What is The Fear of the Lord Part 1
The Fear of the Lord is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit (the third person of the trinity) intended to provoke an awe inspiring, reverential and fearful awareness that God is real.
Before we get started, I would like to recommend a short prayer to you. We should always confess our need for God to give us wisdom, understanding, knowledge and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ better through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are awesome in all of your ways. Please give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ more and more as I read this article.
Since this is my very first blog post, I would like to take a moment to share why I believe learning about and understanding the Fear of the Lord is important. For more than 16 years I have walked with the Lord Jesus Christ and, by the pure mercies of God, am a part of a real Apostolic community.
During this time, I have repeatedly encountered believers that, for a variety of reasons, find it extremely challenging to know the perfect will of God for their personal lives. I am so grateful to God and the Lord Jesus for placing me in a community of believers led by true men and women of God that tirelessly encourage men and women to spend time reading and meditating on the Word of God.
On May 1, 2009 around 3am, I was unctioned out of my sleep by the Holy Spirit; this is the customary way God shares things with me. I think God does it this way for me because I’m a logical thinker and He knows if He wakes me up from a deep sleep, there’s less of a chance for me to tinker with what He wants to share with me by mingling my thoughts with His Words. This is what the Lord spoke to me:
“I will restore the Glory of the Lord to the Church, and the first step is restoring the Fear of the Lord to the heart of my people“.
The inaugural series of this blog will focus on the scriptural basis and integrity of what the Lord shared with me on that day. From start to finish, the focus will be a renewed relationship, for every believer, with the Lord Jesus Christ, by learning how to walk in the Fear of the Lord as a first step.
For years I was intimidated by what the Lord shared with me because I’m simply a deacon/servant in the Church I attend. However, over the last two years, a revival has come to my personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and that inhibition is no longer a stumbling block to me, thank you Lord Jesus for deliverance. In addition, in case you’re wondering, I have a high school diploma, some college, never been to seminary, taken a few bible study courses and truly love the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s people.
This blog will not attempt to address every dissenting view of the information presented, nor will it attempt to justify the Word of God, as if the Word of God needed to be justified. I simply encourage you to evaluate the content and line it up with the Word of God, which the Lord Jesus expects each and every one of us to do. This series will be broken up into the following seven parts:
Part 1 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 1
Part 2 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 2
Part 3 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 1
Part 4 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 2
Part 5 of this Series – Build According to the Pattern
Part 6 of this Series – Avoiding Satan’s Will for the Church
Part 7 of this Series – Revival
I’m writing this blog to share what the Holy Spirit has taught me in hopes that it will encourage, comfort and build up fellow believers. No matter what topic is discussed on this blog, I will do my best to make sure it always points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this earth, in a body of flesh, to give you and I abundant and eternal life. A personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the only sure way for you and I to know the perfect will of God for our lives.
Jesus delights in the Fear of the Lord
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord — and he will delight in the fear of the Lord
Isaiah 11:1-3 (NIV)
Above we see a passage of scripture that reveals to us the fact that the Lord Jesus would experience the manifestation of the Fear of the Lord in his earthly ministry. This passage also reveals that, of the many gifts of the Spirit the Lord Jesus would be given, He delights in the Fear of the Lord. Since Jesus is the express image of God the Father that every believer should be attempting to model, I would like to suggest that if Jesus delighted in the Fear of the Lord, every believer should as well.
Jesus’ Prayer Life & Attitude Toward God
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared
Heb 5:5-7 (KJV)
The Fear of the Lord is what provoked God to hear the prayers of the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry. Many find it hard to believe that Jesus needed to have His prayers answered during His earthly ministry. The reason it’s hard to imagine Jesus needing to have His prayers answered is because we know He was God. While this is absolutely true, Jesus chose to step out of His heavenly glory to demonstrate to you and I that it’s possible to be in an utterly corrupt world, be born in sin and shaped in iniquity, while at the same time, be in constant relationship and communion with God. Jesus not only needed to have His prayers for deliverance, healing, strength for the disciples answered by His Father in heaven, he also needed His prayers for guidance in doing ONLY His Father’s will (see John 5:19, John 5:30, John 8:28, John 12:49).
The Fear of the Lord purifies and is eternal
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
Psalms 19:9 (KJV)Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT)
This passage helps us understand some things about what the Fear of the Lord is and what it isn’t. First, what the The Fear of the Lord is not : it’s not the same fear you experience when a dog catches you by surprise and causes the type of fear that alerts us to a dangerous situation (see Exodus15:15-16 for an example of this type of fear). It’s also not the fear taught by human beings (see Isaiah 29:13). It’s also not the fear of man (see Proverbs 29:25). It’s also not a demonic spirit of fear (see II Timothy 1:7 & Romans 8:17). Now let’s consider what God says in this passage. First, the Fear of the Lord is clean. The original meaning of the word clean here gives the since of purifying of all uncleanliness. The second passage above also reinforces that fact that the Fear of the Lord is the provision of God for every believer to increase more and more in holiness. So, the Fear of the Lord is one of the ways God purifies us in our walk with Jesus. Secondly, the Fear of the Lord endures forever. There are many things that God has made available to believers in the earth for the purpose of building the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but many of them will cease once we enter eternity; but the Fear of the Lord isn’t one of them (see what the Apostle Paul wrote about prophecies, speaking in tongues and knowledge in I Corinthians 13:8).
The Fear of the Lord is for EVERYONE
Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
Psalms 33:8 (KJV)
The Fear of the Lord is for all of the inhabitants of the world (yeah–that’s everyone). It’s no surprise to God that many of the people that live on the earth do not have the Fear of God in them. As a matter of fact, as of this writing, the opposite is true, more and more we see an open and up front hatred for anything that involves God, and don’t even think about mentioning, sharing or talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. This also isn’t a surprise to God (see Luke 6:22, John 15:18-19, I John 3:13).
You can CHOOSE to Walk in the Fear of the Lord
Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord
Prov 1:29 (NIV)
Let me encourage you, the Fear of the Lord is something to be chosen and desired by every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Walking in the Fear of the Lord is a Commandment
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him
Luke 12:4-5 (KJV)
Here we see clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ commands the disciples NOT to fear the religious leaders of that day, but to fear God in heaven. As a side note, I am so glad to know that Satan DOES NOT have the power to cast anyone into hell. Hallelujah!!!
I want to share with you that Walking in the Fear of the Lord is not something you can do in your own strength and power. Walking in the Fear of the Lord is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit; it’s 100% spiritual and supernatural.
Earlier I mentioned that I have talked with many believers who find it difficult to find the perfect will of God for their lives, the Fear of the Lord is step one (of course assuming you’ve already a born again believer). Step two is prayer. I encourage you, if you’re not sure what God’s will is for your life, picture the Lord Jesus Christ in your mind as you pray, and simply ask God to cultivate a hunger and thirst in you for the Word of God and to help you to CHOOSE to walk in the Fear of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you ask the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to help you walk in the Fear of the Lord, the Holy Spirit will manifest it in your life.