Dearest Ones,
What a joy it is to commune with you this morning as you worship me in spirit and in truth. Your minds are becoming more tender and pliable as you continue to seek me and find me in greater measure and openness of heart. I will reward you with greater light as you move forward in the light you already have, which is shining upon you from the Father in response to your acceptance of my sacrifice for you, and your willingness to cooperate with me in my intercessory work in the blotting out of sin from your lives and correspondingly from the books of heaven. This is a progressive work, and enrages Satan against you, but fear not, for I am with you and I will finish the work in you that I have begun.
Now the topic for today. It is the fear of the Lord. Study the meaning of this from Isaiah 11:1-4. This is referring, of course, to me as the Messiah, the rod or Branch that comes from the lineage of David. All the qualities of the Holy Spirit are referred to here as being bestowed upon me by my Father. But the one that is least understood is "the fear of the Lord," because the word fear immediately brings up thoughts and feelings from the carnal nature and experience of man, where fear is terror of punishment, trauma, rejection, or loss of some kind. As you can see, this cannot be the true meaning of this text, since I have received it from my Father through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So I want to discuss with you the kind of fear that I want to give to you from me.
First, godly fear springs from love. Yes, love! It means respect of your special blueprint, your feelings, desires, wishes and needs. The more you value a person, the more you love them, and want to protect their feelings from being hurt, and do everything you can to make them happy. That is how my Father and I feel about each other, and that is how we feel about you! In this case, fear of the Lord protects the rights, feelings, and personal identity of the person you value and love. It is fear of hurting them or being the cause of any harm coming to them, or seeing their reputation being marred.
So can you see now how the fear of the Lord is positive instead of negative? I prefer the translation of Isaiah 11:3 from the NIV: "And he will delight in the fear of the Lord." In other words, my greatest desire and pleasure is to please and honor and glorify my Father and uphold his reputation. I delight to be in His presence and feel His love for me and His approval of me. So this kind of fear is supreme love that would rather die than bring ill repute upon the object of your love. And that is how I feel about you! I chose to die on the cross of Calvary rather than to allow you to be a helpless captive of the enemy of your souls. You cannot completely fathom the depths of my love, but you can receive it and reflect it to others around you. That means that you, too, will fear ruining the reputation of others by criticism of them verbally, or even in your heart. Criticism is the fruit of the evil one and comes from him. Godly fear promotes love and respect and carefulness to protect them, their feelings, and their reputation and their well-being and happiness. This kind of fear is the by-product and result of unselfish love.
So please don't ever confuse godly fear with the fear so common in fallen humanity, which is self-focused and originates from Satan, and comes from fear of punishment or loss of status or personal safety. Godly fear is outward focused upon others and is a respect and desire to protect their physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being and happiness.
So lift your eyes up to me today and receive the love that I have for you. I gave my life to set you free from the fear of death which holds the people of the world in slavery. I will set you free from the fear of punishment and death because I took your punishment and your death on the cross of Calvary. Will you accept my love for you just now and be forever freed from the fear that is the result of sin? My arms are open wide to receive you unto myself and heal the wounds that Satan has made in your life. I will set you free from earthly fear so that you can live forever in heaven where there is complete freedom to have the value that I have placed upon you, and to love and be loved throughout eternity. Lovingly, Jesus.
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