Living Courageously: You Can Face Anything, Just Do It Afraid (2 page)

Many of the men and women recorded in the Bible said the same thing as they faced challenges in their lives: “I will not fear because God is with me.” How beautifully simple! They didn’t require any advance proof of success or victory; they simply believed they could not fail because God was with them. It isn’t hard to believe—even a child can do it.

No wonder Jesus said that we must believe as a little child.

God is surely with you and me, and because He is, we can do whatever we need to do in life. We can confront the past and face the future boldly. We don’t have what it takes in ourselves to be victorious, but we do have God and He is always more than enough. Make an effort to maintain a conscious awareness of God’s presence. Say out loud several times a day, “God is with me right now.” A lot of our problems with fear are due to us not truly believing that God is with us. We would like some kind of proof that He is with us, but He challenges us to simply believe that He is. He said that without faith we cannot please Him, and that those who would come to Him,
must believe that He is
, and that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (see Hebrews 11:6). We should not look to our feelings or circumstances for the proof of God’s existence, but we must look to the promises in His Word.

We believe with our heart, and my heart tells me that God is with me. I choose to believe it… I want to believe it. I don’t want to live in fear, so I choose to believe even without feelings that God is indeed with me. Are you willing to do that? The world
demands proof before it will believe, but God is only pleased with faith. Be a man or woman of faith; believe with all your heart that God is with you and will never leave you. Let the words, “God is with me,” soak into your consciousness until they become so real to you that you are energized to push past all your fears. Meditate on those words, speak them out loud, and let them become a vital part of your conscious awareness at all times. Remember to stop what you are doing several times a day and say, “God is with me.”

Anytime you feel fear say, “I will not fear because God is with me.” By speaking out against it, you defuse the power of fear and render it ineffective against you. Satan is a predator, and to a predator fear is a sign of weakness. Don’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he has any influence over you. When you confront fear, you will discover strength that you never knew you had.

I was recently watching a television program about a family who moved to Africa to start a game preserve. A little girl and her dad had gone for a walk, and she had wandered away from him. Quite unexpectedly she saw a lion that was slowly moving toward her. When her father saw her and realized what was happening, he quietly came up behind her and told her over and over again, “Stand still and don’t run.” Though he had his gun loaded and ready in case he needed to intervene, the father explained to his daughter that as long as the lion didn’t sense fear in her, he would not view her as prey.

If you’re confronted by an enemy or an obstacle that is causing you to be afraid today, listen carefully. That voice you hear in your heart is the voice of your heavenly Father, standing with you and saying,
“Stand still and don’t run; you are not prey for the enemy. Fear not, for I am with you.”

This book is dedicated to understanding and overcoming wrong fears, but it is important for us to take a moment to realize that there is one right fear that we should have, and that is the reverential fear of God.

This type of fear is not a tormenting fear that comes from an evil source, and it is not a fear of harm or punishment—it is a type of fear that is good and is a blessing to us. In fact, if we have the proper fear of God, it will eliminate most other fears. Having the fear of God certainly doesn’t mean that we should be afraid of God, but instead it refers to a respectful, reverential fear that causes us to be promptly and completely obedient to Him and His ways.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all proper knowledge and wisdom.

A person actually has no truly valuable knowledge until they know God deeply and intimately. When they really know Him, and how wonderful and amazing He is, they will have a respectful and reverential fear of Him. People may have education, but that does not mean they have wisdom and knowledge that is beneficial to them. The fear of God leads to a life of rest, peace, blessing, and contentment.

This doesn’t mean that a man will have a trouble-free life, but it does mean that no matter what happens it will turn around for good as he continues to reverence and worship God. The man who has reverential fear, awe, and respect for God can expect to receive divine help when he needs it.

It is not easy to explain this type of right fear, and the best way I know to try is to give these examples:

Suppose you are in a room at work with friends and you are all laughing, joking, and making lots of noise when your employer
walks in. What will your response be? If you have respect and reverential fear for him, you will quiet down and look to him for approval or disapproval of your actions. You know that he has the power to promote you or take your job from you, and because of that you have a reverential fear of him. This is wisdom and not a bad thing at all. You simply want to please your employer because you don’t want to lose your job.

