The Fear of the Lord: Ways that Please Him

Apr 29

Apr 29 The Fear of the Lord: Ways that Please Him

12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always obey the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. Deuteronomy 10:12-13

We are in the Year of Aggressive Expansion:

Prayer Bookmark 2023

Fortify and Expand the Foundations

Family – Ground Zero
Building – Heart for East Gate
Hearts – Fear of the Lord

What is the Fear of the Lord?

The FOL is foundational to our faith, walk with God and intimacy with Him.
The FOL is necessary for all believers=Followers of The Way of Jesus
Without the FOL, we cannot walk in right relationship with God.

FOL is having the right view of God
If we lack the FOL we cannot see Him rightly
Our view of Him will become distorted and we miss out on enjoying who God really is.

to fear, be afraid
to stand in awe of, be awed
To fear, revere, honor, admire, respect

All of these definitions apply to how we should view God

The FOL drives you toward God and His ways

We supernaturally receive the fear of the Lord when we receive Holy Spirit

Isaiah 11:2 says: 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Just like any good gift our job is to steward it and preserve it at all costs.

The fear of the Lord is necessary in our lives because it enables us to live in a way that pleases Him.

In order to understand how the FOL leads to pleasing the Lord we must understand and believe this truth.

We exist for God.

We were made for His delight and for His pleasure. When we give our lives to God we commit to living our lives for Him. We commit to living our lives His ways.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

When we accept Christ, we commit to living set apart (holy).
We commit to pleasing God
God does not exist to make your dreams come true, you exist to make His dream come true.

His dream=to dwell with man (Gen 1-Rev 22)

When we understand that we live to please Him we begin to reject anything that is contrary to God and His ways and we fully embrace HIS WAYS!

We begin to pursue holiness because we live to please Him
We begin to choose excellence because we live to please Him
We begin to forgive those that sin against us because we live to please Him
We begin to honor those around us because we live to please Him.
We do not conform to the pattern of this world, but to the pattern of the Kingdom of God! (Romans 12:2)
If it looks like Him, we want it. If it smells like Him, we want it. If it tastes like Him, we want it. We more than want it, we become desperate for it.

Reject what is Evil:

Proverbs 8:13 says “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Proverbs 16:6 says “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” Pro 16:6
This is why the FOL is necessary to living a life that pleases Him. The FOL enables us to reject anything that is evil, contrary to God and only embrace what is of God.
The FOL is what enables us to say:

Because I have reverence for God I will not engage in this behavior.
Because it breaks the heart of God I will not condone this act.
Because He hates it I will not embrace it.
Because it violates His Word I will not tolerate it.

The FOL rejects all that is evil and does not tolerate it.

The word of God clearly defines what is evil.

The FOL is needed in our cultural moment. So many people wonder, why is there so much evil in this world, in the United States and it is because we have lost the FOL.

We can’t clearly define what is evil
The lines become blurred
Things are no longer black and white, but we create these gray areas.

Pastor Joshua and I led a youth group together in the early 2000s. The teens would always ask us: “So how far is too far?” when it came to sexual integrity or “where do you draw the line between sinful and not sinful”. They were always looking for: “how close can I get to the line before it is technically sin?”
Someone with the FOL doesn't ask that question. When you have the FOL you are wondering how close can I get to the heart of God? How long can I learn to abide in His presence without ever grieving Him? What can I change, give up, remove so that I can host His presence in my life better? What can I surrender or lay down so that I look more like Him?
See God, raising up a people in this hour who are being restored in the FOL. They may have lost it along the way, but they are coming back to the ways of Jesus and contending for more of the FOL in their lives and to come back to this nation and our world! We here at East Gate are a part of what the Lord is doing and we will be zealous for the FOL!

FOL is the beginning of Wisdom and Knowledge:

Psalm 110:10 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”
Pro. 1:7 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
The FOL is foundational to wisdom, knowledge and understanding. It is the difference between making a Spirit-led decision or fear based decision. It is the difference between making a wise decision or a foolish one. It is the difference between being eternally minded or temporarily minded. It is the difference between pleasing God or pleasing man.

The FOL maintains the purity of the Church:

FOL ensures our Supreme Allegiance belongs to the Lord

Superior to all others.
loyalty or commitment of a subordinate to a superior or of an individual to a group or cause.

FOL ensures that we live righteously.

