When I was a little girl I grew up in a household where corporal punishment was the preferred method of correcting a child's behavior. Because in church there's this deep seeded belief that if you don't spare the rod you will spoil the child (which is in the Bible). I won't argue against corporal punishment in this article, we will tackle that in later articles. One time when I was getting corrected in this manner I heard from my perspective parent, " I want you to fear me because then you will follow the rules." That line marked me for life. The fear of man has been something that I've battled over my lifetime and still do. I've feared man so much in the past that I came into agreement later in life with a very abusive relationship. I believed with all my being that I deserved to be punished no matter if it was an accident or if I did it on purpose.
I heard a sermon one day by Bill Johnson where he said " You serve what you fear." Just this simple phrase shifted me forever and I went on a journey on learning how to fear the Lord alone. I'm writing from a personal place because fear is absent of love. If perfect love casts out fear then fear casts out love. (1 John 4:18) Fear based on mans standards leads to control of the one who is fearful. The fear of man tears down relationship. The fruit of mans fear is death of love and relationship. In my case as a teenager I found out that my parents couldn't control me after all and I could do what I wanted because they weren't more powerful than me and the fruit of sowing fear into my life was my heart was filled with hate. Since then God has restored our relationship where there's no fear just love. God is a redeeming God no matter what.
But the fear of the Lord is a different story. Many times in the Scriptures you will hear God, Jesus, or the angles saying fear not. Why would there be fear? We live in such a paradoxical Kingdom where we hear God say one thing a seemingly say the exact opposite. Proverbs 9:10 says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." In the Kingdom fear of the Lord brings wisdom. There's a sense of reverence when it come to encountering the Lord. Fear of the Lord doesn't mean that you're afraid to have a relationship because He's going to punish you. Jesus took all the punishment for our sins so that we can be seen as holy and blameless before God. That's why we can boldly approach His throne. God looks at us and sees His son who is perfect. None the less have you ever had an encounter with heaven?
In my life I've encountered heaven quite often and many times as a child. This one encounter I had was when I was about 22 and I asleep. All of a sudden my room was filled with light. I knew it was Jesus. I couldn't open my eyes even though I tried so hard. The light was filled with this tangible Holiness like I've never felt before. I remember thinking I'm not worth the dirt on His shoe He's just that Holy. Even though I knew with all my being I was a daughter fully loved and fully accepted. The Holiness that radiated from Jesus was something beyond mortal words. To say the least there was fear. I felt like John on the island of Patmose where He fell like a dead man before the Lord but in this case I was laying in my bed unable to move. Next thing I saw( it must have been my spirit seeing this because I couldn't open my eyes) He grabbed my hand. I saw His hand and about 6 inches of His robed arm. It was like translucent light, it was unlike anything I had ever encountered before. The next morning I went to my mom and told her about my encounter and I said mom do you know how Holy God is? She said, " yes honey." "No mom I don't think you do," I said, "He's soooooo Holy." There was nothing else that I could say for weeks I would just think about that moment and want to lay on the floor in worship.
The fruit of the fear of the Lord is worship, it's awe and wonder. Maybe you're reading this thinking what does this have to do with children? I'll tell you one of the biggest things that adults battle with is the fear of man. If we as parents and teachers can created a no fear of man zone we make way for our kids to encounter God where the fear of the Lord will be established.
God gave me this word for this prophet once. I held on to the word for weeks because I wasn't about to prophecy over a prophet are you kidding God? Yet God was persistent and made me wait until after service one day. I cornered him and gave him this word. The word was a nice fluffy one nothing heavy but as soon as I delivered the word I felt the fear of man fall off me like I had been wearing a heavy cloak. The point of the whole delivering of the word wasn't for him it was for me it was to free me from fear. After that a few weeks later I got pulled over by a cop. You know that wave of fear the floods you when you get pulled over? I braced myself for it but it never came. IT NEVER CAME!! I didn't know I didn't have to be scared of cops!!! I had gotten completely delivered!
How do we establish the fear of the Lord over the fear of man in our households with our children? One very practical place would be start with prayer. Ask God to give you a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation. Danny Silk has some great parenting materials and when we go over parenting we will talk about that more but his materials on living unpunishable are a wonderful place to start. In previous articles I've talked about the Old Covenant vs the New Covenant ask the Holy Spirit how to establish the New Covenant in your house. Let love rule and reign in your house. As you demonstrate to your children that the only one you fear is God alone you model a correct heart alignment. Another practical solution for you to create an atmosphere of no fear is for you to deal with your own fear. Walk through inner healing if you have to. Children are keen to fear and they know and they model what they see. You are demonstrating how to interact with the world around them and you. Demonstrate the fear of the Lord by going to Him first with all decisions. Don't ever let fear of man, fear of lack, fear of the unknown, or fear of failure dictate your decisions. Establish His Kingdom by serving the One you fear and the fruit will be life.
Holy Spirit I pray for a release of Wisdom and Revelation over these parents and teachers! God we thank you for the fear of the Lord. We thank you for establishing your Kingdom in our households. There's nothing like your Love oh Lord. Make us lovers and pursuers of your heart and your Kingdom! God bless us with the abundance of heaven! We love you and give you full Glory and Honor!
Blessings,
Aileen Foos
Children's Pastor
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