Fear

Fear is a powerful force in our spirit and mind. Fear can crush us and fear can cleanse us. If the fear is of the wrong nature, it will oppress and cloud our mind and spirit. How the word "fear" is used depends on who it is directed at. Reverence and to revere is a very common definition when pertaining to father God. Fear as reverence doesn't mean we would want to run away. It has more to do with awe and respect. Father God definitely wants us to hang around and perceive him with awe and respect. God built the ability to fear and revere into us so that we could relate to him from a perspective that lets us appreciate his size and stature. Since God is the God of the universe, there is no way except by lying that God could communicate to us eye to eye without having a fear/reverence factor built into the relationship. We must appreciate the correct relationship between a speck of dust and the God that created it and everything else. Fear of God establishes the correct balance, or imbalance, in our mind and spirit. Fear of God can purge or replace fear of something smaller than God. Fear of God can remove pride. Pride is like a fake god. If God is our focus, we don't need pride. Pride shows up when we don't have father God as our father and our God. Father God can meet all our needs and give us plenty of adventures. Father God governs his family in harmony and love. Confidence in our pride puts us above others, outside of how father God runs his family. We can have respect for and confidence in someone real. Fear of God can give us confidence that there is nothing bigger to fear or need and that God is on our side.

Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? ¹⁰And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden there is no statement made that Adam feared God when they communed. In their innocence neither of them knew they were naked or what that meant. They just didn't care. After the sin of eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were both self conscious of their nakedness and it bothered both of them.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

God covered them with a covering that costed blood and life of animals.

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

God said "fear not" and "I am your shield". God didn't want Abram to fear and God wanted to show Abram that God was his protector and the one who will reward him.

Genesis 18:9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. ¹⁰And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? ¹³And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? ¹⁴Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. ¹⁵Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Sarah laughed within herself because she didn't believe what she was hearing. Her unbelief kept her from innocent trust in what the Lord was saying to Abraham. She denied she laughed because she was afraid. She did not have a clear conscience, or reverence for who was speaking. She may not have known who it was, but when questioned, she lied to protect herself. She looked at the natural as being above the spiritual. She acted childish and not childlike.

Genesis 21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

Hagar received a blessing from God when she was required to leave Abraham. Hagar no longer needed to fear the natural course of events because God superceded and created a different and better future for them.

Genesis 26:2 And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac), and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: ³Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; ⁴And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; ⁵Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. ⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: ⁷And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

After the Lord appeared to Isaac and promised that Isaac would own all the land and he would have millions of children and the Lord would be right there with him, Isaac still didn't have enough childlike trust to believe that where the Lord told him to stay would be safe enough for him to be honest about his wife.

Genesis 26:8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. ⁹And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. ¹⁰And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. ¹¹And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. ¹²Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.

Even the king of the Philistines had more belief that if he or someone else had been with Rebekah they would have been guilty before a moral judge for that. Isaac received a hundredfold return in that land that the Lord told him to stay in before he moved on.

Genesis 26:24 And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac) the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. ²⁵And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. ²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. ²⁷And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? ²⁸And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; ²⁹That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.

Again the Lord told Isaac to not fear natural things because the Lord would take care of him. Even others can tell when the Lord is with someone. Making covenants with others may not be necessary or wise if the Lord is telling you what to do. This can compromise part of what the Lord promises to cover and interfere with what the Lord is doing or will do in the future. We don't want to interfere with the lesson they are supposed to learn. Let these people get right with the Lord themselves. We don't want to let them lead us about. Three places under dispute in Israel today are regions where the Hebrews made covenants with non-Hebrews in biblical times against the Lords will. They are West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem and Gaza strip.

Genesis 28:11 And he (Jacob) lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; ¹⁴And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. ¹⁶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

The Lord may not have told or shown us in advance where we are in the spiritual world. A place Jacob was going to pass through ended up being the house of God. This kind of fear is a reverential fear. Jacob didn't want to flee the place. He set up an altar there out of reverence.

Genesis 46:2 And God spake unto Israel (Jacob) in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. ³And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: ⁴I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

Jacob was told to not fear to do what the Lord told him to do. The Lord promised to be there with Jacob and to bring him back to where he had been. The Lord sovereignly knew that there would be good provision for Jacob and his descendents. This is something that Jacob couldn't have known in the natural in any way.

