Journal Entry Week One: The Fear of the Lord

Week one of Lectures

Glen Vines: The Fear of the Lord

Wow. I don’t even know where to begin. This week was one that I knew would be a challenge for me. The fear of the Lord is one of those terms that you’re used to hearing all the time, but you don’t ever really know what it means. You’d think that seeing it so many times throughout the Bible (goodness, just read Proverbs) we would focus on it a little more. What does it mean to truly fear God, not just in our minds, and not just a desire to do so, but to fear him throughout each day in our attitude and our actions?

I wish I could answer that simply. Glen did a wonderful job of building this topic from the ground up. I’ll begin with the fact that in the original greek, there are two different words for fear. Deliea, which is timidity or cowardice, and Phobos, which could be positive or negative. For example, Phobos fear can be a great motivator. It can stir you up.

This is the fear that is involved. It is not a timid fear, but a stirring fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is a deep honor and value for the Lord that leads to full submission for God and his principles. It is a fear of what would happen if we fell away from them. It is a fear of walking away from his laws and love and the consequences that would come. He has set laws in motion for our protection.

With this comes the understanding that His word is a double-edged sword of both law and grace. God has set laws and consequences up for our own protection. But there is also a grace that comes with the breaking of those laws.  This grace brings mercy, compassion, deliverance. There is a very distinct balance between these two sides and it’s important to not find yourself in lawless grace or graceless law.  There is a covenant that we have made with the Lord. A contract that includes terms and promises and if we fall back on the terms that have been set, there are consequences. God’s hand of judgment is a part of his love and discipline.

This being said, there are many things that come from truly fearing the Lord.

It brings wisdom. Verse after verse in Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We need to learn to love the discipline that brings wisdom in our lives. And where does this wisdom come from? Those with experience. “The gray hairs” so to speak. There is wisdom and experience in the older generation. It is so important to find a mentor to learn from, much like Elisha and Elijah.

The fear of the Lord leads to righteousness and purity. Proverbs 8:13 says “the fear of the Lord is the hated of evil.” This was very convicting for me. This isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice to align yourself with Him and to choose to hate what is evil. This also means being open to others and being willing to be broken. It’s ridding yourself of sin and allowing God to have authority. Most importantly it is learning to hate pride and arrogance, which is a form of idolatry. God has made laws and placed people in authority over us as a covering for a reason. If we are to step out from under that authority, if we refuse to submit, that covering is gone.

The fear of the Lord brings discernment. Humility plays such a huge role in fearing God and understanding what it means to be under His law. Humility isn’t simply thinking less for yourself than anyone else. That’s actually pride. It’s not letting people walk all over you and feeling like you’re not worth anything. Humility is agreeing with God’s truth about yourself and about the world. Pride has a way of coming in a clouding over those promises. It swings in two ways. Inferior pride, which deals with rejection and people who feel like victims, and superior pride, which brings rebellion and those who abuse and fight back. They think higher of themselves. Both of these are out of alignment with God’s word about us. The fear of God teaches us humility, which teaches us to not only see our own value, but the value of those around us. Suddenly we are able to love our enemies and to forgive.

The fear of the Lord leads to boldness. If you fear the Lord more than you fear men, there is an extreme passion for righteousness and courage to take risks.  It brings a fulfillment of life. Do you value the opinions of the people around you greater than the opinion of our Lord? Isaiah 51:7 says “ You who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their reviling.”

This is easier said than done, but what a concept, especially in our western world today. I know working in the coffee shop, I was surrounded by this. I’d be deep in conversation about the sin that so many people live in. I’d awkwardly laugh at their drunken stories and would just turn my ear when I’d hear them hate the things that come from God. I was scared of being known as the closed minded girl. But what a lie to believe that it’s bad to be known as the one who stands up for my God and his way.

Jesus found had this way of never compromising on truth and sin, but loving the people anyway. You don’t have to be the “closed minded one” and hate those that are caught up in sin, but you do need to be firm in what you believe while you are loving those around you. This is really what God has been showing me through these lectures. It’s good to finally have an understanding of what it means to fear God and all that it entails. Walking in a fear of the Lord is something that will take practice I’m sure. And with that comes those that will keep you accountable in it.

There’s so much more that I’ve written down in my notes, but it’s so much information, it’s hard to sift through. So that’s a basic over view of this week so far in lectures, which is just one way that God has been drawing me close! Wow… these blogs are gonna be long. Lol Sorry Whitney!

Ok, so before I came, I told God some of the desires of my heart for this time with Him. I told him I wanted to learn how to really pray. I mean REALLY pray, like the apostles. I want to learn how to intercede. I want to jump into the battle and the war in the spiritual realm that we are so often blind to. I want to stand in the gap for those around me, to be able to pray as the Lord leads about specific issues and people and areas. And I want to learn to really hear his voice more clearly. To be able to recognize it and not be afraid to act. So I made a promise to him that if I think I hear something from Him, even if I’m not sure, I’m gonna do it!

It’s kind of like shopping for me. I hate spending money. HATE IT. So if I’m in a store and I have something in my hands, I think to myself “If I don’t buy this, will I just forget about it when I go home, or will I be wishing that I bought it for the next week?” And that’s how I decide if I should buy it.

So I’ve kinda applied that concept to hearing God. If I don’t do this thing that I THINK He’s telling me, will I seriously regret not doing it later? Or will I forget that I was even thinking about it? And If I know that I’d regret it, I man up and do it.

