Skip to main content

The Only Healthy Fear


We know from reading the Bible about the concept of the fear of the Lord, and as Christians, we’ve mostly developed a healthy amount of fear for his greatness and holiness. Fear of the Lord in the simplest terms is a respect for God and what he is capable of in the areas of his greatness but also in the areas of his discipline. We hold a high reverence for him and know not to curse his name, stomp on a Bible or disrespect him or those who serve him in any way.

Jarrod and I are learning about the fear of the Lord in a whole new way: a way that sparks change in our mindset and heart. When we were on a local-ish mission trip, God allowed us to usher in miracles, signs and wonders. One girl in particular stands out in my mind because of her reaction to God. She was dealing with an injured foot and a recent concussion from getting knocked over in the bounce house. We prayed for her head and it felt a little better, moved on to her foot which improved about 50%, prayed for her foot again and at that moment, her head was instantly healed and her foot was healed directly after. She pulled her hands up to cover her mouth and tears poured down her face because she was in shock that God’s healing came down and touched her body. She knew right away what happened and was touched emotionally by the Holy Spirit.

We believe her reaction was the fear of the Lord sparking in her heart. At that moment she knew how grand he is and how much he cares about her. She realized how much he pays attention and how intimately he knows us.

When you have any kind of encounter with God – when the Spirit touches you – the fear of the Lord takes root in your mind and heart. As you get to know more about him, learn about his character and encounter him more, the fear of the Lord blooms and becomes the biggest part of your life. As you fear the Lord and walk in obedience, he grants you favor (Psalm 128) in the form of joy, peace, love, hope, wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophetic words, and transformation. He is the source of all good in your life and as you walk with him, you can hone in his voice to be better guided by him. A life guided by him is a prosperous life full of his goodness.

I’m praying for you, my reader, to be able to hear his voice more clearly and for the desire to be obedient to his direction. I’m asking for him to transform your mind and heart so that you can live the life he wants for you – full of joy and prosperity. Thank you for reading and being open to what God is offering his children.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Be an Idiot for God

You know that kind of dirt that is just old and crusty and doesn't yield much growth? It takes patience, rain, plowing, love and care to change the chemistry of that soil. After it has been healed, the soil is moist, dark brown and smells like earth. But it didn't get to that point without a little work. Think of yourself as the old dirt. God wants to plow up the old crusty part of your life that isn't fruitful anymore and replace it with new, moist, healthy soil to plant good seed. God wants to take you higher than you've ever been before but you have to want it. The process may be painful but the fruit will be delicious. I want to encourage you to come into the newness of the spirit but you'll need the strength of God to get your through, not your own strength. Last week, my husband and I had to take his truck in because it was like riding Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. For whatever reason, the tires we received a couple months ago shredded and needed to be replaced...

Reforming Undesirable Behavior

You know that thing you do that you don't wanna do but you keep doing it because you can't stop doing it? These behaviors might include: lying, cheating, raging, gossiping, pornography, drinking, drugs, eating, throwing up, etc. Reforming these behaviors on your own can prove to be a little tricky. I'd say reforming undesirable behavior might even be impossible on your own. But there is still hope for us. With the love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit and a renewed mind, you can reform your behavior. Youth conference with lots of God encounters! An encounter with God is the easiest way to reform undesirable behavior because the encounter will fill you with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord renews our minds in a way that informs our bodies of what's beneficial to our spiritual health in the eyes of God. So, your mouth doesn't want to lie anymore; your tongue won't allow you to eat certain things; your eyes will be opened to the evil of pornogra...

A Mobile Church

I love the picture to the right, taken by a friend in the church. It's the perfect picture of God's light shining down on his church. The symbolism of it is perfect: the church is soaking up God's light and charging its people inside to do God's work. I don't know about you but I always feel refreshed and recharged after connecting with a body of believers. Our light gets "re-brightened" and we are energized to keep going. God wants us to take His light out to the people - His church (the light bearers) is not to be confined by four walls and our own preconceived notions. I think a lot of Christians are afraid to be " the light of the world " for fear of being judged or cast out socially. God wants us to hand over our fear of looking stupid and get desperate for him to change our lives. To rid ourselves of this fear, we have to open our hearts to what God desires and ask him to fill us with his light and wisdom in its place. When you open your...