The Surrendered Soul Podcast
The Surrendered Soul Podcast is a deep dive conversation into what genuine, surrendered Christianity looks like put into daily practice.
The Surrendered Soul Podcast
#004 The Fear which Produces Peace and Freedom
Scripture tells us to enter into the presence of God with fear and trembling...but why? Discover with us the amazing secrets of God and what He wants for His children!
The only path to freedom is living a surrendered life. Welcome to the Surrendered Soul Podcast.
Todd:So welcome back folks to the surrendered soul podcast and we are excited for this episode and what we're going to look into a little bit this time. So I'm Zach and I'm Todd. And for a little bit this evening, we're going to look into the fear of God and all that entails. It's a large subject, but we're going to spend some time just visiting about it. And we mentioned in the previous episode, and I just want to stress it that this podcast is just me and Todd having a conversation and visiting. And mostly, we just want to stir your heart and mind towards these topics and that you can take them back to your friend group, your church your community, and dig into them and search the truths that are within them out not, obviously we aren't any major authorities on these topics or anything. So most of all, we just want to Stir your thinking in these directions that you can spend some time digging into them and seeing what what you can learn and grow through them. In whatever way this can be used to better his kingdom and further his kingdom and help individuals that's really what we're trying to do here so and reach out with any comments thoughts or anything our email is the surrendered soul 24 at gmail. com the surrendered soul 24 at gmail. com. Or any comments on any of the platforms where the podcast is found. We watch for comments on there as well. So with that being said we'll get started. Todd will do the first part here. So take it away. Yeah, like you mentioned, the fear of the Lord is A large topic and we're not going to, but scratch the surface, I think even at our best shot tonight. But that being said, I think the importance of the topic and the fundamental root of the topic makes it pertinent and worth our discussion if there was one area. I think that the church in general, and society for sure. Is lacking and that is this principle, the fear of the Lord. And it's a gift that we can ask for. It's a gift that we need to have. And if you look in the scripture, the concept, those who, the men who had the fear of the Lord were rated very highly in God's sight and in fact, just two of them were called the friend of God, and that would be Abraham and Moses. It's very important men who are heroes in God's eyes were actually men who had great fear of the Lord. And scriptures talk a lot about the fear of the Lord Philippians in 2. 12 mentions work out your own salvation. With fear and trembling. The well known one in Proverbs is that of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And this concept of the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. If you think there's the fear of the Lord in my little research that I did showed like over 300 references to the fear of the Lord in scripture. So I think this is pretty important to God.
Zach:So yeah, it must be important.
Todd:He spent a lot of time trying to establish it and to work this principle into the lives of his children. And the benefits. I think John Beaver said there was like over 40, some 41. I think he said promises to those who fear the Lord. And so there's a lot of benefits to fearing the Lord and scripture. David's Solomon. Samuel, a lot of prophets spoke a lot about the need for the fear of the Lord in our lives in Psalms 25, 12 through 14. It says, what is he that fear of the Lord him? Shall he teach in the way that he shall choose his soul shall dwell at ease. And his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. And they think about this concept of God sharing his secrets to those who fear him. We don't share secrets with a mere acquaintance or a stranger going down the street. We only share our secrets, our innermost secrets, with those who actually are our best friends, those who are really intimate with us. And that I think is the Lord's heart in this that he will share his secrets with those who have come to fear him and truly desire to be to be with him. An interesting dialogue a little bit, just to set the foundation for this. It was from Abraham and Lot. Abraham as he was going about his day, the Angels of the Lord or the Lord came to him and said, I'm going to, they were walking along and the Lord made an interesting point question. He said, should I hide it from my friend? Should I hide this thing, which I'm going to do from my friend. And he shared with Abraham, his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham had enough fear of the Lord, and this is very interesting, but he pushed back against it. He said if there's 50 righteous, the need to get clear down to 10 righteous. But the point is he shared, the Lord felt comfortable sharing that with Abraham. says also that Lot was a righteous man and he lived in Sodom and yet the Lord burst the door open and goes in and drags them out by the hand and rescues them. But. He didn't share his plans. It was a surprise attack, so to speak, for Lot. But for Abraham, he showed him his plans. He walked as a friend would. And both of them were considered righteous men, but one God had an intimacy with. And I think the fear of the Lord was the difference between those two men. One had fallen out of fear of the Lord and did not have fear of the Lord. And he showed in some of his decisions, he had more fear of man than he did the fear of the Lord. Where Abraham Always was concerned about the Lord and his reputation. So I think I just thought that was a very poignant illustration of how important that is to God and how God responds to those who fear him. And it's an important important aspect of our lives in Proverbs 16, six. It says by mercy and truth, iniquity are purged. And by the fear of the Lord, Men depart from evil. I like this verse. It caught me by surprise because we often think if I love the Lord enough, I'm going to leave. I won't sin. Because I, if I sin, I just don't love him enough. It doesn't say that it says those who fear the Lord depart from evil. So it's the fear of the Lord, not the love of the Lord or whatever other attribute. And I think that love is the root of the fear, but it says the fear of the Lord it's, and mercy and truth is what it purges iniquity from us. And Jeremiah, he said, fear you, you not me say at the Lord, will you not tremble at my presence? That's Jeremiah five 22. And in Isaiah five 13, he says, sanctify the Lord. Of host himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread. So the prophets and the wise man understood to a great degree the level of fear that we need. We're supposed to, we should have in our lives.
Zach:That last reference is Isaiah 8 13.
Todd:What did I say? I said 513. I'm sorry. Yeah.
Zach:Yeah.
Todd:Isaiah 8 13. So anyway, so that's a background. On, on that. John Bevere has a wonderful book out there on this whole topic. It's called the awe of God, and I don't even know what year he wrote it, but highly recommend anyone to read it. Everyone to read it. But a couple of quotes of his. It says in here, it says the loss of holy fear opens people's hearts and souls to dark counsel appearing to be truth when in reality it leads to sin and death. And I think this is a very interesting quote because so many times you hear it in church circles. the deception that is abundant in our society right now. we worry about being deceived. We don't want to be deceived. And yet we walk
Zach:with
Todd:people and we see people all around us that are living in deception, but it says The loss of holy fear opens to dark counsel and that the dark counsel appears to be truth. And so the next quote then is we need a revival of holy fear for it continually protects us from being fooled. It keeps our hearts in line with truth, even when the majority have fallen headlong into deception. John was pointing out here that the protection that we have is in the fear of the Lord and the loss of the fear of the Lord opens us up wide open to that deception to come in and
Zach:For
Todd:deception appearing to be truth and as opposed to being locked in on the truth and not needing to walk in, in worry or concern that we're going to be fooled. Because the truth is opened up to us through our fear of the Lord. It keeps our hearts in line with truth.
Zach:And the, those are some excellent thoughts. And yeah, we're later on in the podcast here, we're going to get into a lot of different boots on the ground ways of losing our fear of the Lord and how we know if we have them, have it. Or not, because yeah, I just as you're talking, I'm having a lot of questions, but we'll save those till later on when we actually get to the real life examples of this stuff.
Todd:another quote from John Bevere said a spirit of pride and a spirit of religion go hand in hand and they strengthen each other by hiding each other. Pride keeps a person from admitting they became religious and religion covers up the pride by its spiritual behavior. And we see that a lot around us. Where we go through the actions, we go through the religious activity, and that becomes our focus versus the fear of the Lord. And then allowing the activity to flow from that. So some, a lot of things will look the same, but it's going to be from a different point of reference, from a different heart. And I think it's imperative that we realize that it's pride as John mentioned here. The pride keeps us from admitting. That we've become religious and our religious covers up our pride by spiritual activities. And that's, I've seen it in my own life. It is such a true statement. So I guess as we think about fear of the Lord and the Bible's importance that it places upon it, God's importance that he places upon it. Why, I guess the question comes up is why. Why do we need it? What are some thinking on why do we need the fear of the Lord in our lives? So we see that it is important. We see that he places great importance on it, but why does he place importance on it? What role does it play in my life?