Exodus 1:15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: ¹⁶And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. ¹⁸And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? ¹⁹And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. ²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. ²¹And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

The midwives feared God more than they feared Pharaoh. This resulted in the multiplying of the Hebrews, which is exactly what God wanted. If we fear and obey God more, even when that disagrees with what is going on around us, God will work on our behalf.

Exodus 9:18 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. ¹⁹Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. ²⁰He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: ²¹And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

Bring your servants and your cattle into your houses so they don't get killed by hail...tomorrow. That takes trust. God may tell us to do things that don't make sense in our immediate natural world, but God is pulling strings at a level that we don't see. By revering the word of the Lord, look at the advantage some of Pharaohs servants had. They lived.

Exodus 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD'S. ³⁰But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.

The Lord may stop the hail, but we have to voluntarily open our heart to him and revere him. Notice, if we are obeying God, the hail isn't directed at us! If we can hear and revere the word of the Lord, the Lord can put us in a situation where the Lord can separate and protect us while others will die. This might be part of a deliverance the Lord is providing for us.

Exodus 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Here the term hardened means made heavy or depressed. Pharaoh didn't open up his heart and accept the correction. He sinned and became depressed in his heart.

Exodus 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

Here the term hardened means lifted up, encouraged or made strong. This sounds like pride. We can be prideful, with a false belief of something, and not in connection with God.

Exodus 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

The Lord wants us to fear him more than we fear anything else. If we trust him and follow his guidance, he can work on our behalf, and we won't sabotage what he is doing.

Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. ¹⁴The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

We don't need to trust in the crisis. We can trust in the Lords salvation and have peace.

Exodus 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. ³¹And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.

Israel first saw the salvation of the Lord and then feared him. This example is for us to learn to fear the Lord and believe him and expect to see his salvation.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Starting with having the Lord at the top in our heart lets us see whatever else from the right perspective. When we are close to the Lord we can both look "up" at the Lord with reverence and we can look "down" at our surroundings from the perspective that the Lord is above all our surroundings.

Proverb 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverb 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Prideful wisdom is knowing fluff. Revering the Lord is knowing something real.

Proverb 9:9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. ¹⁰The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Wise people know what is real and want more of it. When we know who is in charge of everything we have a better perspective of how things work.

Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ⁹For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. ¹⁰The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. ¹¹The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. ¹³The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.

The Lord wants everyone to revere him because of who he is. He wants everyone to know how powerful he is over our natural world. This establishes for us the source of everything, both good and bad. The Lord wants us to know he is who we have to deal with. The people the Lord chooses are his inheritance. He inherits us and we inherit him.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

God does things so we can see them such that we revere him. He wants us to know he can control things for us or against us.

Psalm 72:5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

Psalm 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? ⁸Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, ⁹When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

We should voluntarily revere God. If we make him angry there is nothing we can do about it. Being meek lets us into God's salvation. Fortunately, father God regards meek people rather than terrorizes them. He has compassion for people rather than disdain.

Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? ²³But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. ²⁴Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. ²⁵Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

Not revering the Lord withholds good things from us. The Lord has total control over the good things and is a middle man of sorts between us and the good things. If we sin, he keeps the good things from us. If we don't sin, he enables the good things. Notice how it comes back to where our heart is. The Lord has more concern over where our heart is than how many toys we collect or how prosperous we are.

Ecclesiastes 8:12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: ¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

God promises a longer and better life to the righteous that revere him. Since he is in the position of authority, he can control that. He uses his authority to promote life and goodness and suppress wickedness.

Exodus 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. ¹⁵Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

Here the term afraid means quiver, quake and fret. Father God makes people tremble, quiver, shake and fret when he wants to.

Exodus 34:10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible(fearful, wonderful) thing that I will do with thee. ¹¹Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ¹²Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: ¹³But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

Here terrible means fearful and reverential. The Lord will do this awesome thing with us and through us and not against us if we are in covenant with him. While the Lord is doing this, we shouldn't make covenants with anyone else. The Lord was clearing the slate regarding the land and the peoples that were dwelling there. Any other covenants than the one with the Lord will put either us or the Lord outside of the covenant with him. We won't receive the full value of the covenant with the Lord. We should disregard anything anyone else has to offer.