Or, as another example, let’s imagine a large group of reporters is waiting for the president of the United States to arrive for a press conference. The room is buzzing with conversation, but the moment the president is announced, everyone rises to stand on their feet, and it is either perfectly quiet or else the room erupts with applause. They would not even consider ignoring him and continuing on with their conversation while remaining seated. Why? Because they have a reverential fear of him. He has great authority and they want to please him.

The tiny bit of reverential fear that people feel in situations like these is minute compared to what we should feel as we realize that we live in God’s presence at all times. I am not suggesting that we should be afraid that God will punish us for every little mistake we make, or banish us from His presence if we do something wrong, but we should respect God above all else and seek to please Him in all things. Living with reverential fear of the Lord is more about a heart attitude than anything else. God is not vindictive and anxious to take away our blessings, but we can certainly hinder the flow of them if we don’t respect God enough to believe what He has said in His Word about our behavior. When we believe what God says and we follow through with corresponding actions, we are showing Him respect, and that type of respect is called the fear of the Lord.

Without reverential fear we do many foolish things, thinking
we can do them with no consequences. God’s Word teaches us that He chastises us for our own good because He loves us (see Hebrews 12:5–6). I know a woman who—although she believes in Jesus and would consider herself a Christian—lives with her boyfriend. That means she is regularly committing adultery. I care about this woman, and I am sincerely praying for her because she is hurting herself as well as the heart of God by her actions. I know God is trying to get her attention, but presently she merely makes excuses for her behavior: “Everyone does it.” “God understands.” “I had a bad marriage, and I am afraid to get into that kind of commitment again.” Our excuses don’t really excuse us in God’s sight! I am concerned that eventually, if she doesn’t listen, she will need some severe chastisement from God. God would rather we listen to His Word, but He does love us enough to touch our circumstances if He has to. I wanted my children to obey me when I told them to, but if they persisted in disobedience, I took away their privileges. If you are a parent, I am sure that you do the same thing, so why do we expect any less from God Who is our Father?

We can eliminate God’s protection from our lives by disobedience, but the fear of the Lord provides security and a place of safety for us (see Proverbs 14:26). In other words, following God’s advice will keep us safe and secure even in tumultuous times.

In my opinion there is not enough teaching or writing about the fear of the Lord, and I think it must be because teachers and writers are trying to be careful not to put a wrong fear into the hearts and minds of people. I don’t want people to be afraid of God, but I do want them to have a reverential fear of Him. Without it, people find it easy to disobey, and disobedience always leads to a guilty conscience, a loss of fellowship with God, and an open door for the devil. If we’ll quickly repent and receive
God’s forgiveness when we disobey Him, none of that happens. However, if we think that we can willfully and knowingly ignore God’s instructions and still experience the full blessings of God, we are mistaken.

To be honest, I am reverently afraid to knowingly disobey God. It is a fear that is born out of love for Him. We love Him and therefore we want to please Him in all things. I am not afraid of losing my salvation, or even of God being angry with me, but my experience with God has taught me that He is always right in what He says. Therefore, if God teaches us to do or not to do a thing, we should immediately assume that He is right and joyfully do as He has commanded. A person with a reverential fear of God will do just that! This doesn’t mean that they never make mistakes, but they do strive to be obedient to God. They know that God is holy, just, and always right in all of His ways. It is impossible for any error to be found in Him.

It is good to feel comfortable in God’s presence and to believe that He is not only a loving, forgiving Father, but also your friend; however, that view of God, although it is totally correct, can cause problems if it is not balanced with a healthy, reverential
fear of Him also. As a Bible teacher, I have observed how excited people are to hear about the love and mercy of God, and how their enthusiasm diminishes when I speak of the reverential fear of the Lord. We should be thrilled to hear about both because we need both to maintain a wholesome walk with God.