Zach:That's a good question. Um, Doesn't it come back to the whole idea that God as the creator with us realizing who he is and our place in relationship with him? And standing in awe of that, because that's really at the base of it is realizing who we are in relationship to him. And then our role and our calling in life, walking that out as a child of his this earth and realizing that we are a child of the almighty that has created everything that owns everything and. Yeah, we're his child and really his hands and feet here on earth working in his kingdom here.
Todd:Yeah, I think that's well said. And I think one thing that I probably should have mentioned a little bit earlier, but When we're talking about the fear of the Lord, not to be confused with fear as in running away from the Lord. The fear of the Lord is actually a fear of being away from the Lord. my communion with Him, the desire is that we would allow Him to do what He needs to do to not have that communion broken. So our greatest fear is that we would be apart from him. It's not a fear as in, we would think of being a scared of a spider. We want to move away from it. we actually want to move towards him because our fear is that the great power, like you mentioned, the creator of heaven and earth, that same creation power is the same thing that keeps us. And I think that our fear needs to be that we don't ever want to be out of his presence. We want to be in his presence. And so it's a little bit difficult in our English language, I think with that term fear of the Lord, but I think that the concept is that we're not running from, but we are running towards and allowing him to draw us towards him if we have any earthly fear, it's that we are Doing something or allowing something in our lives that would separate us from that presence. Yeah. I think about Adam and Eve in the garden they had the fear of the Lord in the positive in a healthy way, the healthy fear of the Lord before they sinned. And they walked with God in the cool of the Eve. I think it was a delight for them. They were in a perfect environment and they, both of them communed very beautifully. But when sin arrived, it drove a wedge and then all of a sudden God was like, where are you? And they were hiding and they're shameful and they were spiritually, they became divided from God. And I think that is the lack of the fear of the Lord then became evident in their lives. And obviously that we're still carrying the consequence of that today.
Zach:but
Todd:verse that comes to mind is in Ephesians 5, 25 to 27 in speaking of one of the, I think one of the primary things as to why we would need the fear of the Lord it says, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or stain. or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So we think of the fear of the Lord, it says to sanctify and cleanse it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it. It's His work that He sanctifies and cleanses the church, His bride. And He demands, and He will expect, you think about the Holy Father, Finding a bride for his son. We want a very beautiful. We want a very perfect bride for our sons. And God is no different. Actually, he made us this way. And so he is expecting, he can expect, and he does expect a holy and a perfect bride. The difference is he can make that bride holy. We can't make it holy. And so he is working and wants to work through the fear of the Lord,
Zach:to
Todd:cleanse us to make us that holiness that we can allow ourselves to be made fit to be his bride. And I think it's safe to say, that the fear of the Lord is the engine that drives sanctification. And that sanctification is that work that the Holy Spirit does in us, constantly working to cleanse us, constantly working to take us deeper and to show more and more of Him, and to bring us more and more into the image of Christ. And I think that, That work of sanctification is hindered, or maybe even stopped when we don't have the fear of the Lord. When we don't respect, we don't have enough awe. We don't have enough reverence. We don't have enough Diligent gratitude. I don't know if there's another word for that of God and who he is and just trust in the Lord. I think it's very important. We have to trust him to do the work of sanctification. Into and surrender that to him, but we'll get more into that a little bit later but love would be the root of the fear of the lord and Then out of that sanctification comes holiness and that's what makes us Able to be part of the bride is his work of holiness in us through sanctification But that has to start with the fear of the lord and the fear of the lord puts our heart into a position to want and desire that Holy Spirit to work in us.
Zach:I think without the fear of the Lord. I think we may be able to be saved and start our journey with a relative shallow fear of the Lord, more of fire insurance, realizing that we need a savior, we need help. But then it's not going to go very deep without that fear of the Lord. And like you said, it's going to be the fear of the Lord that takes us beyond the factor of God saving us because he saves us and that's good. But then it's the fear of the Lord that takes us. to He's saved us and now we are his. And it's that fear of the Lord. That's going to be, we are his for whatever he sees fit whenever he sees fit. which is the lifetime of sanctification being used by him in whatever way he sees fit. And without the fear of the Lord, we're going to throw up a roadblock pretty quick and be like, we're saved. And we need to do. We want you to give us a better life, Lord, but I'm not necessarily like ready for you to use me and whatever way fit whenever. And yeah, we'll get into that a little bit later too, what that looks like. But I think that's the biggest thing that the fear of the Lord is the only thing that takes us into that deeper relationship with him.
Todd:Yeah. And I think that's where we're going to find the true freedom from sin. That's where we're going to find the true, the changes that we want in our lives. Okay. We say we want, but we're not surrendered enough to allow him to do the work. And that fear of the Lord is what opens that door to that surrender. And yeah we want the benefits without the cost. We want the benefits without paying the price. And yeah and that's, yeah, you're exactly right. The, we're not really talking about salvation as much. Cause I think there's going to be a lot of non sinners go to hell. It's easy to not quote not sin, but unless you have the fear of the Lord, you're not going to make it into heaven. You did all these things for me, but who are you? I don't know you. Those who walk in the fear of the Lord did the same things, but they did it from a heart of intimacy and knowledge and desire for righteousness and for a walk with him. And I think that is a key thing is that those who walk in the fear of the Lord are the ones he has got to know personally.
Zach:No, I definitely agree with that. I'll push back on the idea that, yeah, that there'll be a lot that don't sin, that, that won't go to heaven. but But there'll be a lot that do a lot of good things Yeah that won't go to heaven. But that, that those individuals are still, they're living in sin. Yeah, because they don't know him, but that, but they will do a lot of good things and they'll live a quote, good life as we see it, but that's not, they're absolutely
Todd:living in sin. Yeah. They've just learned how to manage the sin and learn how to,
Zach:Reduce
Todd:the outward manifestations of sin. But they still are living with a heart full of sin. Absolutely. Yeah. Cause they've not allowed him to do the cleansing work in their lives. So you are correct. Yeah. As we kind of transition now into I guess we call it how we see it. Yeah. in a conversation I was having with another individual we were talking about the fear of the Lord. And he's how do we know if. We have the fear of the Lord. And I'm like, that's an excellent question. What are some of the indicators maybe personal, but also in scripture that would show or be indicative of the fact that I don't have the fear of the Lord, that I'm walking in my own way maybe doing the right things, but I'm walking in my own way. Okay. Yeah.
Zach:I'd say we, let's get into some of the indicators in our lives that we can see. But before we get into those, we're going to take a break and then we'll be right back. Okay. Sounds good. one
Todd:of indicators that
Zach:we don't
Todd:have the fear of the Lord I think is that concept of that I'm not able to And I think that sin
Zach:is in my own life. I think primarily is the thought here is that I'm not able to see in my own heart Something that God would call sin to be sin. And even if it's very blatant it's a form of deception. It is deception. let's say I have an anger issue. I don't call that sin. I just call it an anger and I might blame it on my. My dad had anger, my granddad had anger. So it's a generational thing. It's just my personality. I just happened to blow up at a certain point. But God calls it sin. And so when we can't see it, that is a delusion that is walking in deception. And then we tend to rise up when someone does say actually that's sin, that's something that needs to be dealt with and we'll defend it because that's just my personality. Instead of being willing to be humble and say, you know what, You're right. I've got to break this cycle, whatever it is. I've got to stop it right here and call it for what it is. And then in, that whole thing of not see the sin that we're not willing to call it sin, even in other people's lives. So
Todd:somebody might and come and tell us that it is sin, or we might look at other people's lives and we don't recognize it as being sin. And so therefore we don't deal with it. We brush it under, minimize it. So I think that the lack of the fear of the Lord is going to hide and shield our eyes to what actually the Lord calls sin. And we will to a great degree. And even if it is pointed out to us, like I said, we don't admit that it is. And we'll have a excuse
Zach:for it.
