now ... and then go on into Eternity where you will experience the fulness of His love and goodness forever. You were not created for an existence which places yourself at the centre of your life.