Fear of the Lord
When reading scripture, majority of the time, where the Spirit of the Lord is mentioned, the first response is fear. After fear is shown, peace is given, and understanding and instruction are given. More so then not, when an angel of the Lord appears or the glory of Lord shows up, people's reaction is fear.-Luke 1:11-13 (Zechariah fears the Angel that appears)-Luke 1:26-32 (Mary fears the Angels greeting)-Luke 2:9-11 (The crowd feared the Angel and the glory of the Lord that appeared)Once these people were approached and showed even an ounce of fear, the words "Do not be afraid" were uttered. The spirit of the Lord always brought peace to the situation before giving instruction.-Luke 1:11-13 Zechariah was told his prayer for his wife Elizabeth, to bear a child was answered, before he was given instruction on his son.-Luke 1:26-32 The Angel told Mary how favored she was by the Lord and how He was with her, before explaining how God was to use her. In fact, the Angel had to say it twice, to reassure Mary and bring her peace before giving her understanding and instruction.-Luke 2:9-11 Had to declare the good news and great joy the Angel was bringing, before bringing even better news of the Savior being born!All these scenarios happened in the bible with an angel standing right in front of them, and even still they had some fear, that the angel had to bring peace to before bringing understanding as to why they appeared in the first place.What if the things we are afraid of at first are actually God presenting us with a great opportunity or blessing? What if instead of running away, we wait it out and listen to what is to follow our fear, to fully understand what is approaching us?
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How do we discern what is the spirit of the Lord upon us, from what is a massive distraction or attack from the enemy?In each of the scriptures listed above, we see the human fear, then we see the spirit of the Lord recognize that fear, the spirit then brings peace by declaring something the Lord has seen in them or done for them, and only then, after peace is given, does the spirit give understanding as to why they are there, and instruction is given after that.If it is truly God, he will recognize your fear but He will also address it. He will not let you live in that fear. God is not a spirit of fear, therefore, he will not encourage it or allow you to live in it. God will address it and bring you to peace, He will bring you to peace before giving you instruction.We will not fully understand God's ultimate plan, however, we can seek to understand what God wants to do in us and through us.The fruits of the spirit are joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Having the spirit of the Lord in your life, produces these fruits. If you believe you are in the presence of the Lord and fear arises but is not followed by a fruit of the Spirit, we must seek to know if it is truly the Lord or not.Are we just ignoring and running from it, not allowing it the opportunity to give us peace, or are we truly being attacked by something dark?
We cannot be afraid to be afraid, ask questions, and give the spirit the opportunity to bring peace to our situation.
It is okay to be afraid, so long as when it is recognized by what is causing the fear, it is then followed by bringing some clarity and understanding, and urges you to peace rather than allowing you to stay in fear.Stepping out of our fleshly desires and into the will of God can and often will be uncomfortable, however, it will always have an unexplainable peace, issued by the one who gave you the instruction in the first place.Do not be afraid, fear not, do not fear, and be not afraid appear in the bible hundreds of times. If we have ever experienced fear to step out in faith, step out of our comfort zone, follow the instructions given to us by God, etc... We are in good company, even the Mother of Jesus needed the Angel of the Lord to repeat her instruction because she was so struck with fear.In fact, Isaiah 11:2-3 says to delight in the fear of the Lord, after receiving wisdom and understanding.