The fear of the Lord happens when we understand that the Holy Spirit of GOD is sitting in the "movie theater" of our mind watching what we watch.

"Word Pictures" for Our Imagination

Free Printable Devotional Sheets Thursday, September 4

Today's Daily Verse is found in Proverbs 1.7

"the Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
    but fools despise wisdom and discipline...."

This study today contains a pivotal truth...

• If we can grasp this truth and principle, our lives will change dramatically!

Folks, this information today is "huge".

One of the benefits of GOD's wisdom will transform our thinking...
What is the Fear of the LORD?

I remember how I feared my father and grandmother...

It was hard to understand that he loved me when certain behavior forced him to take action -

• My father took his responsibility as a Dad very seriously. Now I understand that "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him". I wished he didn't love me that much!

• I did not understand that peace and rest came into our home when everyone was respectful, did what was expected, and obeyed the rules of the house... "Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart." Proverbs 29.17

• I thought that instruction was enough - but GOD says both are needed - "The rod and reproof give wisdom." Proverbs 29.15
  

Many years later, I am in my seventies now - I realized the impact of Hebrews 12.7-8 "For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” 

and then verse 9 "We have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.”

Yes, that is true. Dad had the uncanny knack of knowing when I was guilty - so lying wasn't an option - because I would get double the punishment 1. For doing it and 2. For lying about it...

But something happened along the way...

• discipline drove the "folly" out
• I learned to obey what I was asked to do, when I was asked - without arguing!
• I didn't die from my father's discipline and it worked the peaceable fruits of righteousness - "yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12.11
• Proverbs 23.13-14 goes further and says.."do not hold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”

Here is the point...My parents disciplined me, trained me, because that was their GOD-given responsibility.

Parents discipline us based on what they see and hear. They discipline us based on our actions...

And rightfully so, we learn how to "fear our parents" in a good way.

But, our parents cannot see what GOD sees

But GOD sees every thought, & imagination...

Genesis 6.5 "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”

• GOD saw what was on the "inside" of man
• He saw their thought-life
• He saw every imagination

Just like Romans 1

"...And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...

The "fear of the Lord" is the beginning of "correct" knowledge

• The "fear of the Lord" is to know that GOD the Holy Spirit see everything going on in the "movie theater" of our imagination, and that He knows every thought and motive...
• 1 Chronicles 28.9 "And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever."
• We do not see "thoughts as the enemy" - but they can be...
• The lie is the deception that "thoughts do not matter"

Thoughts do matter! They are the basis of the information we either reject or accept. The fear of the Lord is when we realize the claim of the Word of GOD to be the thoughts we dwell on, and obey - That is what Romans 12.2 is all about..Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds..."

Proverbs 23.17 "Don’t envy sinners,
    but always continue to fear the Lord."

To accept this single truth - will be a step onto a correct way of thinking -

• No thought escapes GOD's knowledge
• GOD's Word becomes the fountain or source of "new" thoughts that can achieve this miracle found in Isaiah 1.18

"Come now, and let us reason together,” saith the Lord. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

GOD's supply of pure words will become like "thought surgery"... As detergent washes out the dirt and stains in clothes - so to does GOD's word wash us "from the "INSIDE" out..

1 Corinthians 6.9 .."Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of you. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

It won't start unless we understand that GOD sees our heart, and thought-life.

GOD's Word washes, as detergent - the thoughts, and imaginations of our heart...

See you tomorrow...

Kenneth