Consciously abiding in the New Covenant revelation of Father-God’s perfect love for you – which He demonstrated by sending His best gift to us, Jesus Christ –  will drive out all negative fear of your wonderful heavenly Father. We conclude this short series with two back-to-back articles – as you will see below. LR

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Paul Ellis 

What is the fear of the Lord?

This is an important question. You need to have a good answer to this question. Why? Because your answer reveals much about your faith and security. It reveals whether you are walking in grace or under condemnation.

For instance, if you think God is judging your behavior to see whether you merit his unmerited favor, you’re basically saying, “I don’t trust Jesus to finish what he started. Sure, I thank God for grace, but now I have to prove that I was a worthy investment.”

Those who think like this fear God’s displeasure, and rightly so. After all, why would God be pleased with anyone who says, “I don’t trust Jesus”?

I’ve had people tell me, “I walk in the love and the fear of God,” by which they mean, “God is scary and will only accept me if I endure and overcome and obey and do all the other things the Bible says.”

Or they say, “God qualifies me, but I can disqualify myself through sin, doubt, or insufficient repentance. A holy fear of a bookkeeping God keeps me on the straight and narrow.”

Statements like these sound pious but they’re faithless. They belie a confidence in the flesh that insults the spirit of grace.

This is not the time to get into all those great scriptures about abiding, endurance, and obedience. For now, let me echo something John said: fear and love don’t mix:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18) If you fear the punishment or chastisement of God, then love has not had its perfect work in you. Look again to the cross. See the finished work. If God loved you and did all that for you while you were a sinner, what won’t he do for you now that you have come home? God is for you, not against you.

Of course, not every Christian is afraid of God. If you count yourself among the fearless, let me ask you this question: What is the fear of the Lord?

To fear God is to worship him because of who he is. It’s to give him the reverence and honor due his name. This sort of fear has nothing to do with pain and punishment but is a proper response to a God who is holy, righteous, awesome, loving and good.

I’m not saying that God isn’t scary or that his enemies shouldn’t be afraid. But you’re not his enemy and you have nothing to fear. If you know God as your heavenly father, understand that the fear of Lord is not cowering before his smiting hand; it’s gratefully enjoying his eternal goodness and responding to him accordingly.

Demonic fear would have you flee and beg the mountains to fall on top of you. But Biblical fear is where you fall in breathless adoration, marveling at God’s goodness and love for you.

“To fear God is to worship him”

Perhaps you’ve heard people say this, but do you know where this idea comes from? It comes from Jesus.

Remember how the Lord quoted scripture to silence the devil in the wilderness? Let’s compare what Jesus said with the scripture he quoted. See if you can spot the difference:

What Jesus said: “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” (Matt 4:10)
The original text: “Fear the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Deu 6:13)

Spot the difference? Moses said, “Fear God,” which Jesus interpreted as, “Worship him.” Whenever you read an exhortation to “fear the Lord” in the Bible, you can rightly interpret it as “worship the Lord.” Jesus gives you permission.

“But Paul, ‘through the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.’ It’s only the fear of punishment that stops people from sinning.”

That’s great advice when dealing with three-year olds or stubborn Israelites. The fear of punishment can be a great motivator. It was used during the Mosaic covenant to keep people in line. Back then, if you didn’t keep the rules, you got whacked. This is why that covenant is known as a death-dealing ministry (2 Cor 3:7).

(But it was not that way with Abraham because he was not given the Law by God – and neither are we, His righteous children through rebirth. LR)

But the good news is that in Christ you have died (Col 3:3). You don’t need to be killed any more. Your old self is in the grave. Now that you have been raised with Christ you are free to live fearlessly.

Fear and love don’t mix

You can’t balance fear and love. It’s important that you get this, because fear has no place in a healthy, loving relationship. You cannot have a part of your heart shouting, “I love you Lord” while another part whispers, “but I’m afraid of you.” You will never give yourself wholly to someone you’re afraid of.

Your heavenly Father loves you more than you know. It grieves him when you hold back because you are uncertain of his love. And it breaks his heart when you shrink back because you think he’s going to hit you. Maybe your natural father did that but your heavenly Father never will. He longs for you to receive his undiluted love.

