How Can We Learn To Fear the Lord Part One?

Both Christians and unbelievers must learn to fear the Lord. To the degree that we fear the Lord we will have His blessings, and to the degree that we do not fear the Lord we will experience His judgments. Scripture states that there are certain things we can do to help us learn the fear of the Lord. We must learn the words which God uses to describe the fear which we should have for Him. The first word we must learn is terror. This describes the most extreme degree of fear. It is totally disabling to the one who experiences it, leaving that person with neither physical strength nor mental ability. The root word for terror in the Hebrew language is (ghay-TAHTH). It means “to prostrate by confusion and fear.” The Greek root is (FAW-boss) which means “to terrify with exceeding alarm.” This terror is precisely the experience which the Apostle John had when he looked upon the reality of God. "And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me…And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not” (Revelation 1:12-17). We need to learn how terror relates to the fear of the Lord. The judgments of God are called “terrors” in Scripture. David declared: “Thy fierce wrath goes over me; your terrors have cut me off” (Psalm 88:16). There is no doubt that God’s judgments upon sin do bring terror to those who experience them. These judgments should be spoken of and described especially among God’s people so that even the thought of sin would strike terror in every heart. This concept lies behind the warnings the Apostle Paul gave to the church at Corinth, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad” (II Corinthians 5:10). “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Corinthians 5:11). The next word we must know the meaning of is fright. The Greek word for fright is (ekthahm-BEH-oh) which literally means “to shrink or shiver with fear.” It is a sudden violent fear caused by the appearance of danger and is distinguished from fear and dread by its sudden invasion and temporary existence. When Jesus stilled the storm, His disciples experienced fright. “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). Fright often comes when we encounter a power which is far bigger than we are and which we do not understand. This is consistently demonstrated in Scripture as people witnessed Christ’s supernatural power. When Jesus cured the demoniac, the people feared. “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear” (luke 8:37). When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, they experienced fright. “And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luke 24:36-37). The next word we must learn is dismay. Whereas terror and fright immediately affect the physical strength, dismay removes the mental ability of a person. The Hebrew word which is translated dismay describes a condition of being drained of confidence and courage to the point where a person literally faints. Our English word dismay probably came from the Teutonic des, which is a negative, and magen which means” to be strong” or “able.” Thus, to dismay is “to remove the strength or firmness of mind which constitutes courage.” Faced with the presence of God’s power, majesty, and splendor, a person would be dismayed. When God appeared to Daniel in a vision, Daniel testified that there remained no strength in him and he was prostrate before the Lord. There is a great tendency among God’s people to be dismayed at the strength of the wicked. Thus, Scripture gives the command repeatedly, “be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed” (Joshua 1:9). When we see the judgments of God on the children of disobedience, we should be dismayed and have no strength like Daniel. However, when we hear the voice of God giving us reassurance and direction, we should be revived. “Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me” (Daniel 10:18-19). Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Spiritual Warfare and Final Choices