Deuteronomy 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: ²That thou mightest fear(revere) the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. ⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. ¹⁰And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, ¹¹And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; ¹²Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. ¹⁴Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; ¹⁵(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. ¹⁶Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. ¹⁷Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, ¹⁹To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. ²⁰And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? ²¹Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: ²²And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: ²³And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. ²⁴And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. ²⁵And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Reverentially fearing the Lord is always for our good. Love the Lord. Keep his words in our heart. Teach our children the same so they can live too. No fake gods or the Lord will become jealous. Don't test the Lord. That's easier to do than you'd think. Do what is right and good in his sight. Revere the Lord for our own good so we can live. These are the Lords ways. Doing this makes us righteous, or right standing, with him. The Lord has his standard that he goes by. If we don't live up to that standard, he will find someone else. The Lord worked for hundreds of years to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham. There is a lot of opportunity to get off course in that time. We can also see that if we continue to do good, the Lord can honor his covenant for hundreds of years.

Deuteronomy 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; ⁵⁹Then the LORD will make thy plagues dramatic, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. ⁶⁰Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. ⁶¹Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. ⁶²And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God. ⁶³And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. ⁶⁴And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: ⁶⁶And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: ⁶⁷In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. ⁶⁸And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

The Lord, being the creator of the heavens and this whole planet, requires his name to be held in reverence. We, his children, are to do all of his word to learn to revere his name. If we don't, we will suffer the same consequences as spiritual Egypt. This is father God's spiritual jealousy. He is very open about this. He wants everybody to know him. He wants everybody to know where he is coming from. When we get past the basics of doing good and doing his word, then we can enjoy the relationship more. If we can't get past doing the Lords word and revering his name, we aren't ready to have relationship with him.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. ¹²I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. ¹³For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

If we know the Lords way and fear his name from our heart we can expect his mercy. When we receive his mercy/favor we will want to praise him. That's why he does it.

Psalm 99:3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.

Psalm 102:15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

Revere the holy name of the Lord. Whether we are kings or strangers we are all at the same level with the Lord.

Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

The closer we get to God the more we will revere him. This is good for us because we will only be surrounded by others that are revering him also.

Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

We choose to be among those that dedicate their life to revere and follow the Lord.

Joshua 24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

Break all generational curses and any ties with our past that are outside of the Lord. We enter into a new family and new relationships with people when we commit to serving the Lord. Anyone else who wants to follow us or may have preceded us can be part of our family. If others don't want to serve the Lord, they won't be with us in the eternal long run anyway. We don't need to waste ourself on them now. We have to keep the Lord closer to us than anyone else and certainly closer than any fake gods.

1 Chronicles 16:25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. ²⁶For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

The Lord knows that our idols are vain and that he is real and the one that made everything. We cannot possible have a heart relationship with a fake god. We could have one with a demon. They want to appear to us to be a god. They are spirit and can approach us from a spiritual perspective. They know they aren't the Lord, but they will lie so as to kill a relationship between us and the Lord. We can know that we can have a direct relationship with the Lord that made everything. We don't go through demons to get to the Lord. The Lord wants to deal with us directly.

2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 2 Kings 17:18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 2 Kings 17:20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. ²¹For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. ²²For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; ²³Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Because Israel feared or revered other gods, the Lord removed them entirely from the promise land. Only the tribe of Judah was spared tenuously on behalf of a covenant made with King David. Without the covenant with David, even Judah would have been wiped out.

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, ¹³To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? ¹⁴Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. ¹⁵Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

The Lord delights in loving us and requires that we walk in his ways and reverentially fear and love him and serve him with all our heart and all our soul. We voluntarily do each of these things. By revering the Lord we are recognizing his size and power compared to us. This comes back to us in a positive way because we are regarding the maker and owner of everything.

Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: ¹⁸He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. ¹⁹Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. ²¹He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

The Lord wants us to open our heart to him, fear him, hold onto him and serve him. He loves being special to us and for us. He will do great things for us if we are in relationship with him.

Exodus 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

God proves, or tests, his people. God wants us to accept his fear and not reject it so his fear will keep us from sinning. Don't dread, but revere.

Deuteronomy 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

Here the word prove means test, or assess. The Lord tests us to see if we are loving him with all our heart and all our soul. Our demonstration of our love is that we revere him and keep his commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:27 Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. ²⁸And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. ²⁹O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

The Lord hears everything we say. The Lord desires that we keep all his commandments and reverentially fear him. He promises this will make our life good. He has the power to make this true for ever. Doesn't this sound like the father part of God speaking?