Todd:And then that's detrimental to ourselves. But then the other side of that then is that I'm not willing to risk my reputation in calling out sin in another person either. So that's another indication of the lack of fear because we don't realize the severity and the gravity of sin. Our reputation is bigger than God. So we will have the fear of something in our lives. And I think that needs to be established that it's either going to be the fear of God or the fear of man. And the fear of man can manifest itself
Zach:in an
Todd:unlimited amount of ways. But usually that's me. My reputation is bigger than God's reputation. If you think about the fear of God being putting God on a pedestal and his reputation be the most important. Now, when I lack the fear of God, my reputation is the biggest. Thing that I have to protect and I will protect it at all costs, but I'm not willing to risk that in order to call out sin in somebody else's life. I don't want to, I don't want to disturb that. I think One of the things that I want to bring out is the
Zach:fact
Todd:that this all these indicators and all this is gonna, they're all going to be on a sliding
Zach:scale
Todd:of the lack of the fear of God. Because I don't think it's something that you either have or you don't have at all. It's going to be a lifetime of sanctification, of cultivating, and the Lord will show you more and more of his heart, more and more of that there will be That didn't used to bother us, that maybe he, through sanctification, is calling us out of more and more in our lives. And we need, so we need to be willing to continue to take those So with what you were saying about sin, I think it if we find justifying it and in categorizing them, like it's not big enough to deal with yes, it's not but it's it's not that big of a deal because like you said, it's a generational thing. For this individual, for me, to do it would take massive
Zach:measures.
Todd:We can't justify sin because of what it takes to take care of it. I think that, that's and some of them, depending on where we yeah
Zach:maybe
Todd:what some people call big
Zach:sins,
Todd:that I've heard some people But I think that's part of the sanctification, Those things that we may find justifying, maybe to our peer group, and that's why we justify them, they seem small. But as we seek and as cultivate the fear of God, even those small sins become big things that have to go. And as we continue to dig into those, there, there sanctification's a it. But I think that's one thing that if we find Yeah, like justifying or not wanting to deal with certain things. That's a, yeah, a good That we
Zach:should
Todd:dive deeper or, yeah, cry out for more, fear of the Lord and more yeah more holiness in our lives, Yeah. A hundred percent. And
Zach:I think
Todd:the concept and what, at least what I found in my own life is that I appreciate what you mentioned about the concept of it's annoying and I know it shouldn't be there, but it's not that big of a Part of what we do. So in that justification in our own minds, we also try to minimize it in other people's minds. Because we don't want them to think it's a big deal either. So it's we, there's a, it's almost like an active suppression system that we put out there to get people to think that it's not a big deal either. and so we will say things that are, that are a bit silly on the surface. Just to get people to, Think less of it as well. And I, it's a dangerous position to
Zach:be in.
Todd:And the next one we have here then is we're unwilling to allow the prompting of the Holy Spirit to direct our lives and to make fundamental changes in it. And that goes back to that sanctification point we'll fight against the Holy Spirit we are trying to protect ourselves. We're trying to protect
Zach:our reputation.
Todd:we will not allow him to do the work that he chooses to do And the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He's not going to force his way into it, but he is very willing bring us down to where we want him to do it. that is his mercy, but it's a very difficult path to go
Zach:down.
Todd:I'm thinking of this and I, I had to think back to our episode of the conscious and subconscious mind because the when the Holy prompts us to do things we can look at our and if we would take our
Zach:and
Todd:how we're living and operating and put it out on one piece of paper and then God and write him out on another piece of paper and if our life actually lines up with what we would think a son would be of the attributes
Zach:that are in the Bible.
Todd:on the, paper
Zach:with God.
Todd:If we think about it, we have all the, all his promises. He created the
Zach:world.
Todd:set the world in motion
Zach:with
Todd:incredible accuracy, the word for thousands of years. Yeah. Yeah. With the word. Yeah he owns everything, he made
Zach:everything,
Todd:he is omniscient,
Zach:and.
Todd:everything of what he does, we say he owns the cattle on a thousand hills and he owns the hills and all this stuff that we say, that nothing's impossible with God and we have all these
Zach:and stuff,
Todd:and yet am I living that way, that's actually who my father is or am I living with all these parameters
Zach:that
Todd:and all these possibilities and possible stuff when I say that my father is able to do anything and nothing is and yet I live under that and it's just that inconsistency that I see in my life too many times of it's Hold on. I'm letting this hold me when I'm saying that I'm serving God and that he's my father. And it's like that inconsistency. It's not something that we're gonna change overnight, but it's something that when we find those inconsistencies, or I say that we find'em when the Holy Spirit reveals those inconsistencies, we need to be willing to step
Zach:into those
Todd:and actually start changing stuff. To where it will line up more
Zach:with
Todd:as if God was actually our father and we are his son and we are living in his inheritance because I think that's a huge
Zach:one. And
Todd:in America, especially for the most part, we're able to control outcomes of our
Zach:lives
Todd:and yeah we think we control the outcomes of our lives and make them pretty good. But I think. 99 percent of the time we're falling way short of what he would have for us if we would truly surrender and, allow him To control
Zach:our lives. Yeah.
Todd:I think that that is, I think the key is he wants so much better. He wants to. Like we are, we're our own worst enemies. In our effort to control our
Zach:we are
Todd:throttling the very power of liberty and freedom and fullness of life and boundless joy. And we're throttling the very thing that we say we want. It's like biting the hand that feeds you. It's it, doesn't make
Zach:sense.
Todd:But yet that's our natures are just so bent towards self preservation. And yet to let go of that rope and fall into the hands of the almighty creator, you couldn't be in a safer
Zach:place,
Todd:but we just crave that control. It's it's so sad, but it's
Zach:true.
Todd:I was going to say not to belabor it, but I think some of it goes up
Zach:to third
Todd:thing you mentioned there as far as our That when the Holy Spirit prompts us to do those
Zach:things,
Todd:oftentimes it's our reputation that we're clinging on to that we don't want to actually take those steps. Because of a, boils down to a lack
Zach:trust
Todd:of what may and what we may look like and actually trusting God that he will, yeah, do with it as he sees fit. Yep. That's very
Zach:true. next um,
Todd:point then is that indicators, the lack of the fear of God is our withdrawal from believers. not only have we withdrawn from God or don't have a desire to draw close to God, but we actually draw back from his people from those who are walking with the fear of the Lord. And, if we find ourselves in that position, then we need to do some inventory because those who are near to that's an uncomfortable place for someone who doesn't fear the Lord. Those who are fear in the Lord want to be drawn into him. And so if I don't have the fear of the Lord in my heart, I'm going to withdraw from them because I don't want the spotlight of their lives pushed onto my And so I will withdraw from that. And that could look different for different people. It can be
Zach:as,
Todd:crazy as this sounds, but it could be that I just get busy in the work of the Lord. So it looks like I'm close to the Lord as they are. Maybe I work harder on a church project or I do things that are spiritual work of the church. Maybe I preach every Sunday or maybe I teach Sunday school or whatever. The busyness I do is a coverup. It's a mask. For my actual withdrawal it seems counterintuitive, but that is something that I think that at least I find in my own life, it's the tendency is to be busy, to hide the shallowness of
Zach:own life. I
Todd:I think that goes back to that quote of John Bevere that you
Zach:earlier
Todd:of the religion covering up pride. I think that's, yeah, that ties
Zach:in there. Yep.
