Importance Of Holy Fear, 9/14

In the current christian culture of America, there is much confusion on the issues around the use of the word "fear" in the context of spiritual life. Most believers with any decent grounding in the word of God understand that there is fear from the enemy over which God has given us authority:

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

But this use of the word "fear" in relation to the enemy in scripture is dwarfed by the use of the word "fear" in the context of how God operates and how we are to regard him. The word "fear" appears at least 185 times in the context of fearing God because he is truly fearsome and fearworthy. Thus we see there is a fear that is in fact a very important part of God's Kingdom and spiritual economy.

There is also a demonic force called 'the fear of God' which is an attack of the enemy that binds the oppressed into being terfified of God in an unhealthy way that convinces them he is mean and out to get them and thereby keeps them from coming to him as he so longs all to do that we may be saved and healed.

I had already had a head's up, through prophets that I listen to, that God is moving to re-establish the proper fear of him in the church, but earlier this year God began to speak to me about directly. It began with my Dark Cloud Dream and has grown as I have studied the subject more.

The true ear of the Lord is a great and vitally necessary gift from God and scripture defines its many attributes and benefits:

Job 28:28

And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Psalm 19:9

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 8:13

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 14:27

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 15:33

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.

Isaiah 11:3

His[Jesus'] delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

Isaiah 33:6

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.

So we see clearly that the fear of the Lord is a huge part of the economy of heaven and something very desirable which we very much need to live a godly life.

Many understand correctly the there is a fear that comes from the devil and is a demonic force that we have authority over and are not to listen to or entertain in any way. But most have no real concept of that is a true fear of God and from God that is infinitely more terrifying, in his holiness, than the enemy's fear. This is what Jesus was getting at when he taught to fear God:

Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Satan can only try to lure us to do things his way but only God has the final word as to where we will spend eternity. There is no more terrifying prospect than the never-ending and unspeakable torment of the lake of fire and only God can send us there. Fearing God and his authority as the Righteous Judge of the Universe, is obviously a much more powerful fear even though it is holy.

The devil is a liar, a copy-cat and illusion artist, the fear he generates is a mere shallow counterfeit of God's holy fear that is so much more powerful than the devil's fear that it isn't even funny. Many believers have shallow notions of this fear and call it reverence or some such thing to religify away the truly fearsome reality of it but God calls it FEAR and even TERROR. In his holiness God is infinitely more powerful than the fallen, illusionist devil so we should easily be able to understand that he is way more terrifying if he reveals himself in that way. Well guess what : HE IS ABOUT TO! All over America, christians have been asking God to come but when he does, great numbers of them are not going to like how he comes and will reject it. The coming move of God includes the overwhelming terror of his awesome presence. It will scare us ALL, even our most mature leaders. The scriptures tell many accounts of how great, favored men of God like Daniel and John the Revelator who were utterly undone with fear when they encountered God in this way:

Revelation 1:12-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,[a] “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.

Fear of God and his anointed servants is a very normal part to of the history of the Kingdom of God on earth but it has been lost in the church for a very long time. God is going to restore it. Today the vast majority of the church doesn't have any realistic idea about his. There are ear-tickling teachers telling the people that anything that makes them afraid can't be from God. This is a dangerous twisting of the scriptures they use to present this teaching that does not respect the totality of scripture on this subject. Below in this message you can find a collection of scriptures to get a feel for the truth on this matter. The chief offender that I know of in this time of confused teaching on the is matter is a man named Kris Vallotton, an associate pastor at a world-famous church called Bethel. Kris thinks he is a prophet but is not as much of one as he thinks. It is abundantly clear from his teaching that Kris has no real understanding of how God uses fear in a holy way. This is not surprising to me because I am well aware from going to that church for nearly two years that the main leadership for the church have demonic fear and control issues in their own lives. Bethel preaches: "God is always in a good mood," as if that were all there is to him, but scripture says to remember both sides of his nature:

Romans 11:22

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

There is some truth to idea that God is always in a good mood, he is certainly never depressed or anxious, but he definitely does get angry and fearsome:

Psalm 18:7-15New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,

Because He was angry.

8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,

And devouring fire from His mouth;

Coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With darkness under His feet.

10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;

He flew upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness His secret place;

His canopy around Him was dark waters

And thick clouds of the skies.

12 From the brightness before Him,

His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord thundered from heaven,

And the Most High uttered His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.[a]

14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,

Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,

The foundations of the world were uncovered

At Your rebuke, O Lord,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

God is ALWAYS angry at sin because he is Holy and hates anything that is not:

Psalm 7:11

God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.

God is awesome and not to be messed with. We can't tell him he has to be nice to us because he says he is love and we don't like it when he rises up in Holy Anger. This is my concern with the way Bethel and others teach about God's nature as if he is some nicy-nice pantywaist who never is fearsome the way scripture clearly shows he is. I wouldn't want a God like that anyway, I want to know him in his fearsome, awesome, terrifying nature because I want to know all of him, even if it scares me. There is an evil prince of darkness in this world and I want to see God rip his guts out like the way Aslan ripped the throat out of the 'Queen' of Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe movie. We have a world to take back for Jesus and we are never going to be able to drive the evil out of it without a revelation of the full awesomeness, fear and terror of God so we can unleash it against the enemy. Leaders who are not taking their flocks in this direction are actually failing to lead them across the river Jordan and into the promised land of where God is taking the church in the last days.

Please read these following scriptures and let God show you the truth about his use of his indescribably powerful holy fear:

Genesis 20:7-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.

Exodus 19:16 New King James Version (NKJV)

16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Joshua 4:14

On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.

1 Samuel 12:18 New King James Version (NKJV)

18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

Job 6:4

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Psalm 19:9 New King James Version (NKJV)

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Psalm 88:15-16

15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.

16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Daniel 10:7-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8 Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Amos 3:7-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Surely the Lord God does nothing,

Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

8 A lion has roared!

Who will not fear?

The Lord God has spoken!

Who can but prophesy?

Many in the church today are deceived by fancy, religious, ear -tickling teachings that say things like, " Well, that is the Old Testament and

God does not deal with the church that way anymore because we are now in the age of Grace." Well, it is indeed true but we are now in the age of Grace but God himself has not changed. The fear of him and this use of holy fear is still very much a part of healthy spiritual reality and we all would do very well not to disrespect that. The New Testament too makes it perfectly clear that the fear of the Lord is still just as big a deal as ever:

Acts 2:42-43 New King James Version (NKJV)

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Acts 5:3-6 New King James Version (NKJV)

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.

Acts 5:9-11 New King James Version (NKJV)

9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

Hebrews 10:31

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Jude 1:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;[a] 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,[b] hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Revelation 1:12-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

So we see clearly that Holy Fear and Fear of The Lord are important issues in the heart of God. We can be sure that he wants his church to return to it. This will begin to happen soon. Believers who are not totally consecrated to God will be those in greatest danger from this move of God.

If you have never received the promise of eternal life then please pray this Prayer To Receive Eternal Salvation today and be saved from eternal damnation. If you are a believer who has not committed absolutely everything to our King, then please pray this Prayer Of Consecration today and give him your all. God bless you.

-Steve Pursell, 9/14