Leviticus 19:3 Ye shall fear(revere) every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

We are to revere our parents that are also in covenant and good standing with the Lord.

Leviticus 19:14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. ¹⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. ¹⁶Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. ¹⁷Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. ¹⁸Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

There are quite a few rules that the Lord gave his people. Most of them are explaining what we shouldn't do. We shouldn't do many bad things, but instead fear(revere) the Lord. This is some of that cleansing fear. A couple of rules we should do include rebuking our neighbor when they sin so they won't be in sin anymore and loving our neighbor as ourself.

Leviticus 19:30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

If our bodies are the Lords sanctuary, we should revere and take care of it.

Leviticus 25:17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.

The Lord, in a healthy way, keeps himself in the middle of all our relationships. He wants us to put him above ourself, and all others on an equal level with ourself.

Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. ¹⁴In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. ²⁰And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. ²¹As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

While in the covenant of the Lord, we have peace and no fear or oppression. The Lord has the power to establish us in peace and free of terror. We have to do our part of his covenant of keeping his word, which is doing what he says.

Psalm 47:2 For the LORD most high is fearsome; he is a great King over all the earth. ³He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. ⁴He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

The Lord considers the whole earth his Kingdom. He decides which nations are on top and which ones are on the bottom. If he loves us he will put us on the top.

Psalm 119:115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God. ¹¹⁶Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. ¹¹⁷Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. ¹¹⁸Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. ¹¹⁹Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies. ¹²⁰My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

We keep the Lords commandments out of fear/reverence because he can enforce that this is life and safety to us. He says he will tred down and put away everyone that doesn't pursue his life by respecting his statutes continually.

Psalm 130:4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Knowing we fail, without forgiveness we would have no hope. With forgiveness, we can value knowing and revering the Lord. He will forgive us and correct us so we mature.

Jeremiah 32:38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: ³⁹And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: ⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. ⁴¹Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

The Lord will invest in us with his whole heart and soul for our good if we invest our heart to revere him. He will make us one big happy family. This is what he would be happy with forever.

Psalm 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. ²His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. ³Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever. ⁴Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. ⁵A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. ⁶Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. ⁷He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. ⁸His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. ⁹He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. ¹⁰The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

The Lord makes his close followers mighty and wealthy. The Lord deliberately blesses people who love his commandments and revere him. The Lord enables us to be able to help others without worrying about the wicked. The Lord gave us the first thing to give away and he can give us a replacement for whatever we gave away.

Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful(reverent) in praises, doing wonders? ¹²Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. ¹³Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

The Lord has redeemed, or purchased, his people. The Lord has a holy habitation to lead his people to.

Psalm 64:9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. ¹⁰The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

Of all the men that will revere the Lord we want to be among the righteous and upright in heart. We will be glad in the Lord and be able to trust him.

Psalm 34:9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. ¹⁰The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. ¹¹Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Be like a child and learn to fear/revere the Lord. We will not lack anything if we do.

Psalm 56:9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. ¹⁰In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. ¹¹In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. ¹²Thy vows(promises) are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. ¹³For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

When father God is for us we don't need to fear man. We can trust him and call upon him. He has made us promises. We can praise him for his manifestation of his promises of life on our behalf.

Psalm 67:1 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. ²That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. ³Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. ⁴O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. ⁵Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. ⁶Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. ⁷God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

Father God involves himself in the affairs of all the nations. There are many things father God can do for us. We have to learn his ways in order to invoke them on our behalf. The more we learn to walk in his blessings the more we will revere him and his power and ability to manifest himself.

Psalm 68:32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: ³³To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. ³⁴Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. ³⁵O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.

Can we imagine whole nations singing to father God. This doesn't bother father God any. He made them all. He isn't humble about expecting that at all.

Psalm 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. ⁴Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

The Lord blesses us if we trust him and not pride. Pride is an inflated belief in something, and therefore not exactly truth.

1 Samuel 12:20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; ²¹And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. ²²For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.

Even if we make mistakes, we should not become bound up in fear. The Lord wants people. He wants to have a family of people. We should keep our heart from vain idols and try to serve the Lord with all our heart. We have to push everything else out of our heart to put our heart on a single focus. Our heart will be clean of vanity if we can focus on the Lord with all our heart.