Todd:And so a lot of times we find that our worth and our identity is actually in that of our busyness instead of finding our worth and identity in Jesus as we would, if we had the fear of the Lord. The lack of it will show up in just our busyness to help
Zach:that.
Todd:Yeah. And then the thought
Zach:that
Todd:my initial response in a given situation, a lot of times when we're put into a sudden, or I think we discussed this a little bit before in previous podcasts, but. If we're putting into a place where we're squeezed a little bit, the real self comes out and we will find that our real self is that of self preservation. And that is an indication of the fear of the Lord. When we're put into a tight spot, how we respond to that. I recently heard an individual say that we can't let the sin
Zach:them.
Todd:And I, and it's not about the sin defining us, but it's our response to the sin. And so if our response to the sin, Or the revelation of the sin is that of self can take it as a red flag that we're not walking with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord won't respond with self preservation. And I think that is another indicator that I'm lacking it. If my first and initial response, Is that a self preservation? We may come around and be able to put a mask over after a bit, but our initial response shows us who we truly
Zach:are.
Todd:And then the next one here then is that I trust in my own understanding. Scripture tells us to trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So an indication that I am not walking with the Lord is that I'm trusting in my own understanding. It just makes common sense. And we see this in so many aspects of our lives. In in our daily walk of life, we trust in our own common sense or the or just what makes sense for the moment. And Instead of taking it to the Lord and Lord, what is your will in this situation? It just, it makes financial
Zach:sense. It just,
Todd:whatever sense we can rectify in our own mind, that is enough to make us move forward rather than seeking the Lord's counsel, rather than saying, Lord, what is it you, how would you have me proceed on this? And I think that is something that we have to guard against just using common sense and maybe we even use those words it's an indicator that maybe
Zach:need to
Todd:go
Zach:back and re
Todd:assess where my, heart is at and where My fear is. It is my fear about the world and what they'll think of me, my reputation. Making, maybe it sounds good, a business deal it works out on paper, I'm ignoring the check in my spirit but it just makes common sense and there's so many different aspects that can get
Zach:but
Todd:yeah, I had to think of when you were mentioned on a few of these points of our identity
Zach:in
Todd:working for the church or busy work and then, yeah, leaning on our own understanding. I think
Zach:that's.
Todd:A key in the fear of the Lord and sanctification is the
Zach:fact
Todd:that it's
Zach:enough
Todd:to just be available and be willing when he calls. We don't have to be doing
Zach:anything.
Todd:And I know it's something that I struggled with for years. is the fact that no, actually God doesn't even need me. And no, actually I don't have to do anything. If I'm available and
Zach:willing
Todd:when he calls, when he's ready to use me that's all that matters. And I think it's our human nature. And for me, it was, yeah,
Zach:I,
Todd:the and I think it was what you were addressing, but yeah I wanted to pursue so naturally that would be through serving him. That would be through doing. That would be, I need to, yeah be doing stuff for him. And I we see different places in the Bible where people, I
Zach:think of
Todd:Moses on the backside of the desert, too. If you read through the story of Joseph, if you read through that and actually look at the timeline, he was stuck in prison for a couple of years there that, yeah, that
Zach:have.
Todd:to human nature would have seemed like it was a waste of time and it was going against everything but it's like just being available and willing i don't need to be proving myself i don't need to be because god knows our hearts and if we're willing available and ready when he and my personal experience yes Suddenly things come up that we couldn't have even imagined or we couldn't have, we wouldn't have even seen him before because we were looking so hard and trying to do so much That we wouldn't have even seen what he actually wanted us to be doing. So it goes back to being surrendered. Yeah, allowing him to do the pushing and the Another indicator I think is that we Are starting to see this rumblings of peace at all costs You And we might even use those words. It's peace at all costs, because if you look in scripture, it talks a lot about living at peace, one with another living in unity. But I think that if we're willing to do peace at all costs, I don't think that's scripturally correct. I think we need to pursue
Zach:As
Todd:Jesus has said, but I think it's not at the expense of overlooking sin We're scared to make waves because we don't want to upset somebody by pointing out sin in their lives. And I think that if that is a concern of ours, then we're lacking the fear of the Lord. The fear of the
Zach:is
Todd:going to, and we'll get into some of the indicators that we do have the fear of the Lord here shortly, but the fear of the Lord will overcome that desire to not hurt that person in, knowing that they are going the wrong direction and need to be rescued. And it says some pull up by fire and you grab them out of the fire. The fear of the Lord will drive us to do that, where the lack of
Zach:will
Todd:Want
Zach:to excuse Our
Todd:non action by saying I just don't want to hurt them. I don't want to cause waves. I want to keep the peace. And then I think that's a tool of Satan. He's using it very effectively in a lot of churches. But he can use it in our own families. He can use it In our own selves. And not wanting to address the issue in my life or in my family's life or in the church, a brother or sister in the I think
Zach:that
Todd:phrase itself, peace at all
Zach:and
Todd:and the way it's
Zach:used
Todd:shows very
Zach:that
Todd:the individual using it or that's doing it doesn't even know what true peace is. And that's true. Because that peace at all cost,
Zach:or, and i,
Todd:have heard some people say it, but most of the time, peace at all cost is walked out rather than
Zach:said. And it
Todd:is acted on, when
Zach:sin
Todd:is It's, not bringing peace to It's just a matter of, we mentioned it earlier, just the unwillingness. To deal with the sin
Zach:mask
Todd:compromising and yeah, and masking over it. So it really doesn't hit. It's not a truthful phrase saying peace at all costs because it's not true peace. That's a good point. It's a very fake peace that it brings and that's trying to be Yeah, the truth. Jesus created a lot of waves, if you will, overthrowing money changers tables and driving the livestock out of the But it was all in an effort to direct them to true peace.
Zach:Like
Todd:His said, my house is a house of
Zach:that is peace.
Todd:That is, if you can pray in true communion with God, that's a heart of peace. So you're exactly right. That true peace. It's a peace at all costs is a fallacy and a trap of Satan to give the illusion of peace. It's like he does in so many areas of
Zach:our life.
Todd:Another indicator is that these Things of this world make sense and I have no issue with participating in them if they aren't inherently wrong. just wide open and I don't even know if we can go down that road. But there's so many things in life that are not inherently wrong in and of themselves.
Zach:But
Todd:participation in them may not be healthy for my spiritual life. And if I don't have the fear of the Lord, I'm not going to be sensitive to the danger those pose for me. So it may be something you can do, but I can't do because there's nothing inherently wrong with it. But for me, it's a danger. It's a trap of Satan And maybe it's something that the Lord has freed me from in the past.
Zach:And
Todd:His desire and his spirit's desire is for me to avoid it in the future because it has tripped me up in the past. but if I don't have the fear of the Lord in me, if I don't have that awe of him and sensitive to his spirit, I'm not going to see the warning signs and I'm not, going to be sensitive to his prodding. It's no, you can't go there. There's nothing wrong. What's wrong with it. We hear that term a lot. What's wrong with it? And
Zach:think,
Todd:It's deeper than that, and that, no, there is not about what's wrong with it but
Zach:just
Todd:what's it going to do to your soul, and what's it going to do to your spirit if you participate in it. And if it draws you away from God, if it draws you away from the Lord, then he wants to protect us from that. We are his children, we are his child, we don't want our children to go play along the shoulder of the road. Is there anything inherently wrong with the shoulder of the road? No, but it's a dangerous place to be. And it's not the wise be. we would protect our children from that. And he does the same thing for us. And that shoulder of the road may be different for every single one of us.
