Walking in the Fear of the Lord

Do you remember a time in your walk with the Lord when you had to make a choice between following God and His Word and displeasing or losing favor with someone you love and respect? Those are challenging decisions each disciple of Jesus is called to make as they grow in and follow the Lord. The decisions we make to walk in the fear of the Lord or yield to the fear of man determine the degree of wisdom we access in our lives. 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” (Psalm 111:10).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning—the starting place—of wisdom in our lives. If you and I want to walk in wisdom, this is where we must start. We cannot even get off home base until we have become established in the fear of the Lord. Let me make something clear as we begin this chapter on walking in the fear of the Lord: The fear of the Lord is not being afraid or fearful of God; rather, it is choosing to place a higher value on God and His Word than the thoughts, desires, and opinions of others.

One area I have had to apply this truth to is in the performing of marriage ceremonies. Because God’s Word clearly says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman and “only in the Lord,” this is the only type of marriage ceremony I will perform (Mark 10:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 7:39). I do not pass judgment on any other types of weddings, but because of the fear of the Lord, I will only perform a marriage ceremony between a man and a woman who I know are born again. 

I have had to draw on God’s grace to remain in the fear of the Lord over this issue. Some families became upset with me and left the church over my commitment to follow what God instructed me to do regarding performing wedding ceremonies. By refusing to allow a church member’s anger, threats, or decision to leave the church change my commitment to following the Lord in this area, the divorce rate among marriages I perform is very low. This has proven to be God’s wisdom. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Whenever we yield to the fear of man, it takes us out of the wisdom of God because flattery, control, manipulation, selfish ambition, and lies rule that relationship—not Jesus!             

“The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

God’s Word declares that yielding to the fear of man will ensnare us. It will bring us into bondage, limiting our potential and our ability to lead others. It will cost us wisdom and promotion and, eventually, the respect of men. Yielding to the fear of man is what cost Saul his kingdom and, ultimately, his life. 

“Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” … But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:24, 26). 

What a sad story. God called and anointed Saul, through the prophet Samuel, to lead Israel as their first king. He began his reign in humility but ended in pride because of the fear of man. Eventually, both he and his son were killed in battle, and David succeeded him as king. The Bible says God rejects prideful leadership. He rejects leaders trapped in the fear of man. But we can learn from Saul’s failure. While it is appropriate to serve God’s people, it is never appropriate to follow the crowd instead of obeying what God has instructed us to do as His representatives. 

This example reveal the danger of yielding to the fear of man. The fear of man will take us out of God’s will and plan for our lives, and cause us to lose our places in the kingdom. This is not the wisdom of God! 

In our walk with the Lord, my wife and I have found that following the leadership of the Holy Spirit and obeying the call of God on our lives has required us to disappoint some people from whom we desired approval. Let me share a few of those instances with you. 

My wife was filled with the Spirit while praying on the phone with a 700 Club counselor. I had fallen asleep watching the 700 Club television program that evening and woke up hearing her praying in a language I had never heard before. I went back to sleep thinking it was a dream but, the next week, noticed a change in her. She seemed like a different person. She was filled with joy, greater affection toward me (definitely a benefit I appreciated!), and  peace I had not seen or experienced with her before. The next Sunday, to my surprise, she walked to the front of our 1,500-member Methodist church and shared about her new experience with the Holy Spirit. 

“I have been singing the doxology all my life,” she said. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Janice went on to testify, “Every time we got to the last part, I used to think to myself, ‘Praise Father, Son, and Holy Who?’ I didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. But last week, I was filled with the Spirit and received a heavenly prayer language. I want all of my friends to know the Holy Spirit is real. He is really, really real!” 

Though many of the church members seemed blessed by her testimony, the pastor told her to sit down. He later called her into his office and told her that if she had any more experiences with the Holy Spirit, she was to share it with him before sharing with anyone else. He also told her that she and I could no longer teach the four-year-old’s class on Sunday mornings and that we would need to stop teaching the youth group on Sunday evenings. 

We subsequently left that church, and my wife found a lively, Spirit-filled church with clapping, dancing, and the gifts of the Spirit in manifestation. People were regularly saved, healed, and set free during services there. It was the closest thing I had seen to the book of Acts, but it caused no small stir with our family.

Most of Janice’s family members belonged to our old Methodist church, while most of my family did not attend church at all. Many thought we had joined a cult. We received letters, phone calls, and visits from several friends and family members who had never expressed any concern about our spiritual condition previously. Most of these contacts warned us of the dangers of the new church we had joined. But we were growing in the Word there. We saw the Bible come alive through the move of the Spirit, and we (and our new church family) were more in love with Jesus than we had ever experienced in a church setting before. Everything demonstrated there the pastor backed up with Scripture, so we continued to attend. 

In order to receive the fullness of our newfound freedom in Christ and walk in the Spirit, we had to suffer persecution. We never regretted taking that step of walking in the fear of the Lord by following God’s leadership. Leaving the old church and moving to a new, life-giving church proved to be wisdom for us. Our real journey with Jesus began with that step. 

Though I have a lot of stories illustrating this point, Jesus is our ultimate example of walking in the fear of the Lord. The Bible reveals the many times He chose to follow His Father over the objections of His family, disciples, or the religious leaders of that day. The following passages are just a few of these examples. 

“His brothers therefore said to Him, ‘Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.’ For even His brothers did not believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.'” (John 7:3-6).

“Jesus said to them [Pharisees], ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil…'” (John 8:42-44).

As you can see by these passages of Scripture, Jesus was not trying to win a popularity contest with either His family or the Pharisees. In fact, Isaiah 11:3 tells us Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. He was completely committed to following His Father: only saying what He heard the Father say and only doing what He saw the Father do.

In my walk with God, I have learned over four decades that becoming a disciple of Jesus requires us to value the fear of the Lord over the opinions and favor of man. I want to walk, and even delight, in the same measure of the fear of the Lord as He did. But there are times I find myself subtly slipping back into the fear of man. 

Once, during my pastorate in North Texas, Paul Milligan, an elder in my church, and I were ministering to a lady who had been part of our church in Houston, Texas. Paul said something to her I will never forget. He said, “To fear God is to fear nothing else.” 

Wow! What a powerful statement. I don’t know if this lady understood what Paul said and experienced freedom, but I know I did. In that moment, I saw that I had been afraid of everything. I had unconsciously been preparing messages to impress people, hoping they would stay in our church. I had avoided speaking on topics I thought might offend people or be controversial. I realized, through Paul’s statement to this woman, that I had been yielding to the fear of man—big time! I just had not realized it. 

I determined from that moment forward, I was going to speak the truth and stand by the truth no matter who it connected me with or separated me from. People’s response to the Word was not my responsibility. My responsibility was to simply speak the word God put on my heart and led me to share. I was a free man that day. It was like my new-birth experience all over again. The sky was bluer, the grass greener, and the confidence, anointing, and fruitfulness of my ministry grew immensely.

“In the fear of the lord there is strong confidence” (Proverbs 14:26).

The fear of the Lord is a powerful spiritual principle that will set you free from the opinions and thoughts of others. It will cause you to walk in confidence in your relationship with God and your ministry to others. And it will access the mind of Christ, causing you to make good decisions—decisions that are unbiased and not influenced by people with a personal agenda. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10). It is the way Jesus lived and the only way you and I should live. To fear God is to fear nothing else. I encourage you to join me on this amazing journey of freedom, confidence, fruitfulness, and wisdom. 

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s Book, Walking in Wisdom