Psalm 91:5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; ⁶Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. ⁷A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. ⁸Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. ⁹Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; ¹⁰There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

Dwelling or abiding in the Lord, we don't need to fear what ten thousand wicked need to fear.

Proverb 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. ²⁶For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

We can have confidence while in the Lord. We will see him destroying the wicked, but we knew he would be doing that. When we see this we know it is calculated on the Lords part and not something random and not something directed at us.

Exodus 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

This term for fear means dread and horror. The Lord pauses our enemies in their tracks until he lets his purchased pass by.

Numbers 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. ¹⁰But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. ¹¹And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

The Lord considers rebelling against him and not believing him to be related. We don't need to fear what seems like obstacles if we are in agreement with the Lord that he will provide for us.

Numbers 21:33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. ³⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. ³⁵So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

"I have delivered" is past tense. The Lord delivered his children before they got to the battle. They still had to work through the manifestation. They couldn't lay down and expect to win, but they were assured a victory.

Deuteronomy 1:21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

Possess means conquer here. We can conquer our promise land without fear or discouragement.

Deuteronomy 1:29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. ³⁰The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; ³¹And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. ³²Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, ³³Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.

The Lord will go before us into our promise land to cause us to occupy it if we aren't afraid to start following him there. The Lord will protect us against spiritual Egypt and provide for us in the wilderness. He will treat us like we are his son/daughter. We have to believe him.

Deuteronomy 3:21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. ²²Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.

The Lord will help us conquer all obstacle kingdoms. We don't have to fear approaching any of them.

Deuteronomy 20:1 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ²And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, ³And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; ⁴For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

When we need to fight our personal spiritual battles, we don't need to fear because the Lord already knows about them and will go with us to fight for us. The Lord is making a promise here. He is trying to save us. We can learn from each battle how to walk in our salvation.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

We should not fear our obstacles, whether personal or other people or things. The Lord promises he will go with us. He will not fail us or forsake us.

Joshua 10:8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

The Lord will deliver our spiritual enemies into our hand with nothing left remaining.

2 Kings 6:16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. ¹⁷And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

We have more help with us than our enemies have with them. There is a spirit world that we don't normally see that is in conflict. Father God has peoples we don't even see available to help us. Notice the Lord was right there when Elisha prayed and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man.

2 Chronicles 32:7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: ⁸With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

The Lord and his hosts are much stronger than a king with a flesh resource for his strength. If we are on the Lords side he will fight our battles. We can be in the Lords "rest", the place where the Lord has provision for us without our needing to strive for it.

Psalm 3:6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. ⁷Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. ⁸Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

The Lord is salvation to us from the ungodly, whatever ungodly we are confronted with, as long as we are Godly.

Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The Lord will use his rod and his staff for us and not against us if we are voluntarily led in the paths of righteousness. We don't need to fear evil if we are following the Lord. He will not lead us into evil and he will deliver us from evil if it comes to us.

Psalm 27:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ²When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. ³Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Our hearts don't need to fear people and things on the outside when we are close enough to the Lord.

Psalm 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ²Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

While sheltering or trusting in God, we don't have to fear. Father God is always very present.

Psalm 118:4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy(kindness) endureth for ever. ⁵I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. ⁶The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? ⁷The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. ⁸It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. ⁹It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. ¹⁰All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.

We can revere the Lord and be in the name of the Lord. The Lord will be kind towards righteous people. He will help them so as to promote righteousness on the earth. The Lord has capabilities above other men and princes. For good or bad we don't need to trust in them either as a help or an adversary. We can trust in the Lord and be separated from other people.

Isaiah 40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! ¹⁰Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. ¹¹He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

We can be a lamb to God and behold him. He will carry us and gently lead us to show us he is God to us.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ¹¹Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. ¹²Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. ¹³For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. ¹⁴Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

We have a God that redeems us and strengthens us. He'll hold us by our strong hand and help us. He is strongly encouraging us saying "don't be dismayed" because he is being God to us.

Isaiah 51:7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. ⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

Isaiah 51:12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; ¹³And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

In the Lord we can disregard the opinions of others. Here we see a challenging question from the Lord as to why we would be afraid of some other person more than be comforted by the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. If we are are keeping righteousness in our heart and doing it, we have a promise from the Lord for protection and salvation. The Lord will be offering us this promise, not just once or twice, but through our whole life and through multiple generations.

