Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.....

Excerpt from A New Thing Ministries:

The word prosper means to advance, make progress, succeed, being brought to a successful end and to experience prosperity.

All this was sounding really good to me, I felt God was saying 'this year, as long as you seek me I will cause you to succeed and prosper in anything you put your hand to', after all that is the word of God.

Yet knowing that God is usually saying something much deeper than I first think, I began to do a cross reference on that scripture.  First of all it took me to 2 Chronicle 15:2 which was talking about the day a prophet went to Asa and said to him; Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, The Lord is with you, while you are with Him.  If you will seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
God is issuing instruction that is still in place today:  The Lord is with us, while we are with Him.  Seek Him and He will be found by you. Forsake Him and He will forsake you.

I know what you are thinking...the Bible says He will never leave us nor forsake us - and this is true - but we can forsake Him and if we do, He does not go against our will - He walks away.

Now all these things were interesting but as I continued to search I found that the word sought came from a root meaning of those who fear the Lord.  This doesn't mean that we are afraid of God - it means that we have so much respect and honor for Him that we wouldn't even consider disobeying Him in any way or manner; we would never go against His word.  It is a reverential fear and greatly lacking in the Body of Christ.

We have become so accustomed to a God of Love - which He is.  And a God of Mercy - which He is.  Yet we forget He is also a God of judgment and a God who ALWAYS honors His word - which means if we go against His word He has no choice, but to acknowledge it and deal with it.

I remember a story John Bevere told one time.  He had interviewed a minister who was very well known and had fallen into sin - he actually was in prison during the interview.  John asked this man when He stopped loving God. The man responded 'I never stopped loving God, I stopped fearing God.'  That was the beginning of his fall.

The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  We have got to get back to being a Body of has a reverential fear of God.  You will find this all throughout the Bible, study it for yourself.

By: Kim Potter

God will let you go your own way. Let you do your own thing...just know this, He loves you anyway and yet He will withhold His favor as long as you travel away from Him. His promises are for those who love and obey Him and His Word. 

 John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Abide - to dwell in, inhabit, to live in.

Anna Fugatt