Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is perhaps the greatest treasure the Church needs in these days. That is a big statement, but I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it was true! Many of us may be aware of the subtle withdrawing from the ways of the fear of God over the past several decades, but it is also at this present time that the message of the fear of the Lord is re-appearing; in books, sermons, prayers, dreams and in lives lived out.
 
God absolutely desires His people to have a holy fear of Him, Psalm 147:11. It is a gift from Him, not to be ignored. In past decades there has been a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit on much of the worldwide Church, and we know it very well in the West. For the post-World War Church, this outpouring has been a healing revelation of the Father heart of God and a deeper understanding of the enormous grace of God, even given to us through the increase of spiritual gifts. This is wonderful. But over time I believe the pendulum has swung so far towards the side of love, grace and the use of the gifts that we have largely forgotten the fear of God, the pursuit of holiness, the eternal and fiery judgement of God, the discipline of the Lord to His people and consequences for sin, and the absolute ‘non-negotiables’ of God’s nature and laws that are subtly being dismissed in much of the Ecclesia today, resulting in many believers in Christ to not just tolerate but rejoice in and support the growth of sins that God considers an abomination.

As we draw nearer to the return of Christ, it is prophesied in the book of Malachi that there will be a great distinction between the people of God and the people of this world, and the mark of this will be the fear of the Lord in His people, Malachi 3:16-18. The Holy Spirit is trumpeting a message in these days to be made ready and blameless for the Lord’s coming, and an undeniable aspect of perfecting holiness for the Church is to return to the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord comes with a greater revelation of the nature of God and I believe the highest revelation of the nature of God is that He is holy. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come”, Revelation 4:8, is the revelation spoken out from the mighty Seraphim who are continually in His presence. This means that in Him is light, there is no darkness or sin; He is utterly perfect. As this is His nature, He calls His people to live in His same nature; “Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy”, Leviticus 19:2, and “without holiness, no one will see the Lord”, Hebrews 12:14.

Every believer and follower of Christ is called to holiness, but we must consider our pursuit of holy living. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The perfecting of holiness for the bride of Christ is done in the fear of God. This is both hopeful and insightful.

God’s holiness combines with His hatred towards sin and evil, “Six things the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to Him….”, Proverbs 6:16-19. God’s hatred of sin and evil does not contradict His love as it is entirely connected. Consider it simply; If God loves justice, He must therefore hate injustice. Likewise, if God loves covenant faithfulness, He must therefore hate covenant unfaithfulness. “I hate divorce”, the Lord says in Malachi 2:16. Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil”. This is a foundational understanding of the fear of the Lord and comes from identifying oneself with the Lord who is holy and who hates evil. When we can begin to comprehend that we might be doing something that God absolutely hates, we begin to be aware of the fear of the Lord.

Holiness and hatred of sin and evil are foundational aspects of fearing the Lord, but I would say a self-awareness of fearing Him comes when we fear His discipline and the possible consequences for sin. The entirety of Scripture from beginning in Genesis to ending in Revelation is full of the warnings of God and  when He gives His people a warning that they do not heed, there can be costly consequences. This is not just an Old Testament theme, but very much so a continuation for the Church today. We know such consequences of sin for the Israelites who tested the Lord in the wilderness included tens of thousands dying before the Lord, but as the early Church was founded after Pentecost two followers of Christ, Ananias and Sapphira, conspired to test the Spirit of the Lord which resulted in their immediate death, Acts 5:4-9. Of course, this holy fear of Christ’s judgement and discipline caused the fear of the Lord to come upon the whole Church community and even on unbelievers – resulting in many more people coming to salvation, Acts 5:11-14 and the Church being strengthened, Acts 9:31.

A sign of the lack of the fear of God, therefore, is hearing a warning from God and thinking, “Oh, He wouldn’t actually do that to me – it’ll be fine”.