So with both of these request on the table, to hear him and to learn how to pray, you know what He’s been doing?

Telling me to pray specific things for people at random times. It’s soooo awkward. Lol It’s been hard but so good!! And I’ve been getting up for morning prayer and intercession every morning as well. It’s so great to be able to sit in the presence of God with people like John and Naomi who have that gift of intercession and just learn to hear God with them, to exercise it. What a precious thing it has been too as we have given our first fruits of the day over to Him.

This has also given me a chance to make time to spend daily with God in his word. I’ve never been good at actually sitting down and reading. But the cool thing is that once you start, it’s hard to stop. I’m working my way through Matthew and while it used to be almost a chore to get started, I get sad now when my time runs out. It’s like working out. You hate it at first. And you just don’t want to get up and do it. But once you do and once you make a routine of it, you get addicted and you just can’t get enough!

So here are a couple of the verses that stood out to me in my reading.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven”

Matthew 9:36-38 “When He saw the crowds He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 10:16 “You received without paying, give without pay.”

Ok so as far as thing I need prayer for, let’s see. Lately God has really been opening me up to the power of prayer and the battle that goes on in the spirit world when we intercede in prayer. Our battle is not against flesh and blood and there’s just this… passion that God has been fueling in me to stand up and fight. But it’s been hard. So prayer for that would be wonderful. The Bible says that if we submit ourselves to God, He’ll give us the desires of our hearts. And I truly believe He is calling me into this. It’s just so hard being stretched… But He has never let me feel like I was without him.

Also, just pray for direction in what comes next. I’m in no rush to get to that point, but I’ve fallen in love with the vision of YWAM, especially here on the Sunny Coast. I’m about half way done with “Is that really you, God?” and I would seriously encourage all of you to read it and learn more about the vision that is changing the world. I would love to jump in on that vision, but only If it’s what God wants.

So that’s pretty much it for this week. It seems like so much, but it’s just a glimpse of everything God wants to do in all of us here. I love my team so much. I’m already broken hearted at the idea of leaving everyone in February, especially knowing that everyone is so far away.

So it’s good to know God is in control. Just… such a peace when I remember that.

Oh, and just so you all know, I’M GOING TO THAILAND AND CAMBODIA IN DECEMBER! =]

Love you all. Jesus loves you more.

Character Study Week 1: God as Provider

Exodus 16:11 “And the Lord said to Moses “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel. Say to them ‘at twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”

Matthew 6:31-32 “therefore do not be anxious saying ‘what shall we eat?’ Or ‘What shall we drink?’ Or ‘What shall we wear?’ …For your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Often times in our Western mindset it’s hard to remember the power that comes with God being our Provider. We look to him to “provide” a parking spot at the mall or thank him for providing us the money to go on our yearly family vacations. And while the Lord does see and provide these things, his provision of the things that we need is a miracle that we often overlook.

When Jesus fed the five thousand, they didn’t just have the munchies. They needed sustenance and Jesus had to find a way to give it to them. They were all there to meet with him. It was not just a simple walk to go back to the house and make a quick sandwich for lunch. It would have taken time, which meant leaving Jesus. So they people, wanting to be near the Lord, decided to give up the food that they needed for strength. In this, Jesus showed his power and mercy to them and gave them what they needed.

But what we need is so much more than just the material things or the things to feed us. What we need more than anything is a spiritual bread that only God can give. Often times when we think God is withholding the things that we need, He does so to teach us to rely on the things of Him. This is what we truly need.

Raising money for this trip was extremely hard for me. I worked for months and months pouring myself into raising funds to get here. I did photo shoot after photo shoot, poured my heart out to people that didn’t really care what I was doing. I had people who had poured themselves into my life for the past few years ignore that I was even going. The money wasn’t coming in and I was working hard without seeing anything come out of it.

And then Scotty started raising his money about a month before he had to have all of it. And I’m watching as people who don’t even know him are writing him checks for a thousand dollars each. The money is just coming in waves and I keep hear “The Lord always provides!” while I’m sitting on half of what I need after 5 months of hard work. To be honest, I got really mad. I said “God, apparently you only provide to minister’s sons and apparently you love Scotty so much more than you love me, because I have been putting everything into this and you haven’t come through for me at all.” And I’m not gonna say that God set me straight right away. It was a long time in the desert feeling like God had so much more love for Scotty than he had for me. That people believed in Scotty more than me. That God was never going to provide and I’d have to figure it all out on my own.

But then God told me… you have to open your eyes past simply the giving of money. Who gave you those gifts of photography and who provided you with a good job to be able to save your money? Who has opened all these doors for people wanting pictures done when you’ve never even done this before? This has all been me. This is me providing for you.

It took me a while to accept even this thought, cause I had in my mind what God’s provision looked like. But then my amazing Pastor (If you’re reading this, thanks Tad) told something to my dad that really opened my eyes. He said that as a butterfly prepares to fly out of it’s cocoon, the struggle or breaking out is the most important part of development. It is in the struggle that the butterfly becomes strong enough to fly away. Without this hardship, it would just fall.

God knew that this is what I needed more than just the money. I needed the struggle. I needed to work for myself and to learn humility. My gifts and everything I have is a gift from my provider and in forgetting that I give all glory to myself for the things of Him. But every breath I breath is a gift from the one who holds my life in his hands.

He is the provider of the bread of the body and the bread of the spirit.