Biblical Examples of how the FOL produces a life that pleases the Lord:

David

David was a man that feared the Lord. He wasn’t perfect, but He was after the heart of God. He desired to steward what God had given him well. He had a profound understanding that his life was meant to please the Lord and he desired to host the presence of God well.
Psalm 34 is written after David changed who God had made him to because he feared man more than he feared God.
Psalm 34 is written almost as a cautionary tale. Sharing his experience and what not to do, but also what to do.
In 1 Sam 21:10-14 there is this odd story where David had just fled from Saul and lands in the presence of King Achish and instead of approaching the King in confidence and with the anointing of the Lord (which he carried), He acts like a mad man. Drooling, making marks on the door, acting completely insane. The king freaks out and says get this guy out of here.
Psalm 34 is believed to be written right after this event or an event just like it.
Read Psalm 34
The moral of the Psalm: Don’t change, alter or compromise who you are in God due to fear of man. If you fear God over man, God will always have your back.
How many times have we been guilty of the same thing as David? Because we fear man, we compromise who we are in Christ. We are afraid to say “I don’t listen to that music because it doesn’t honor God. or I don’t go to those places because they don’t host the presence of God there. Or I don’t condone that practice because it is contrary to God’s word. We rather pretend like we are cool with it, or go with the flow of things because we fear what man will think about us more than we fear what God will think about us.
Think of what favor David missed out on? What breakthrough could have been found in that city for Him had been confident in who God said he was? Or feared God more than man?
Think of what God will do in your situations if you choose to Fear Him more than man? Think of the breakthrough, the healings, the miracles, the salvations you would begin to see in your workplace, your family if you begin to choose His ways over everything.
Choosing to FOL over everything sets you up to receive His favor, protection, wisdom and knowledge for all those situations.

You will lack nothing if you fear Him (v.9)
His angels encamps those who fear Him (v.7)

FOL doesn’t make us exempt from hardships, but they no longer define us.
Testimony of quitting Roosevelt

Joseph

Joseph’s story is a wild one. Long story short, he has a dream where his brothers are bowing down to him and he goes and shares the dream with them. He was already His dad’s favorite and so his brothers are so angry. They decide they have had enough of him so they sell him as a slave and tell his father he was killed. Joseph ends up working in Potiphar’s Palace and after a series of unfortunate events is made governor of Egypt. A crazy famine hits the land and his brothers (minus the youngest one who stayed at home) show up asking for food to survive. Little did they know they are talking to their brother who by now looks like a full blown egyptian. They bow down before him just like in his dream.Joseph speaks to them harshly and says:

Gen 42:14 Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 And he put them all in custody for three days.18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.”

Could you imagine the rage in Joseph’s heart when he saw his brothers? Could you imagine the urge to make them pay for all he had suffered? The betrayal? The false imprisonments? The abuse? He sees them for the first time in years, speaks to them harshly, imprisons them and makes his demands.
Imagine all that Joseph had to process in those 3 days. Yet after those 3 days Joseph’s response is Do this and you will live, for I fear God.
The motivator for doing the righteous thing and forgiving his brothers was the Fear of the Lord.

Why? Because the FOL is foundational for living a life that pleases Him.
The FOL is what allows to walk in right relationship with God

It is what allows us to say yes you hurt me, you betrayed me, you scarred me, you abused me but because I desire the right relationship with God more than anything else. I live to please Him. I forgive you. I release you. I cancel your debts. I trust that though the enemy meant to harm me, God will work even this out for my good.

The FOL maintains our purity in the Lord.

A heart that desires to please Him more than vindication.

The FOL was part of Joseph’s way of life. Who knows how it was fostered, quietly possibly through his trials and tribulations.
We see the FOL marking Joseph’s life again in Gen 39. Where Potiphar’s wife makes advances towards him and tries to sleep with him. His response to her in Gen 39:9 was “How could I sin against God?”.
The interesting thing about this phrase is that it is a cross reference with the line we just read “for I fear God?” What this means is that when Joseph said how could I sin against God he was actually saying “because I fear God, I will not sin against Him”.
This must be the cry of our hearts! The cry of our nation! No, I will not lie, steal, cheat, I will not compromise, I will not tolerate sin because it grieves His heart! I fear God and I will not sin against Him. How could I, for my love for Him runs so deep! I exist to please Him. I am His dwelling place.

Daniel

Daniel 6 tells the story of Daniel and the Lions den. Here King Darius is tricked into decreeing that no man can pray to any god. Daniel was committed to praying to the Lord 3 times a day. So when he heard the decree he continued to be faithful to the Lord in his commitment. The men who hated Daniel, report this to King Darius and he is forced to throw Daniel in the Lions’ den. The next day King Darius goes to check on him and finds him alive! An angel of the Lord had shut the mouths of the lions.
In awe, King Darius then makes this decree:

25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! 26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Because Daniel chose to fear the Lord and not man Psalm 34 was proven true in his life.

You will lack nothing if you fear Him (v.9)
His angels encamps those who fear Him (v.7)

Daniel’s actions did not mean that Daniel dishonored the king or didn’t respect the King. It meant that Daniel understood that His supreme allegiance belongs to the Lord. He understood which KING was to be feared. He understood whose Kingdom was truly eternal.
The FOL ensures that our supreme allegiance belongs to the Lord, not to our political party or our nationality, not to our friends, or their opinions or preferences but to THE LORD. We exist to please Him.