Do you live in the fear of the Lord all the day long?
Bible Expression: The fear of the Lord, # of times used (NKJV) 27; Bible expression: Fear the Lord, # of times used: 36; Bible Expression: Fear God, # of times used: 17; Bible Expression: Fear Him, # of times used: 24; Bible Expression: Fear of God, # of times used: 8. Total = 112 Times
Acts 9:31 Then the churches (and each Christian)…had peace and were edified
…walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit…
What does it mean to walk in the fear of the Lord?
It means for me: (1) To regard God with my highest respect.
(2) To be yielded to Him in absolute submission.
(3) To completely trust Him with all of my life.
(4) To love Him supremely above all others.
What does it not mean to be in the fear of the Lord?
It does not mean to be scared of God as of someone evil who means to harm me.
But the word “fear” does mean to be afraid – but in this very specific sense:
(a) Afraid of wronging the one I dearly love and who so much has loved me, and
(b) Afraid of the danger if by disobeying God I put myself in the hands of my enemy.
What is the opposite of the fear of the Lord; the fear of man. What are its consequences?
Prov 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare…
Ps 124:7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers…
2 Tim 2:26 …And escape the snare of the devil…
The fear of God and the fear of man are mutually exclusive. To be in the fear of man is to become a captive to the devil who set the snare of fearing man in front of me to catch my soul, to turn my will away from God. What does it mean to be in the fear of man, it means:
(i) To be intimidated by how people may react to what God wants me to do or say.
(ii) To be in fear of offending them, making them angry, or causing an atmosphere;
(iii) To be in fear of being disliked or losing their friendship, love or financial support.
(iv) To abandon my first love for God and to be captured by the snare of the devil.
This doesn’t mean that we go out of our way to make people mad. It’s simply that the anticipation of how people might react to what God wants us to do is no longer a factor. Part of living in the fear of the Lord is to be made free from the fear of man with its snare.
What are some of the benefits, God wants me to have, by being in the fear of the Lord?
No want: Ps 34:9 …There is no want to those who fear Him.
God’s blessing: Ps 115:13 He will bless those who fear the LORD
No actual evil: Prov 19:23 The fear of the Lord… he who has it rests satisfied; he cannot be visited with actual evil. AMP
Angel protection: Ps 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
God’s secrets: Ps 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.
Just a few of the priceless benefits, God says, of learning to live in the fear of the Lord.
How do we receive the fear of the Lord in order to live in that fear all through the day?
As with all the things of God, His truths about the fear of the Lord are visible to the tender hearted, they know what God means; but these truths are hidden from the hard of heart:
Listen: Ps 34:11 …Listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Be instructed: Prov 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom…
Choose: Prov 1:29 …They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
Receive: Prov 2:1-5 …If you receive my words…Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Meditate: Mal 3:16 …For those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.
Do you Ps 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever…
see it? 1 Pe 1:25 But the word of the LORD endures forever…
The fear of the Lord is the word of the Lord. To have the fear of the Lord is to have God’s words increasingly alive and well in your heart and to be walking in the light of them. Now when we know Jesus after the spirit, He is the word of God (John 1:1). Further the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9) is also the Spirit of the fear of the Lord:
Isa 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD…the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD
God wants each of us to walk all through the day in the fear of the Lord; meaning we continually receive God’s words into our hearts (the fear of the Lord) and we walk in the light of those words as we stay submitted to the leading of Holy Spirit (the Spirit of the fear of the Lord). Since the word and the Spirit are Christ, to be in the fear of the Lord is to be living in Jesus Christ all the day long.
Prov 23:17 …Be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. KJV
John 15:7 If you live in Me…and My words…continue to live in your hearts… AMP
Are you living in the fear of the Lord – living in Christ – all the day long?
When Duncan Campbell was about to set foot on the Island of Lewis to participate in its great revival, he was asked “Are you walking with God?” He answered “I fear the Lord”. Are you living in the fear of the Lord – are you living in Jesus Christ all the day long, walking in His word and led by His Spirit? Do you deeply respect, fully submit to, totally trust, and love Him with all your heart? Then you will never depart from God again: You will not be in want, God’s angel will protect you from evil and God will reveal to you the mysteries of His Kingdom; a Kingdom in which you will now have an everlasting home.
Jer 32:40 …I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.
Addendum:
Ezekiel Chapter 2 – Portions of which God gave to Annie Holt early on 10-31-10. Later that same morning God’s message to the Living Stones Church was the above message to “ Walk in the fear of God, and not in the fear of man”.
2:1 And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you."
2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.
3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.
4 For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'
5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse — for they are a rebellious house — yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.
8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you."
9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe. NKJV