Jeremiah 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. ¹³But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, ¹⁴Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: ¹⁵And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; ¹⁶Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. ¹⁷So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. ¹⁸For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more. ¹⁹The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

Egypt had many gods, all of which were in conflict with the Lord. Babylon was heathen in their beliefs but didn't quite carry the same spiritual aspect. Babylon was used to punish Judah when Judah got out of line. Babylon was kind of like the mean babysitter. The Lord can make spiritual Babylon leave us alone. But, don't go back to spiritual Egypt under any circumstance. We have to live separate from spiritual Babylon while possibly governed by spiritual Babylon. However, we can be "in our own land" even if we appear to be living in Babylon. Giving up on the Lord entirely and going back to spiritual Egypt will be spiritual death to us.

Daniel 10:12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

The Lord hears us the first time if we have an innocent heart like Daniel did. The answer may take a little longer.

Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive(take) me. Selah. ¹⁶Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; ¹⁷For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

God deals with life and death. Money is nothing to be proud of. We don't need to fear someone who is rich. Notice God said descend. That means go down. We don't want to go down. We want God to take us and redeem our soul from the power of the grave.

Deuteronomy 17:14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; ¹⁵Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. ¹⁶But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. ¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. ¹⁸And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: ¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: ²⁰That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

We should never invite a non-Christian king over us. Only one that the Lord chooses. This person should also be willing to fear the Lord so that his heart is not lifted up above us. He has to know father God's law himself and do it. As kings in Christ, the same applies to us. We should still act like one of the brethren and not use a calling for personal gain or status.

1 Samuel 15:24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

We sin if we regard the peoples voice more than the Lords voice.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. ⁵Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. ⁶Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? ⁷For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

Vain dreams and cheap talk is not truth. God wants to deal with us in truth. We cannot talk fluff with father God like we will do something and then not do it. Father God calls us a fool for doing that. We do better to stay behind father God rather than get ahead of him. He might even step back a bit until we learn where the power is really from.

Matthew 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. ²⁸And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. ³⁰But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. ³²Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. ³³But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

The Lord is releasing us from having to fear man. He is encouraging us to fear father God. We can have confidence that father God knows all about us and is looking out for us. The Lord will hear whether we confess or deny him to others. He wants us to confess him to others without fear of the others.

Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ²And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, ³And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. ⁶But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Childlike openness and trust in the Lord makes us the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is encouraging us to be childlike. We don't have to be intellectual or very robotic. We don't have to live out of a fake personality that our mind has made up. We don't need to be childish either. We can relax and feel humble like a little child before father God and with each other.

Matthew 28:8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. ⁹And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. ¹⁰Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

The Lord wants us to see him in his resurrection without fear because he did it for us.

Luke 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. ⁵¹He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. ⁵²He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. ⁵³He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Reverence father God and receive his mercy. Father God is offering this through generations. That means that our entire life can come and go during this offer, as well as that of our childrens and grandchildrens... Pride is fake. It has no substance. We can imagine perceptions that we believe should let us feel proud. "I'm better than..." "I'm faster than..." "I'm richer than..." In reality we don't need to feel proud. Father God wants us all to feel like we should be at the same level.

Luke 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, ⁶⁹And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; ⁷⁰As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: ⁷¹That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; ⁷²To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; ⁷³The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, ⁷⁴That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

Horns represent kingdoms in biblical symbology. Father God visited us and created a kingdom out of the lineage of King David that redeems us. This fulfills his covenant made to Abraham to save us from our enemies so we can serve God. Here the expression without fear implies fearlessly. We are redeemed to serve him fearlessly in holiness and righteousness our whole life.

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Politely, the angel of the Lord, with the glory shining all over, gave them good news. God is working peace and good will towards us. These heavenly host were there before they were revealed. This wasn't their creation point. They are always there.

Luke 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. ⁵And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. ⁶And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. ⁷And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. ⁹For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: ¹⁰And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. ¹¹And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

Peter could surely tell that this person was connected to the supernatural. He didn't have a clear enough conscience to not fear. At least he was childlike honest. He saw the opportunity to connect with this manifestation of father God and took it.

Luke 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. ²⁵And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. ²⁶And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen extraordinary things today.

Seeing God's power gives us a quick dose of fear. The closer we get to father God the more extraordinary things we might see.