Zach:But
Todd:that is his love for us. That is his protection. And we need to have enough respect and awe of him to respect that
Zach:and be like, yeah,
Todd:I don't, maybe we don't even understand it. Maybe we don't understand why it's so dangerous for us, but we need to in honor of our father. accept it and submit
Zach:to that.
Todd:Yeah, I think there could be and like you said, I don't think we'll go into him on this, but yeah, there could be a lot of things that could fall
Zach:into this,
Todd:but I
Zach:think
Todd:overarching, yeah, instead of the question is of what's wrong
Zach:with it,
Todd:but it should
Zach:be more
Todd:of how is it further in his kingdom or helping it in
Zach:way?
Todd:Because that's and I've even heard people say that God wants us to have fun, so it's okay to have fun as long, like you said, as long as it's not inherently
Zach:wrong.
Todd:That's, there again, not necessarily
Zach:a
Todd:inherently wrong but the simple fact of the matter is, if our life is with just fun that really has no
Zach:in it,
Todd:And life's too short to spend much time on just fun that really has no point. There is, yeah, there is always relationships yeah we can live our life very and it definitely shouldn't be a drudgery thing. And I think too many times the American Christian we get that in our head. That we need to be able to go out and push the line and have fun. And it's just, yeah, it's not necessary. And I think, yeah, it's one of those things that it's a lack of the fear of the Lord realizing that no, everything about our lives should be for Him. And, that is where the true joy comes in. We often think we're missing out somehow by not pushing the lines or living as close to the edge as we can, but true joy, true fulfillment, true happiness. Is away from that is in his camp. Both feet fully locked on him. And it's Satan's tinsel, his flashing lights and his is to pull us back away from that. And I think that needs to be recognized for what it is. It is tinsel, it is empty. There is a pleasure to sin. There is a, an allure to sin. But If anybody who has dabbled in it to any depth of degree realizes that it's hollow, it's a shell. There's nothing substantial behind it. It's a facade. It's a mask. And so God is calling us. He's no, actually, we give you the real thing. We discussed this a little bit earlier, today, but it's almost like having two boards. they both look like Oak, but one of them is real Oak, solid Oak. And the other one has a. Veneer on top of it from a distance. They may look both exactly the same and look real. But once you bore down and get into them, you realize, you know what? This is just a facade. It's just shallow. There's nothing to it. And yet the real one you can bore all the way down and it's solid oak all the way as deep as you want to go. And that's what God's calling us. It's why you, why are you satisfied with being a veneer or having this facade when I can give you the real thing, you can be the solid oak. And that's what he can work with. That's who he wants to work with. Because then as he pours into us, we become more authentic and more real and more. Sold out to him and he can pour into us his fullness of joy, his fullness of freedom that he desires for our lives. And we don't have to deal with just the emptiness in the shallow that the devil wants. He loves that. And we have for so many years been comfortable with that. I look like good solid oak. I know I'm not, but nobody else knows that in
Zach:minds. But
Todd:this point, I think we've been on the downer side here a little bit, but I'm excited to get into the second portion of this. What are some indications that we have and possess the fear of the Lord? This is almost like the positive and it's gonna maybe bounce a little bit it. It is, but I want to hit we had one more point there in the lack of the fear of the Lord. Yeah. Okay. That want to hit that, the unwillingness to cause discomfort in fellow believers in order that we might deliver them from That, one is huge on both sides as far as if I'm the or if I'm called. To call a brother out. Cause, cause both
Zach:of them
Todd:If I see Am I supposed to, go to a No matter what? Even if Pretty sure he's not gonna accept it Or wanna
Zach:it?
Todd:Or, Yeah, or if it's a second on something? hate to use the word worth it, but decide if it's worth it. If we go to a brother would this not be under the auspice
Zach:of
Todd:the this is under the heading of lack of the fear of the Lord. So you're going to have all kinds of excuses why not to go. So if the Lord is prompting you to go, this is going to be a pushback against that prompt. But if you're walking in the fear of the Lord and he does prompt you, Then
Zach:be like,
Todd:I don't know. I'll go. At that point it doesn't matter because the Lord may be working something on the other side of that you have no clue about. And John Bevere actually said this in his book. And I thought it was very interesting. But there may be times when you'll say you may quote a scripture that makes zero sense to you. Why in the world? But it was exactly what
Zach:person needs.
Todd:And you, or you may say something and they're like, and you don't even know why you
Zach:it, but
Todd:it spoke to their heart exactly where they need to be. And that's the Holy Spirit. That's how he works. Cause he sees the other side. All we see is our own trepidation, our own, what will you think of me? we're trying to, surmise and predict the outcome of the scenario of the meeting versus surrendering that and
Zach:be like,
Todd:I don't know what the Holy Spirit reason for it. But this is what I want to say, or it needs to be said or whatever it might be
Zach:I if
Todd:we lack the fear of the Lord, we're not even going
Zach:win. Be willing.
Todd:We're going to push back against that and be like, no, what if he doesn't accept me? Or what if he doesn't have the fear of the Lord? He's not going to, he's going to think I'm an idiot. Might ruin our relationship forever. We're going to have all these things in our head, but I think if we, as we surrender that to the Lord and
Zach:Lord,
Todd:okay, I'm taking this because I don't know, stop I think that is allowing the fear of the Lord to work through us and just surrendering it to Him.
Zach:And I think
Todd:prayer is probably, I don't know what your no, I think, yeah, I
Zach:that's
Todd:That's huge. And yeah, I think that's one of the biggest things. Yeah, we have to surrender the outcome before we even take the
Zach:step.
Todd:And yeah, a lot of prayer to make sure that we're going in the right reason, the right, yeah, motive and everything. And I
Zach:think,
Todd:I say the right motive,
Zach:or
Todd:the only motive
Zach:should
Todd:be surrender to whatever it is.
Zach:Because,
Todd:we always think it's right to say that, the is for reconciliation, if it's something between me and With me and them and
Zach:God,
Todd:But, which that, that's the overall motive, but we really don't know the path
Zach:to that.
Todd:Oftentimes when we go, our interaction we want to go thinking that our interaction is going to be the one
Zach:does
Todd:When it may take a
Zach:of them.
Todd:it may, yeah and we may just be one of the links in the through that reconciliation or through that yeah, bringing that
Zach:around.
Todd:So really the we have to surrender the outcome rather than go with the motivation Of a certain outcome. Because like you said, really
Zach:the
Todd:reason that we're or what God has planned for the we really don't know a lot of times. And I think
Zach:probably
Todd:oftentimes, at least for me, the biggest
Zach:hurdle
Todd:is because I can't a good outcome or I can't where it should go. So therefore, I just want to step back because I, it seems like the wrong thing to do, or it seems like it's only going to cause more
Zach:than good
Todd:when instead of just surrendering it. the simple fact is what I
Zach:see
Todd:is And the Holy Spirit's prompted me to do something. So really beyond that
Zach:is.
Todd:really up to him to do his work. Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I think there's another little tweak to that though. It may be that he's calling us
Zach:us.
