Cultivating the Fear of God as a Lifestyle
This past Sunday I had the privilege of teaching a class on the fear of God. This was my third session of about 8 in the class. Today’s assignment for me as a teacher was
“How do we cultivate a life that demonstrates a fear of God?”
That is a great question to ask.
If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, how could it not be wise to ask that question and to give the answer some significant thought time followed by significant effort?
So, here is an outline of some of the suggestions I made to the class today. By the way, I started the class by saying that I wish some one had given me this kind of counsel when I was just beginning my Christian experience. Maybe they did and I didn’t act on it. But if you act on it, your life will be different.
- Start by memorizing one of the following verses: Each will remind you of the wisdom of living your life in the fear of God.
Psalm 111:9-11
Proverbs 4:7
Proverbs 9:10
2. Read the Scripture, in particular, psalms and proverbs and psalm 119 in particular. The wisdom
literature is filled with counsel on living a life in the fear of God.
3. Read Books about the fear of God. These will help.
-
- The Joy of Fearing God, Jerry Bridges
- Scary God, Mattie Montgomery
- The Fear of God, John Bunyan
- What Does it Mean to Fear the Lord?: How the Fear of God Delights and Strengthens, Michael Reeves
- The Fear of the Lord: Discover the Key to Intimately Knowing God, John Bevere
- Missionary Biographies
- (They will give you models and inspire you to live a life centered in the fear of God.)
4. Meditate. Learn to think hard about the word of God.
Follow Mary’s example.
a. Treasure – value words spoken by God. (Luke 2:19-20, 51) = “suntērĕō,” to keep closely
together, to conserve (from ruin); mentally: to remember (and obey).
Mary’s habit was to value the word of God and to treasure the work of God in her life.
Her pattern was to keep or conserve the both those words and work in her memory bank
and keep them from being lost or ruined by disobedience. That is the first part of meditation.
b. Ponder – “sumballow” – This Greek word means “to throw together.” The idea is that the
person doing this is regularly throwing biblical thoughts together in their heart that will
remind them to think hard, hence, to ponder, the activity of the living God. and His word.
–to throw together, to bring together
–to converse
–to bring together in one’s mind, confer with one’s self
–to come together, meet–to encounter in
5. Surround yourself with people who fear God more than they fear anything else.
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