Luke 7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. ¹³And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. ¹⁴And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. ¹⁵And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. ¹⁶And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

The Lords reaction to the widow was compassion. In Jewish culture there is a question of right of way regarding a dead person and a rabbi. Should the funeral give way or should Jesus? Should a rabbi touch a bier of a dead person making them unclean? Jesus kind of changed the question by making the dead person alive. He wasn't unclean. He raised the dead. No problem here.

Luke 8:35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. ³⁶They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. ³⁷Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.

We don't have to be afraid of the Lord at work. Sometimes we want to be in control or we become fearful. If we are childlike we won't mind if father God is displaying power above our own.

Luke 8:49 While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. ⁵⁰But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.

Fear can inhibit the childlike heart to believe in the Lords salvation. Jesus immediately countered the bad news with "Fear not". Fear and faith are sort of opposites. We can have faith in fear or faith in father God's salvation. Faith in fear will never produce that salvation.

Luke 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. ³⁰For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. ³¹But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Jesus is telling us about the nature of the kingdom of God. He is telling us that eat and drink are available in the kingdom. Making it into the kingdom automatically includes the rest of the promises. If we seek the kingdom we can use the promises to live off of. We can have confidence that we can enter the kingdom now.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. ⁴¹Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. ⁴²And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

We start with taking the raised from the dead human spirit into our spirit to raise it from the dead. We move on to learning doctrine and fellowship. The closer we get to God the more fear we will have until we are like little children listening to an adult.

Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, ²And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. ³But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? ⁴Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. ⁵And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

As in the Tanach, or Old Testament, punishment in front of others, like a scolding from an adult to a child, creates that reverential fear. The closer we get to father God the less sin we want to have any where near us. Father God wants a clean body.

Acts 9:31 Then had the churches peace throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

Churches as Jesus' body will grow in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: ¹²So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. ¹³Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. ¹⁴And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. ¹⁵And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? ¹⁶And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

We have to know the difference between imaginary relationship with the Lord and the real thing. The mind knowledge of Jesus does not have any spiritual power. The mind is merely a machine designed to be operated by a spirit. The spirit of Jesus has power and authority over demons.

Acts 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. ²³For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, ²⁴Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. ²⁵Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

Father God was watching everything Paul was doing and sent an angel to speak to him. Father God is always watching. Father God worked Paul through a sinking ship to get him before Caesar as father God wanted. Paul agreed with God and said so.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ¹⁶The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Righteousness means right standing with God. Jesus has that righteousness with father God because he is his son and is sinless. Jesus inherited father God by virtue of having been created by father God. At the point in time this verse/promise was written Jesus was already resurrected. Part of the righteousness that Jesus had with father God is that he is a raised from the dead human spirit. In order for our spirit to be alive because of righteousness it would have to have a righteousness imparted to it that makes it alive. The righteousness that makes us alive is the raised from the dead spirit in us. This both makes us right with father God and alive. After taking Jesus into our spirit to raise it from the dead we now are the same spirit that Jesus is. Our new raised from the dead spirit no longer looks like Adams fallen spirit. Our spirit part now looks like Jesus on the inside. Jesus was the son of God, so in Jesus, with Jesus in us, we are also children of God. We co-inherit father God. Exactly as much as father God is father to Jesus, father God is father to us.

Romans 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. ²⁰Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: ²¹For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. ²²Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. ²³And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief(/disobedience), shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

Standing by faith means that by faith we take the raised from the dead spirit into ourself. We believe that Jesus is raised from the dead. We believe father God invited us to take this spirit into ourself. We believe that taking this spirit into ourself raises our spirit from the dead. Our mind does not get raised from the dead. Our mind won't notice anything, until our spirit starts to take over its rightful position in us. Then our mind will put up a fight. High minded indicates thinking something fake. Our mind creates a fantasy person that is not spiritual and can be changed by changing our mind. Our spirit can't change like that. High minded is putting too much authority on the mind and not enough on the spirit. Fear here would be better. God really did not spare the natural Hebrew children. They fell. We don't want to fall.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Father God's promises are capable of cleaning us. We are to use them to cleanse ourselves. We can use that child/father fear/reverence relationship to guide us.