Todd:So we may, that meeting may have very little to do with the person we're going to. They may not be moved by that whole thing, but it may be the Holy Spirit just saying, are you willing? It may be a test in my side. It's like the Holy Spirit says no I know he wasn't going to change, but I wanted to see if you'd be willing to obey. Yeah. And
Zach:so
Todd:surrendering the outcome allows for it. It could be all about him trying to do a work in my heart and maybe I'm disappointed or whatever expectations I had for the meeting. But God was like, no, this was about me working in you. And so there's a scripture that talks about when you come to the altar and you, remember there that you have an have a problem with your brother, you leave your gift there and you go and you make that right. And then you come back and you offer your gift. I think the immediacy of it. It's no, if the Holy spirit is prompting
Zach:you,
Todd:he wants let's get her done. And it may be just that it may be that person needs it at that very moment, or it may be that you need it at that very moment. But I think surrendering that and realizing, you know what, God, I don't know. And surrendering that the unknown to
Zach:him
Todd:and. Yeah it's tough.
Zach:Yeah.
Todd:Okay. Very good.
Zach:Yeah.
Todd:So now what's some indicators that we that we have the fear of the Lord on the more positive side here. And I think the first one we have here is that we hold the reputation of God higher than anything. there was a story in the old Testament. I think it was in Numbers where God had told the children of Israel not to take wives from nations. and there was a man who did take a woman and they were in the act of adultery and it was known in the And Phinehas, I think it was his name. He was a young man. He was strong. He grabs a sword and he runs into the tent and he stabs them. it makes a comment in there that God was very well pleased with him because Was protecting And honoring God's name. And that I think is the fear of the Lord. That is like inaction in a daily walk of life. Do we honor God's reputation is his name first and foremost. It's it doesn't matter what seems right. It doesn't matter what. Is common sense is his name honor and glorified. And if there's anything that would tarnish his name, and that's where you see Moses pushing back when God wanted to eradicate the children of Israel, it was God's name that Moses said, what will the other nations think of your name? And then God repented of that and be like, yeah. So we're not going to wipe them out. It had been easy for Moses to be like yeah. Wipe them out. You said you're going to start a new nation with me. Cool. What's there to lose? Promotion. But that wasn't his goal. fear of the Lord drove him to put God's name above everything. And it doesn't matter what you're going to do with me. he says, if you're going to take them out, You're gonna have to go through me I'm not walking without you. And I just think that heart is what God's calling us to his name. It has to be preeminent. And to us, we place a greater value on God's reputation and surrender our reputation to him, allowing him to have all the honor, allowing him, even if I look the most evil person on the
Zach:If
Todd:I'm honoring and glorifying him, it doesn't matter. It's all good.
Zach:So
Todd:and then counter to some of the other points that we had on the lack of the fear of the Lord, would be the opposite of that would be indicators of the fear of the Lord. We see God as our father and we're willing to surrender the outcome of all things to him. Surrender our, meetings, surrender our podcast surrender, whatever that looks like. To his glory and to his honor and let him defend his name. We defend his name. His name will be honored. His name will be glorified. And he loves it when his children are willing to stand up for that, even at disintegration of their own reputation,
Zach:allowing I
Todd:must decrease, but he must increase to overrule things in our
Zach:And
Todd:then one of the big litmus tests on whether we have the fear of the Lord is I'm willing to obey him. Even if I don't understand it and neither does anyone else. I think about the story of Abraham. if I stood up and said God told me I need to go sacrifice my firstborn son tomorrow morning, everybody would be like, there's no way God would ask you of that and they would say that I was delusional and that I was, in
Zach:but
Todd:but that isn't what happened with Abraham. The fear of the Lord drove him to obey no matter
Zach:what.
Todd:Didn't matter if he didn't it, but his trust was in the Lord. And it's God, I know you're a good God. I know you're a good father. And you have a reason for making me walk through this. that is walking in the fear of the Lord, instant obedience
Zach:without
Todd:worrying about what everybody was going to think
Zach:about it. Yeah.
Todd:And I'm sitting here thinking about that. Like
Zach:the, easy
Todd:to say a lot of this stuff. Yes. But to actually walk it walk it out and get to a point that his reputation, it's above ours and his values and is the only thing we promote is amazing. and it hit, it's a journey quite honestly a rigorous journey To even get started. We'll never finish. It's a but even to get in there to where you can look back and start seeing the journey
Zach:is,
Todd:totally, I don't know. It's easy to say but to actually think of God and his reputation as something that, that we're defending or we're surrendering to. A lot of times we think, at least for me, I always think of like the truths like we're defending truth itself. So we're trying to convince somebody that no this is
Zach:More
Todd:so than like which God is truth. So in a way it's the same, but I think it's a little bit different in the fact, yeah that it's it's his reputation, his kingdom that we
Zach:Really
Todd:that we're through sanctification. We're getting to a point that's who we are. That's who we represent. That's the badge that we wear. That's the uniform that we Look at, whether it's sports teams or the military or whatever, we see'em and we call their part of the Navy. We don't we don't know who their name is what their name is. Or who they are. But they're part of the Navy and that's where we, that's where the journey of sanctification is
Zach:us
Todd:to where when people see
Zach:us
Todd:that's what they see, that's what they know. And that's what, has challenged me a lot
Zach:of
Todd:like in America we live, there's a lot of quote, good people and all this
Zach:stuff.
Todd:But do I stick out? Am I
Zach:different?
Todd:to just anybody I meet on a daily
Zach:basis
Todd:as a child of God when I'm out there doing business on a daily
Zach:So the question is.
Todd:Do they see anything different from me versus a good
Zach:person? right?
Todd:It's challenging for me to, yeah, continue to grow, continue to dive deeper on that because I feel there, there should be differences. People will know. There will be differences. Yeah. If we are truly his And truly his daughter, truly his child, there will be differences. It will bring forth the fruit of the spirit in our lives. And the fruit of the spirit is contrary to everything else the world gives. So the real fruit will win. The real food will stick out even amongst all the plastic fruit out there. And I think that is one of the promises. And that's one of the exciting things about walking in the fear of the Lord is that his spirit will produce that fruit in our lives. And we can be delighted in that. No I think that's very And that is a great segue into the next point here is
Zach:that
Todd:we have a deeper And clear understanding of the cost of sin. We have a clear understanding and a deeper appreciation for
Zach:what
Todd:sin costs. And therefore we are willing to do whatever is necessary
Zach:for
Todd:the freedom that walking in the spirit has given us. We will do whatever is necessary and we're willing to do whatever is necessary that the Holy Spirit calls us to
Zach:to
Todd:help others experience that same freedom. And if I see you bound up in a sin. That I have been freed from. Like my hearts desire is for you to experience that same freedom. It's like you too can break the chains that bind you. And I think that is an indication of the fear of the Lord. When we have that hurt for those who are bound up in
Zach:our
Todd:heart longs for them to walk in freedom. And they maybe see it in our lives, but they don't think it's possible for themselves. The devil has them in delusion and God is calling
Zach:And,
Todd:and maybe He'll use us, choose to use us, to be like, I freed you
Zach:it.
Todd:Use what I've shown you to help them. And I think that obviously it's Him that has to still set them free, but we can walk alongside of them and help them bring it to the cross and drop it there. That is, I think, One of the pleasures of walking in the fear of
Zach:the Lord.
Todd:And then another indication, like if we see manifested sin in someone's life
Zach:We,
Todd:I often use the anger. I don't know why I always pick on that sin, but anger. is often manifested itself, but the anger is not the root of the sin. The root of anger would be pride or bitterness. and bitterness has a root of pride as well. And so as we walk in the fear of the Lord, it's yes, I know you're trying to control this sin in your life.
Zach:but
Todd:Let's go back here. And I've had that in my own life. It's I show up with a manifested sin. And I think this is if I could just overcome this, then I'll be fine. And those who are much more mature than me pointed out, it was like, yeah, let's not even deal with that. Let's deal with this. Let's cut this off at the root. The fruit will fall away. And my whole focus was on the fruit. And so that is a sign of those who fear the Lord is an indicator is when we can see, I understand that this is a problem in your life, but this is actually what we need to focus on.