Being a victorious child of God, who is successful in life, is quite easy once we have this loving, reverential fear and decide to promptly obey God. Consider this Scripture:

It appears to me that God is looking for those with reverential fear to pour outrageous blessings on because those are the people He knows He can trust.

This Scripture tells us that the reverent fear of the Lord will cause us to hate evil and all of its ways. Do you hate evil and wickedness? Not just that of others, but your own? You should, and so should I. We should not hate ourselves because we sometimes do
evil things, but we should be very quick to repent, and we should hate the evil thing because we know that it displeases God. Actually, we find that the more we hate evil, the less of it we will do. Perhaps our attitude toward evil is too loose and flimsy. We are not to hate evil people, but we should despise the evil deeds they do. We are called by God to love sinners but not to adopt their ways. The apostle Paul encouraged the Ephesians to live carefully, and I think that is good advice. We should be careful about our thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions, knowing that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and He is everywhere all the time. God sees everything and nothing is hidden from Him.

God is certainly merciful, and we are regularly forgiven for sins and misdeeds, but that does not mean that we should live loosely and without caution, compromising frequently. If we do, then we do not have the fear of the Lord.

Let’s consider sexual immorality as an example. It is rampant in the world today, and the church has not been exempt. Statistics on how many people regularly view pornography are shocking. Fornication and adultery are widespread, and sadly they are often accepted by much of society as a “more modern lifestyle.”

Large portions of Proverbs are devoted to telling people what the consequences of sexual immorality will be, but people continue to let their passions rule them instead of having the fear of the Lord. I am deeply concerned and pray daily that those of us who know God’s Word won’t compromise our values, but that we will be a good example for others to follow.

I have seen untold misery and agony in the lives of people simply because family members got involved in sexual immorality. I recently met a woman who stopped me on the street because she recognized me from my television program. She was one of the most miserable people I have met in a long time. She told me
that her husband was a minister and she had discovered that he had been having affairs with other women for many years. He was continuing in ministry during this time and living a totally deceptive life. She had become so bitter that she started having affairs herself and was currently involved with another man. She asked for my advice, and when I told her to repent and get out of the immoral relationships, she told me that she knew it was terribly wrong but didn’t think she wanted to give it up! I prayed with her that she would decide to do the right thing but will admit that I walked away astonished! She knew what was making her miserable. She knew it was her bitterness, unforgiveness, and her own immoral behavior, and yet she wasn’t willing to give it up? It would seem that neither she nor her husband currently have a proper fear of the Lord. Making a mistake is one thing, but living in sin purposely and thinking it is not a problem is another thing entirely!

We speak often of God’s grace, forgiveness, and mercy, and they are wonderful! But they should make us love God all the more and urge us to live better lives, not lives filled with undisciplined and ungodly behavior. I do believe that a proper fear of God would prevent a lot of sin. And, in my personal opinion, we need more teaching on this subject. Any subject in God’s Word that is ignored in the pulpit is usually ignored in people’s lives.

In this Scripture we see the word “fear” used two times in two different ways. Moses told the people not to have a wrong fear, but
he also urged them to have a reverential fear of the Lord. He also states that the right kind of fear will prevent them from sinning.

The early church that we read about in the book of Acts regularly experienced amazing miracles. God’s power moved among them in an unprecedented way, but the church was also full of respect, honor, and submission, not only to the authority of God, but also to one another.

People frequently ask, “Where are the miracles today that existed in the early church?” Perhaps we should ask, “Where is the reverential fear of the Lord that existed in the early church?” Miracles and a reverential fear of the Lord go hand in hand—we won’t have one without the other.

The media today often make fun of God, and they are disrespectful toward Him, even to the point of having the audacity to suggest that He be set aside so that those who don’t choose to believe in Him won’t feel uncomfortable!! How totally ridiculous our society has become. The results of having such an attitude are evident in the world we now live in. We would see an outpouring of God’s blessings and power in the world if we would also see a return to respecting, honoring, and being submissive to Him. The fear of the Lord is a beautiful and wise thing, and although there are many fears that we want to avoid and resist, the reverential fear of God should be embraced and sought after ardently.