The R word. Repentance is a concept with which even Christians at times struggle. It may be difficult for people to admit they're wrong, to agree with God that their attitudes and actions are sin. It's humbling to acknowledge to God-and often others-that your thoughts, words, or behaviors are wrong. Usually we must ask for forgiveness when we repent. And that's difficult, too. But that's the next choice we must make: Will we choose repentance? The enemy will do anything to keep us from this sacred reality. To repent means to "turn around, to change one's mind." Sometimes when we have sinned we do not recognize it; we do not acknowledge it. David realized this when he sinned with Bathsheba and wrote about his response to his adulterous actions in Psalm 38:13 "But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth." David eventually was confronted with his sin of adultery and the subsequent murder of Bathsheba's husband-by a prophet, no less! (Read about it in 2 Samuel 12:1-9.) Like David, many of us have difficulty admitting we have sinned. We tend to deny, rationalize, or blame others for our sin/problems. We are like hypocrites who chant, "Faults in others I can see, but praise the Lord, there are none in me." The truth is that only repentance brings hope. God actually has a solution to our sin problems. Through a simple act of repentance, we can be set free and set on a new course as if we were starting over! That doesn't mean there may not be consequences of our sin, but it does mean with God there is always a second chance, and a third one, and a hundredth one! Our problem is when we sin we tend to justify ourselves. We choose to minimize the evil we have done. We may plead guilty, but always with a request to say something on our behalf. "Yet, but..." and "I understand, but please let me say..." But we must learn to accept responsibility for our actions, our misdeeds. A friend of mine found this out when he ran a stop sign. A policeman wrote him a ticket. He decided to go to court to defend himself. He told the judge that several cars ahead of him ran the stop sign before he did and they were not pulled over. He urged the judge, saying' "Your Honor, is it fair that the get off Scot-free and I get the ticket?" "Did you roll through the stop sign?" the judge asked. "Yes, I did," my friend was forced to admit. "Guilty," pronounced the judge. My friend paid the fine. In the same way, as long as we justify our sin or blame other, we are listening to Satan's lies. We will only be free of sin when we see it as God sees it, when we recognize and turn from our misdeeds. How do we do this? We must come into His presence and there remain until all our self-serving arguments collapse and we fully repent. Then, and only then, do we come to that single mind, which is God's mind. Ethel's sin was fear. Not fear of God, but fear of people and, to a lesser extent, fear of death. Those fears were prompted by an almost deadly encounter with a crime suspect. She called me one day from the psychological unit of the hospital. Her words came out slowly, deliberately, and full of pain as she related her story. Ethel had joined the police force of a major city after graduating from the police academy, fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a law enforcement officer. But in her third year as a policewoman, she was confronted with a gun to her head. "My partner and I were called to as crime scene," Ethel told me. "The back door had been pried open. As I approached the door, a man leaped into the doorway with a drawn gun aimed at my head. He pulled the trigger on what was later identified as a .357 Magnum. The primer detonated but the gun did not fire. I fired before he had a second chance. He died in the hospital later that evening." Ethel was alive, clearly by the grace of God, and I thought this should have made her very grateful toward God. It Didn't. Instead, she said, "Since that day I have lost my confidence. I clutch in a crisis. Because of his I have made mistakes-enough to get fired from my job two days ago. Last night I took enough pills to, as my doctor say, kill a large horse; yet I lived. I see now that God has saved my life twice. But I'm confused. Please open your Bible and show me how I can have peace in my heart and become as whole person. The Lord me to discuss "The fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge," from Proverbs 1. taking about how "fear" really means "reverence and trust." Ethel soon admitted that even though she was a believer, she did not reverence or trust the Lord. From there, we talked about how the fear of other people can cause a Christian to stumble in his relationship with God. This made a lot of sense to her. It was then I moved on to what the enemy was doing in her life. I explained that fear is a tormentor, and the enemy was using her twin crisis-nearly being killed and taking a human life-to his own advantage. She nodded her head with understanding and said that for the first time in years, the need to trust God and not fear other people was real to her. Ethel recommitted her life to the Lord. I led her in prayer, and as we prayed, a window of understanding opened in her soul. She asked the Lord to take back the ground the enemy had taken in her soul. In the weeks that followed, we studied the Scriptures together, and Ethel continued to confess sin as the Lord brought it to mind. Ethel began to grow spiritually, and her growth reminded me of the jack-in-the-box I had as a child. When the lid opened, Jack sprang out of the box. In Ethel's situation, when the sin was confessed and the lies were removed, she jumped out of Satan's box and the growth in her life was almost instantaneous. Two years later Ethel said to me, "The Lord has put me in a desk job that I really enjoy. He has given me peace in my heart, and I now know I am a new creation in Christ. The fear is gone, and the Lord has replaced it with faith. That which Satan intended for evil the Lord is working for good." When you trust God with everything in your life, you need fear no one on earth, in heaven, or anywhere else! Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences and local church meetings.

Prayer God Can't Refuse

In the first chapter of Nehemiah, he learns that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire. Nehemiah came face to face with a situation that was too big for him. Prayer has been called the greatest force on earth. Preaching my stir the hearts of men, but prayer moves the heart of God. For prayer to be effective it must be preceded by a knowledge of a need. For Nehemiah the walls of the city of his fathers must be rebuilt. Thus Nehemiah went to prayer. Prayer is not merely prattle; it is warfare. Nehemiah did not expect God to answer his summons the moment he prayed. He instead recognized his subordination to his Sovereign and respectfully persisted until God answered him (James 5:16-18). Not only does prayer aid in bringing our lives into conformity to the will of God, it also prepares us to receive an answer. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is laying hold of His highest willingness. Prayer gives us a new perspective. True prayer opens the eyes to things not seen before. Prayer establishes our priorities. Prayer gives us a sense of purpose, God's purpose. Our "groaning which cannot be uttered" are the prayers which God cannot refuse (Romans 8:26-27). Daily prayers really do lessen our daily cares. Why? Because we learn to "cast all our burdens on the One who cares for us." It is prevailing prayer that makes a difference. The reasons Nehemiah became so burdened for the walls to be built, is they were the holy cities protection. In the Scriptures the walls of Jerusalem symbolize protection and her gate praise (Isaiah 60:18). Nehemiah prayed and intermittently fasted for 120 day, the walls were built in 52 days. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.