Zach:it's that
Todd:fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the fear of the Lord will show the root of evil in our lives. I'll see it in my own life a lot sooner. I'm willing to accept it when it is pointed out in my life, but I'm also willing to walk into it with somebody else and help them to see that, the root needs to be dealt with.
Zach:And
Todd:I think this whole thing of the fear of the Lord.
Zach:think if
Todd:we're truly striving after
Zach:it,
Todd:I don't think it'll take real long to start seeing a journey like I've heard Christians say that it seems like they've plateaued off or there's like
Zach:they've,
Todd:yeah, they aren't, they don't see a lot of growth or change. And it seems like that's one thing with the, two things you mentioned there is seeing sin and the cost of it.
Zach:And.
Todd:and seeing the root of it, I think we will start seeing more and more in our own
Zach:Oh,
Todd:wow, this is something I've did for that actually has to go. this is something that I've been this is why I've been doing it. this is why it's been a struggle for so many years because I haven't surrendered or face the root of it. Why I'm doing it. So I think, that's something that's for, for me is it's going to be an ongoing thing of always being open to, seeing and realizing more deeply the of my sin and actually what it's doing to my savior. and actually being
Zach:to
Todd:continue to
Zach:down that.
Todd:Not ever, think that we've, arrived. And I nobody ever admits that they have arrived, but I think subconsciously we can get there. Like we, we'd use the term mountaintops and valleys and stuff. And it seems we get on a mountaintop or we come through. something and we gain
Zach:victory,
Todd:but we need to continue that journey and not get comfortable, but where we are, but that there is always more that we can weed out and become more more holy and more fear of the Lord in us to move forward. Yeah, absolutely. Devil wants us to find a comfort spot and just rest in that. and the Holy Spirit will always try to show us more of himself. And even if it's not sin, he still wants to mold us and make us, pull us deeper into him. New revelation, new insight, new vision, removing the veil from
Zach:eyes.
Todd:Next one we have here, which I think is interesting but we're not at all disturbed by current events. And often we get a tingle of excitement, the thought of the future. This is very interesting to me because I think that we talked about true peace earlier
Zach:and
Todd:the one of the indicators of the fear of the Lord is that we have a true peace about what's going on. It's like being anchored and it's hard to describe, but I can honestly say I've experienced it. I do experience it because the storm rages around you. And yet it doesn't move you. And it's it's indescribable. And scripture actually talks about a peace that passes understanding because it really doesn't make sense to the human mind. It's like, how can these things not get you in angst and worked up? And the current events, As chaotic as it is and as crazy as it is and the darkest it's getting to be, I think the darkness is getting darker, but the light is getting lighter. And I think that he says that he's going to send the comforter and we allow that Holy Spirit in us he brings a peace and we actually get excited because this is the birthing pains of his return. And so we get excited with anticipation of his return and those who don't have the fear of the Lord will
Zach:the
Todd:the current events. But if you fear the Lord, you don't fear the current events and you don't fear what's coming. You don't fear the future. You anticipate the future. You look forward to the future and it's come Lord Jesus,
Zach:come.
Todd:And you can't say that if you don't have the fear of the Lord. So I think a strong indicator that you have this fear of the Lord is it's not a conjured up excitement, but it is a piece, it is a tingle of excitement that
Zach:is
Todd:He's coming, he's coming. And I think that is it's an amazing transformation because that is not what you get from the world. That is not what you're going to get from And I think along with
Zach:that,
Todd:We can get excited about his
Zach:Yes.
Todd:But I think, I don't know, maybe more than that, we should just be excited about his kingdom here on
Zach:Earth.
Todd:and as it's being manifested and grown and revealed more, the
Zach:The
Todd:the world gets darker around
Zach:the
Todd:more his is showing up and showing stronger and stronger. it's okay to anticipate his return, but we need to embrace the journey to get there. That's true. We don't need to try
Zach:just
Todd:white knuckle it and hang on until he returns, but we can actually have joy in the journey. Yeah. Have joy in the journey. And I think that's something that as we dive deeper and we will realize, and we won't get the joy out of the, And I say this kind of careful but out of quote, religious moves that society makes those will bring
Zach:us,
Todd:at least for myself, less joy because we know it's not the
Zach:thing.
Todd:We know that it's a, that it's
Zach:fake
Todd:Christianity, so
Zach:speak.
Todd:That, it hits a facade that's put out there. And it's not his bride moving, but it's just political in the Christian sphere to try to get Influence And And those will mean less and less when we actually realize what, what's really going on. Really going on. And I think, that's true. And then the there's also going to be welling up
Zach:us.
Todd:It may be more of a or a hunger for others to see
Zach:that
Todd:joy and to walk in that, like our desire for them to be rescued, I think will become stronger and stronger as well as we get closer
Zach:to the end. Mm-Hmm.
Todd:And then the next thing here is that Those who have the fear of the Lord will walk in gratitude of his mercy. They will walk with a and a ever present, we will not forget what our sin cost heaven. So the mercy of the Lord, I think was going to be really big in our lives. At least that's been my experience is that is as I get more and more fear of the Lord, it's I don't know, I've heard it said that there's there's attributes of Jesus. That are big to each of us. And some people is his love is just overwhelming to them, for me, it's his mercy and what my sin has cost him. Heaven is big in my mind. And so I think that is part of the fear of the Lord is keeping what it actually cost him and yet he had mercy. And I think that gratitude for that walking in gratitude, the more we have the fear of the Lord, the more gratitude we feel for him. realization of that cost is never going to go away. It's going to become bigger And as with the weight of that weighs upon us, our hearts are lifted
Zach:gratitude.
Todd:If we see that waning, we need to be concerned about where the fear of the Lord is going in our life. We start taking some of those things for moving on through here then is another big one is we see our desires changing. As we have the fear of the Lord in our lives, More and more we start loving what Jesus loves and more and more we hate what he hates. And that sounds like a bumper sticker almost but I can testify that it is a true thing. it says he will give us the desires of our heart, but it's as he tunes our hearts to his desires, that what I desire is exactly in line with what he desires and he's, Thrilled to be able to give us those desires. Because now they're in alignment and as we walk in the fear of the Lord, we will see more and more. I give my evil desires to him and he replaces with his holy desires and the things of this life, the things of this world will grow dimmer and the things of his heavenly kingdom will grow brighter and more desirable to us. And so the tinsel, this world
Zach:starts. Looking
Todd:the fake that it is instead of looking so real that we will be able to see through the veneer. from across the room, we could pick out the real from the fake. And that is his working in our lives. So that, that veneer drawn back and were made real and
Zach:authentic.
Todd:And then as
Zach:we
Todd:walk further into that, then the work of the Holy Spirit we welcome that work into it. We've already talked a lot about sanctification but we actually welcome that work in our lives. And it's not
Zach:that
Todd:like we want it. but it's, we know it's going to be painful. We know it's going to hurt. We know that, but we know that is what we need. And we welcome that pain. We welcome that discomfort. We welcome the of the valley because we know that is conforming us more and more to Jesus. And that I think comes back to the fear of the Lord, putting his name above all names, putting his name and reputation above all reputations. I want to be conformed into his spirit and let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in my mind. Let my mind be replaced with his mind and let my nature be replaced with his nature. That has to be our goal and constant And then as we think about being conformed to that one of the things that the fear of the Lord, and this is a tough one is that we're willing to allow that no matter what the cost and no matter who the messenger is. This is a tough one because so many times I want to push back on the messenger. If you come to me and say I see this in your life, the fear of the Lord would be like,
Zach:me.