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. ¹¹For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Our sorrow makes us repent. The worlds sorrow is because they're dieing. Adopting a humble childlike sorrow for sin before God creates amongst other things a pure fear towards God that will allow God to talk to us as a parent. We will accept correction and be re-parented as needed.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

In the spirit of Jesus in us we understand the simplicity of the childlike relationship between us and father God. Our minds can think/believe/imagine anything. We can tell our mind anything and it will accept that. If we told our mind the moon is made of cheese our mind could imagine that. Our imagination is the doorway that lets our spirit write anything into it. When father God gives us an inspiration in our spirit like "build a 1000' ark" we can just plug that into our imagination and our mind will imagine it for us. Our mind will also imagine input from demon spirits. These become vain imaginings. Our mind is way too much like a meat grinder for spiritual input. If there weren't any demon spirits we wouldn't have to be so diligent to "test the spirits" to see if they are of God.

Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

While in the name of Jesus we can thank father God for everything he does for us. We can work together as Jesus' body with father God being the parent we revere above us.

Ephesians 6:5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; ⁶Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; ⁷With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: ⁸Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

We can work for other people besides the Lord as though it was the Lord. We can revere them exactly the same as if they were the Lord as long as what they want is good. The Lord wants this so he looks well represented by us. He will "pay us" as though we had done it for him directly.

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

We must work out our own salvation while God is working in us his will and good pleasure.

1 Timothy 5:20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

We can't hide sin for or from others. We should feel fear when we consider sinning. A difference between some modern churches and the biblical church is that the modern churches tolerate sin and kick people out for doctrinal disputes. The biblical church would kick people out for sin and constantly work on doctrinal disputes until they came to a common understanding.

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

Fear can be a spirit. Our raised from the dead spirit gives us miraculous power, love and a sound mind.

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; ¹⁵And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Jesus took on human flesh so that what he accomplished would apply to humans. With our raised from the dead spirit that Jesus is made unto us, we no longer need to fear death.

Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ²For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. ³For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Our salvation that was planned from the foundation of the earth lets us enter into rest. We should fear missing any part of that salvation, which we enter into by faith.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Here the word fear means reverence. Reverence for God moved Noah. Noah believed God enough to work on an ark for 120 years which he used for about a year during the flood.

Hebrews 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, ¹⁹And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: ²⁰(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: ²¹And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

This occurred where Moses was given the 10 commandments. We have probably never experienced the fear that Moses did, but father God is capable of showing off. This is just on one mountain on our planet, which today is still black on its top from a certain altitude on upward. Imagine a nova or a couple of stars colliding out there somewhere. On the other hand, just because we don't see this happening around us doesn't mean he isn't right here all the time.

Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, ²³To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, ²⁴And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. ²⁵See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: ²⁶Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ²⁷And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: ²⁹For our God is a consuming fire.

The kingdom that we become a part of when we join father God's family is unmoveable. God wants us to serve him with Godly fear.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. ⁶So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

We don't need everything. The Lord is always with us and helping us and providing for us what we need.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: ¹⁵But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; ¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. ¹⁷And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: ¹⁸Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; ¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, ²¹Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

We are to hope to the end of our life for the grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus. We don't yet have this grace where we are in our spiritual body. This won't occur until we are at that time. When we call upon father God for our salvation, we should know that he will judge us according to what he provides us with. We should revere this judgment given the cost of supplying our salvation.

1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. ¹⁸Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. ¹⁹For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

When we put up with others on God's behalf, we are extending grace.

1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; ²While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. ³Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; ⁴But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

People notice our voluntary subjection and humility to others on behalf of God. Father God loves when we are humble in our inner spirit person towards others.

1 John 4:18 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.

Fear or love, but not both. Any time we fear, we could think to love instead.

Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²²And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

We can keep ourselves in the love of God. From in the love of God, we can save others with fear.

Revelation 1:17 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; I am the first and the last: ¹⁸I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

We don't need to be afraid of the one that now has the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

For the sake of our crown of life, fear nothing we might suffer.

Revelation 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

We will be rewarded for fearing God's name.

Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, ⁷Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Angels in the spirit realm that work for God tell us to fear God because of his judgments, or justice or tribunal.

Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

All nations will fear and worship the Lord.

Revelation 19:5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. ⁶And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Those that revere God will praise him.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. ¹⁴For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

This is easy. We don't need to get anywhere on our own or be anything on our own. We can be father God's children and part of father God's family. While keeping his commandments, let us have an open heart and a clear conscience with him.