What is 'Fear of the Lord'?

At times it appears that Christians memorize versus they can quote, but don’t know what they mean so they could actually use the revelation for building something instead of just tearing people down? As an example, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Many people can quote this verse, but they don’t truly understand the fear of the Lord, so they never get to real wisdom. So it becomes easy to beat people up with scripture and expect change that never comes. We must realize that you need more than a hammer to build a house.

There seems to be a lot of talk about the "Fear of the Lord" these days. And I believe the words that are being spoken by various individuals are true, but I get a sense that the spirit behind the words is off. Too many people use the term “fear of the Lord” to shame people into change. The problem with that is, you might change behavior for a season, but you won’t see their hearts transformed. The true “Fear of the Lord” comes from a revelation of how powerful He has made us, and that we have His authority, His power, His dominion in us.

This revelation helps us see that what we think, say, act will actually change things, for good or for worse When you realize how much influence you have, or how much He wants to entrust you with, it changes the way you think, live, act, because you want to release life and peace to people and not just bang them over the head with your Bible. I also find that most people who are big into, “the fear of the Lord,” don’t really live in the 'Fear of the Lord'! They use that term to put unhealthy fear into their lives but they don’t embrace the fact that sin has been dealt with and they don’t have to sin anymore. The poverty mindset and wretched sinner mindset is an excuse (though I think most don’t realize that) to continue sinning. The thought is, well I’ll never overcome this, just have to manage it and try to get better. NO! It won’t ever work, it is not the Kingdom of God it is a false kingdom, that is based on shame and performance.

We must wake up and realize the true gospel works, it is a false gospel that is based on shame and performance that is irrelevant. People want to talk about the church being irrelevant or shrinking in our generation, it is because we have not embraced the true gospel of GRACE! The gospel is indeed GOOD NEWS!

Justin Dorroh