In the book of Genesis, we understand that the reason sin came into humanity at the very beginning was because of a lack of the fear of God. God had warned Adam and Eve, “If you eat of this fruit, you will surely die”. That should have invoked a holy fear into their hearts! A fear of God’s judgement, a fear of just consequences for their sin. If Adam and Eve had a holy fear of God, that would have kept them from sinning, as “through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided”, Proverbs 16:6. In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus also gives warnings to His Church that if they do not repent, very costly and eternal consequences shall be given, Revelation 2 & 3. But here we come to the point we all need to grasp, if we sincerely repent, His mercy is granted and we are restored to Him. Jesus says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent”, Revelation 3:19. The fear of the Lord, therefore, leads us to hope-filled repentance.

I want now to consider a question that we will look through for the rest of this article. How can this holy fear be the key to release the blessings of heaven onto the earth, in our communities, cities and nations? Let us take encouragement that when God comes down into our midst in glory, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord utterly transforms lives. Duncan Campbell who experienced the 1949-1953 revival in the Hebrides writes, “Revival is a going of God among his people, and an awareness of God laying hold of the community. Here we see the difference between a successful campaign and revival; in the former we may see many brought to a saving knowledge of the truth, and the church or mission experience a time of quickening, but so far as the town or district is concerned no real change is visible; the world goes on its way and the dance and picture – shows are still crowded: but in revival the fear of God lays hold upon the community, moving men and women, who until then had no concern for spiritual things, to seek after God.”¹

In the March 2026 Burning Issues, we wrote an article on ‘Healing the Land’ – one of Flame’s most transformational teachings. We teach from Scripture how sin can bring defilement and curse upon the land. This sin and defilement can allow demonic strongholds over a given area, and this ungodly spiritual presence is like a shroud, blinding the eyes and hearts of the people in that area to the fullness and glory of Jesus Christ. God then gives this mandate to His people, the Church; “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land”, 2 Chronicles 7:14.

In order for us in Christ Jesus to stand in the gap on behalf of the sin on the land, we need to understand God’s hatred of sin, His just consequences for sin, the importance of our personal holiness, and know the wisdom of God as He shares with us about the hidden darkness and sin that is polluting the land. Psalm 25:14 tells us that, “The Lord confides in those who fear Him”, and this is absolutely key in seeking the Lord for what sin has happened on the land. He will share it with those whom He can trust, and they will have the same attitude towards sin that He does! Rev. Dr. Alistair Petrie writes, “It is the Lord Himself who will instruct us as to why any particular area is closed or blinded to the knowledge of His call upon their lives….that is the moment when impediments and obstacles that have prevented earlier transforming revival from taking place can be addressed and removed.”² But God’s co-workers must  be walking in holiness themselves before interceding for the sins of others, for first we are to remove the plank from our own eye, before removing the speck out of theirs! Alistair continues to write, “When the fear of the Lord is prayed into and over a city, God reveals, informs, gives insight, and gives instruction on what needs to be done. We start with ourselves [emphasis mine]. We address any areas of sin that the Lord reveals, both past and present, and repent before Him for the sin, asking His forgiveness. Then we extend this into corporate prayer. Any footholds the enemy has accessed are then revealed and addressed since the sin that was the foundation for such footholds has now been identified, repented of, and removed. Then the actual healing of the land can be appropriated in a manner that releases the heart and purpose and destiny of the Lord in any given area.”³ The fear of the Lord then, is a ‘non-negotiable’ for effective intercession to heal the land and bring about revival. “We can only really pray for authentic revival to take place to the degree that we have the fear of the Lord in our own lives before we pray for it to be released into our communities”⁴ (Petrie).

Not only is the fear of the Lord a pre-requisite to these things, but it is also the ultimate result! What we truly hope for is for revival in our communities and in our nation, and the hallmark of a true revival is the release of the fear of the Lord. So then, for those who long to see revival shake their nation, for the healing of the land, we are to earnestly seek the fear of the Lord – for ourselves first, then others. Be encouraged with God’s desire to transform lives through the holy fear of God. As Petrie puts it, “Praying for a release of the fear of the Lord is perhaps one of the most powerful weapons that we can appropriate from God’s arsenal.”.