Walking in the Fear of the Lord

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to His disciples:

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48, NKJV).

The word "perfect" comes from the Greek word "teleios" which basically means "matured", "full grown", "full stature", "upright", "blameless" or "complete".

In fact the whole messaged (all the epistles) of the apostle Paul was basically exhorting believers to move on toward perfection and come to a place of full stature. And yet recently I heard a theologian who said that it is impossible for believers to be perfect. It is unfortunate that this theologian failed to understand that "to be perfect" is a command of Christ! Ask yourself, would Jesus give you a command that is unachievable?

Relations between being perfect and the fear of the Lord

Chapter 5 of Hebrews is the foundation for the theme of walking in the fear of the Lord. We cannot walk in the state of being perfect in the eyes of God unless we are walking in the reverent fear of God.

The writer of Hebrews wrote about our Lord Jesus Christ:

".... who (Jesus), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, ..." (Heb. 5:7 - 9, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Lord is looking for a people whose heart is perfect toward Him:

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chron. 16:9, KJV).

The Lord found such a person in Job:

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Jobe 1:1, NKJV, emphasis added).

Job was upright (perfect) because of these two qualities - he feared God and hated evil. Similarly we can be perfect in the eyes of God if also fear God and hate evil.

The psalmist said, "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him" (Ps. 33:8)

The phrase "stand in awe of Him" means "to honor and to show reverence of Him".

Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13).

Therefore, to fear God and to hate evil is a key to leading an unright and perfect life.

Types of fear

The phrase "fear not" or its equivalent appears 365 time in the King James Version of the Bible - one "fear not" for everyday of the year. Surely the Lord is saying some important thing to us. God does not want us to fear anything apart from having a reverential fear, honor and respect for Him. Once you come into a place at fearing and honoring the Lord you will automatically find youself being set free from all tyes of other fear.

The following are undesirable types of fear that are gripping the lives of many God's people today.

1. Demonic fear

Paul wrote to Timothy, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).

The spirit of fear does not come from God but comes from demons. On the other hand God has given us the right type of Spirit in three forms:

a. Spirit of power - Power to encounter foes and danger; power to endure under trials and power to triumph over persecutions.

b. Spirit of love - Love toward God and toward the souls of men, natural love and the love of the brethren. "Perfect love cast out fear" (1 John 4:18). In other words, God's perfect love and demonic fear cannot co-exist.

c. Spirit of sound mind - The NIV says "Spirit of self-discipline". A self-disciplined person has a sober mind, a mind that is well balanced and under the right influence. A man with the Spirit of sound mind is a man of prudence and discretion.

2. Religious fear

God was speaking to His people through Isaiah:

"Inasmuch as these people draw near whith their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, ..." (Isaiah 29:13).

This is quite similar to what Jeremiah said, "You (God) are near in their mouth but far from their mind" (Jer. 12:2).

This is religious fear - fear taught by the teaching of man. Many people, even believers, are bound up by religious fear. The best way to be set free from religious fear is to be found walking in the fear of the Lord.

3. Fear of man

Solomon said, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25).

The writer of Hebrews said, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me" (Heb. 13:6)?

Many believers are living today under the dominating influence of men or women. Many in the Body of Christ fear Pastors, Pastors' wives, leaders instead of trusting and showing reverential fear toward the Head of the Church.


Moving in the Wisdom and Knowledge of God

Psalmist David said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments" (Ps. 111:10).

Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Porb. 1:7).

That mens we cannot begin to move in the wisdom and the knowledge of God unless we know something of the fear of the Lord.

The Path of Wisdom

Job said, "That path no bird knows, nor had the falcon's eye seen it. The pround lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lions passed over it" (Job 28:7, 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

In Scripture, "bird" or "fowl" (KJV) speaks of "prince of the the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2) or the demon spirits.

In the parable of the Sower Jesus said, "And so he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them" (Matt. 13:4, emphasis added).

It is obvious that demon spirits "devour" things.

When the Bible talks about "falcon" or "vulture" (KJV) you can be sure that it refers to the Devil himself. Vulture is a bird that comes sweeping down on the flesh. When there is a demonstration of the flesh in a Christian meeting the vulture will come in and have a heyday! That is the reason why all Christian meetings must be led by the Holy Spirit. Christians must not be led by the flesh.


But there is a path that the fowl of the air knows nothing about and the vulture's eyes cannot see. And that is the path of wisdom where those who fear the Lord will follow. You can walk safely on this path because it is hidden from the Devil's knowledge.

Job quoted what the Lord said further down in the same Chapter, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28).

As we walk in the wisdom of God with the fear of the Lord in our life, the fowls don't know what we are up to and vultures can't see us. This was precisely what Jesus experienced. He come up out the Jordan Riven after Water Baptism, driven to the wilderness, tested by Satan and ministered in the power of the Spirit throughout His earthy life. He walked in the fear of the Lord and on the path of Wisdom. Satan could not touch Him or find anything in Him at all.

Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord with 7-fold Anointing

Jesus was the Son of David and David was the son of Jesse. This was how Isaiah said about Jesus:

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; ..." (Isaiah 11:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).

This 7-fold perfect anointing was to make Jesus quick understanding in the fear of the Lord so that He would not judge after the sight of His natural eyes, neither would He reprove after His natural eyes.

Powerful Anointing

The psalmist revealed the secret of Jesus ' powerful anointing in His earthly life:

"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than Your companions" (Ps. 45:7, emphasis added).

Some of us might think that God anointed His Son with such powerful anointing simply because He is the Son of God. But the Bible does not teach that. Jesus was powerfully anointed because of two things - He loved righteousness and hated wickedness! In other words, He feared the Lord.

Spirit without measure

Anothing thing about Jesus that set Him apart from all people of God was that He had the Spirit without measure:

"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34).

Some might think that we have already been given the Spirit without measure and we would be able to speak the Words of God without any error now. But this is not the case - Paul said:

"Who (God) hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor. 1:22, KJV, emphasis added).

All Christians have received "the earnest of the Spirit" as a deposit. But God is getting us ready to enter into the fullness of our inheritance by getting us to walk in the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord in the early Church

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31, emphasis added).

"..... submitting to one another in the fear of God" (Eph. 5:21).

Forget about man's method of Church growth, for they will not be effective. Attending Church growth conferences is a waste of time! The local Church will grow automatically if all members are walking in fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And also with all members submit to one another in the fear of God.

The early Church were walking in the fear of the Lord they and were serving the Lord with fear. The did exactly what the psalmist said:


"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps. 2:11).

One of the main problems of the contemporary Church is that the people have learned to rejoice in the Lord in their meetings. But very often they rejoice without the fear of the Lord (trembling fear), their rejoicing becomes very fleshly and carnal in nature. Instead of getting the visitation of the Holy Spirit they might get the visitation of the old vulture himself - the Devil! A good example is the so called "laughing revival" meeting.