“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”Fear of the Lord, this is something that my husband Tony and I were just talking about this weekend.  I am not sure I understood what fear of the Lord really meant when I was younger.  I didn’t understand why we were supposed to have a fear of the Lord when He was such a loving God.  It didn’t make sense to me and yet I knew it was something that we were supposed to do.  Even in the passage above it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  So what does fear of the Lord really mean?I found an article online that goes into a lot of detail. I will put a link for this article in the episode notes or summary. https://www.thetruthstandsforever.com/understanding-the-fear-of-the-lord.html Fear of the Lord is not being afraid of the Him.  It does not mean that we are supposed to be frightened by Him.  The “fear” in “fear of the Lord” comes from respect, honor and love.  One definition is a wholesome dread of displeasing the Lord.  The article states that while “fear of the Lord” brings obedience and submission to the Lord, it is so much more the that.  Webster’s dictionary calls it a reverential awe (of God).  Fearing the Lord is more of a spiritual awe of the Lord.  As I stated about it comes from respect, honor and love.  Fearing the Lord helps you to obey the Lord’s commandments, not because you are afraid of the consequences, but because you love the Lord so much and you don’t want to displease Him.  You are in awe of how amazing He is and you love Him so much that you want to do the right thing because you don’t want to fracture your relationship with Him.  I was relieved when I heard this as I never really was afraid of God.  I didn’t understand why someone would be afraid of the Lord when He is such a forgiving person.  Well, when reading the Old testament, it is a little easier to see why someone would fear the Lord.  He did some pretty awful things back then.  Well, things that seem awful in our eyes.  But then again, the people were doing some pretty awful things too.  Human sacrifice is not something to play around with and definitely should not go unpunished.  This fear of the Lord that I am talking about is a good thing because it helps us make better choices.  It helps us to stay on track and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.  Did you know that Jesus had fear of the Lord?  In Isaiah 11:1-3 it says “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” This passage in Isaiah is prophesying about Jesus.  Jesus, the son of God, had fear of the Lord.Why would Jesus need fear of the Lord, isn’t He God himself?  Yes, Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human.  This fear of the Lord that He had helped guide Him to make the right choices and do the right thing while He was on earth.  This fear of the Lord helped Jesus stay in tune with His Father’s will.  Jesus was always looking to His father to see what He should do.  Jesus was very busy and yet He took the time to separate from others and spend time alone talking with His father.  This is a great example to follow.  How can we develop a healthy fear of the Lord?  I am betting that most of you already have it and you don’t know it.  Do you wish to please the Lord?  Do you worry about disobeying the Lord, or letting Him down?  Do you have a spiritual awe of the Lord?  Do you love and respect Him and want to do what is right in His eyes?  These are all ways you may have fear of the Lord.  You are not afraid of Him, but you do want to please Him.  You love Him so much that you do worry about disappointing Him.  “Fear of the Lord” is something that the Holy Spirit brings to us.  When Jesus was here in person He was leading us to our heavenly father.  He showed us how we should live and what His Father’s will was.  Now that He left to go be with his father, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in doing the right thing.  However, there is so much in the world today that is not of the Lord.  There are so many things that can divide our time and our loyalties.  If we have no fear of the Lord then we have no obligations to stay on track and do what is right.  The article talks about how with the “fear of the Lord” it’s possible for us to be united with the Father’s will.  However, this doesn’t mean that our personalities disappear.  It means that we willingly submit to the Father’s will.  We are not submitting with a sense of dread, like it is something that we have to do.  We want to please the Lord, not because He may do something to us if we don’t, but because we want nothing more than to please Him.  “Fear of the Lord” is a choice.  We need to decide if we are going to use it or not.  “Fear of the Lord” can only keep you following the will of God as long as you allow it to.  It is not a decision that we make once and then just have for the rest of our lives.  We must make this choice everyday, maybe multiple times a day.  In Luke 9:23 it says, “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come to Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”  Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.  This is what we are being called to do.  We need to decide each and every day that we are going to follow the Lord and try to align our will with His will.  Denying ourselves is not that easy for most of us.  There are so many temptations and we are bombarded with them day in and day out.  How do we deny ourselves and take up our cross?  One way to get stronger at denying ourselves is to practice in small ways.  I had a friend that would give up something she liked each month, just for one month, as a sacrifice to God and to make sure that she did not love that thing more than God.  I bet most of us would say that we do not worship a false God.  However, look at your life, what are you putting first in your life?  Is there something that you are putting before God in your life? Are you denying yourself and picking up your cross daily?  Are you making that choice each day to fear the Lord and trying to align your will with the will of God?  What is one thing you could do today to deny yourself?  Maybe have one less cup of coffee?  Maybe pass on that dessert that you wanted?  Maybe fast from social media or your phone for 30 minutes? These do not have to be drastic ways that you are denying yourself.  Each small step you take will get you that much closer to the Lord.  Dear Heavenly Father I pray that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord we ask you to instill in us a healthy fear of the Lord.  We ask that you align our will with yours Lord Jesus. Lord we ask that you help us to spend time with you so we can get to know you and your will for us.  Lord you are amazing and you do so much for us. We are in awe of you Lord and want nothing more than to please you. Lord if we are putting something else before you we ask that you shine a light one it so that we can correct it.  Lord we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus is holy name,  AmenLink to the article:  https://www.thetruthstandsforever.com/understanding-the-fear-of-the-lord.html