Fear not

If you ever hear a sermon or a message that leaves you fearful and uncertain of the Father’s love, reject it! The words may be from the Bible, but the spirit behind it is not from the Lord. God has not given us a spirit of fear and intimidation (2 Tim 1:7). Rather, he has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). The Holy Spirit will always seek to remind you that you are God’s dearly loved child.

“Sure, Paul, I get that. I know God loves everyone.”

Not just everyone; he loves you. You need to make this personal. You need to see yourself as the apple of your Father’s eye.

I encourage you to get into the habit of agreeing with the Holy Spirit. Tell yourself every day, “God loves me and there’s nothing I can do to make him love me any more or any less.” As the love of God roots and buds in your heart, it will drive out fear. The oft-repeated phrase “Fear not” will become real to you. You won’t fear failure, you won’t fear men, you won’t fear death, and you certainly won’t fear your loving Father.

Unbelievers fear, but the sons of God are fearless. The wicked flee when none pursue but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him. (Psa 103:17)

Only those who are secure in the everlasting love of the Lord know what it is to truly fear the Lord. One more time for emphasis: To fear him in a biblical sense, is to see him as he truly is and respond with awe-struck adoration. It is abiding in his presence, knowing he is surely good, he is surely supreme, and he surely loves me.

The Fear of God in the New Covenant

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Paul Ellis 

Jesus died on the cross to reconcile man to God and so that we might live free from the fear of punishment. Yet the phrase “the fear of the Lord” comes up many times in the New Testament. What does it mean to have the fear God under the new covenant?

The following is a special guest post from my friend Ryan Rufus:

The Fear of God in the New Covenant

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Ti 1:7)

We need to keep this scripture in mind when we talk about the fear of God. God doesn’t want us to have a fearfulness of Him. Our relationship with Him, and consequently our relationship toward others, is one of power (God’s empowerment), love (God’s love) and a sound mind (a supernatural sound mind).

“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because He first loved us.” (1Jn 4:15-19)

According to this scripture it is wrong to fear God’s judgments! If we fear God’s judgments it means we don’t understand His love!

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12:28-29)

Let us have grace to serve God acceptably. What’s acceptably? It’s faith! It takes faith to acknowledge who He is. A reverence and a godly fear is about seeing God – the magnitude of His being and ascribing that greatness to His name. It’s not taking the greatness for yourself and it’s not playing down who God is. That would be the opposite of grace – i.e., self righteousness.

The fear of God that the Self Righteous have is that God will judge them for not being righteous enough. The fear of God that the Christ-righteous have is that God has qualified them to share in the Kingdom and that He is on their side and they therefore cannot be shaken or moved and that this awesome God will judge their enemies with fire! It’s not saying let us serve God because if you don’t He will judge you with fire, but let’s not be afraid to serve God because God is on our side and will judge our enemies!

The context of Hebrews 12 is that the saints were being persecuted for their faith and feeling like giving up because the opposition was too much. But the writer is saying: see who God is, how great He is, that He is on your side, that you’re in an unshakable kingdom and that your God is a consuming fire.

You’ve got God and heaven for you, backing you! When you see that, you will have the boldness to serve God the way that He has called you to serve Him – with boldness and confidence in His grace and power and authority. To see this is to “fear God.” To not see this is to have no “fear of God.”

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This concludes the 3 Part series on this vital topic. I invite your comments or questions through the “Contact Me” tab on the front page of this Blog. Abundant Blessings In Jesus!  LR

COMMENTS on Paul’s site:   Caleb Gibson // August 2, 2011 at 11:53 am // 

I love what Joseph Prince said about the “Fear of the Lord.” One day a minister came up to him and asked him, “What about the fear of the Lord?” Pastor Prince said, “What about it?” The minister said, “Well the Bible says we should fear the Lord.”
And Pastor Prince began to explain this by quoting the temptation of Jesus, when Jesus said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” –Mathew 4:10  … Notice the word, “Worship.” Jesus said worship the Lord your God, but the verse He quoted in Deuteronomy says, “Fear the LORD your God, serve him only – Deuteronomy 6:13. So Jesus changed out the word, “Fear” with, “Worship.” It must be that these two words are synonymous in the mind of Christ, and who else to interpret the fear of the Lord than Jesus himself! So, when we worship the Lord we are really “Fearing the Lord.”