Todd:I want to be conformed to his image. Thank you for showing me. Thank you for that. Where if I lack the fear of the Lord, I'm going to to be like who are you to talk to me like that? And I think that is an indicator, big red flag. When we are more concerned about what the condition of the messenger's heart is than what he's pointing out in my life. If it's true in my life, I need to take it to the cross. And if the Lord's will that he walks it with me to the cross,
Zach:then that's
Todd:well and good and all the better. And the Lord his issues, whatever he may have on his own time that's between him and the Lord. But if the Lord is using him, Lord used Nebuchadnezzar, he used Pharaoh, he used a lot of different evil that to correct his people
Zach:yeah, along with that, I think, um, another thing with the whole messenger, regardless of who it is,
Todd:anytime something's brought
Zach:to my attention,
Todd:it's human
Zach:nature,
Todd:and something that, that I have to struggle with immediately. like What did I do? Why did they
Zach:bring it up,
Todd:Instead of immediately going God, what do you have me to learn in this? like regardless of what it is, regardless, like immediately go to that. What can I learn
Zach:through this?
Todd:Not how bad is it? Does it really deserve this? Is it really that bad? Or did, did I have an excuse for doing what I did or
Zach:whatever.
Todd:which it kind of goes back to the self defense thing, but, but just in, in any area of life. When, when you're approached
Zach:about something
Todd:of anything,
Zach:just
Todd:accept whatever it is and just how can I learn through this? What does God have for me in this? Regardless of, of That's a tough pill to swallow. It's really tough to swallow, but really easy to say a whole, Hard, hard to live out. So, And, and that leads us right into the next thing then, and, and that is keeping a tight loop a known sin and repentance. Uh, you can't hardly have a discussion about the fear of the Lord and not bring up repentance
Zach:because
Todd:If the fear of the Lord is present in our lives, when the fear of the Lord is present in our lives. Repentance is going to be a walk, a daily walk. Um, and there's going to be a very tight loop. However, the Lord reveals that sin in my life or reveals an area. And we use this word sin a lot, but I want to also bring into that an area that he just wants to go deeper with. We need to repent for that. Lord, I have allowed that in my life. and so repentance is more than just for sin. It's also for. Not walking as deep as he wants us And maybe it's an area of our life that we felt like was perfectly fine. And he's pointing out that if we could eliminate that, or if we can change that, then you could walk closer to me and we could have a tighter communion. And that's what I want for you. We repent and we move forward with that. And I think that there's a very tight loop that when there is something brought into my life, my first response is repentance. Like you just talked about, no matter how it got to me, no matter how it came to the light.
Zach:um
Todd:I need to repent and, and there's a very short turnaround cycle and repentance is always just right there at the cusp. Whenever I need it, it's a gift from God. As we discussed in, in our second episode, I believe it was, that thought of repentance is like, it's a gift from God that I can be grateful for that I can walk into,
Zach:um, and clasp
Todd:onto at a notice. Um, so as soon as there's something there, the fear of the Lord is going to drive me right to repentance because I don't want Anything to sever the relationship between him and I, my biggest fear is not him. My biggest fear is being away from him. And then another exciting,
Zach:I think,
Todd:indicator of the fear of the Lord in our lives is the abounding joy that we have in our lives. And we just, you We want to tell others about it. Um, I,
Zach:I,
Todd:those
Zach:who have,
Todd:you see somebody walking in chains of darkness or confusion or delusion or whatever is binding up in their lives. and God has freed you from that. You
Zach:just want,
Todd:you want to help them. You want them to see, um, freedom in their own lives. And I think that the joy of walking in freedom, the joy of no longer having that cloud hanging over you. You desire that for your loved ones. You desire that for anybody who doesn't have that. It's like, that is an indicator that the fear of the Lord is in you. I think is that you, want others to have, what you've received and, it's an amazing and beautiful thing. It has to be an act of God because of ourselves, we want to be selfish, but the fear of the Lord is that we want to give and give, and
Zach:give. And it's like.
Todd:Anybody who talks to you will realize in a very short order
Zach:that
Todd:what you want to talk about is what God is showing you or how God has led you or, or however it is, but it's glorifying him and proclaiming him. you have great pleasure in talking about what he has done in your life and, um, and you want others to have that same.
Zach:thing
Todd:And very closely tied to that then is that you get excited when you do feel God draw close and you want to spend time with him. Like the best part of my day is the time that I can spend alone, quiet with him.
Zach:And.
Todd:He can talk to me. I can
Zach:to him.
Todd:And when there are it's, it's hard, but there are times when he gets very, very close and his spirit is very, very real. And that's very, very precious when,
Zach:and
Todd:before I had the fear of the Lord in my life, that was not true. It was all dry. It was all sawdust. I didn't have any desire to spend any time with him. and going back to a previous thing, that of drawing away from the believers, I was fine with going to church, but I didn't like the singing. And when I became truly converted, singing is beautiful to me. the hymns
Zach:of the faith
Todd:and exaltation to God is a beautiful thing. And that was one of the changes he's made in my life before my wife was always wanting to go to the singing portion of the service. I was very fine with just sitting under the, Preaching was my thing. now I enjoy the singing. I enjoy listening. And that was one thing that was a very dramatic and physical thing that I noticed a change in my life was that of enjoying singing, Well, I think to go along with the part of him drawing us, I think he, he
Zach:does
Todd:and draw an eye to us in times of stillness and devotions and, and times that. But I think he draws an eye to us in
Zach:times
Todd:of difficulty or, or when
Zach:are
Todd:beyond our means. when we enter into situations and do things
Zach:life
Todd:that we don't understand why. that's when he shows himself real and draws Nigh. And
Zach:oftentimes
Todd:I they, they kind of go hand in hand because if, if
Zach:we aren't
Todd:surrendered to
Zach:beyond
Todd:our means,
Zach:so to
Todd:he probably isn't drawing Nigh to us in the quiet Because we aren't surrendered. I think, at least
Zach:for me,
Todd:it
Zach:comes,
Todd:or it came first, and
Zach:it comes to us.
Todd:when, when I'm living, when I'm trying to live within means, and not being surrendered with situations. Those are the times when he seems quiet. In the quiet times when, he seems a little when I'm back, in my, in my life and my, and my relationships
Zach:in my. Day to
Todd:day activities. When I get in a rhythm and start thinking I have control of everything
Zach:over here,
Todd:my quiet times or when, when I do commune with him is when he distant. sometimes we, our, our human nature, we want to him to show himself real and speak to us in the quiet times. So we have the strength or so we have the, the courage to go out and step out when a
Zach:lot of times
Todd:he's asking us to just step out and trust and he'll show himself real to us in
Zach:real life.
Todd:And I've heard. somebody wants to say that
Zach:God.
Todd:operates or shows himself right on the edge of reality. And I think that's so true, like so
Zach:times.
Todd:It's easy to call things
Zach:in life
Todd:coincidence or, or whatever, but, but if we're willing to, to actually give him the credit and continue to step out on the fringes, so to speak, or on the things
Zach:that may not.
Todd:may not, make sense to us so that we can actually see the outcome of the situation, but to actually step into it. Yeah,
Zach:he will, will
Todd:show himself real and he will be real to in our day life. And I think I really think
Zach:that that's,
Todd:that it's through that that we gain the
Zach:relationship
Todd:and the deepness with him that he can us in the
Zach:quiet
Todd:I think there's 100 percent right. And I think I see it as a two pronged situation. So at one level, The fear of the Lord
Zach:has
Todd:puts us in a position where we are sensitive to his movement. Um, and if we don't have the fear of the Lord, he's moving, but we're not, we're not seeing it. Um, and, and so the fear of the Lord allows us to be sensitive to, no, actually that wasn't me at all. That was him moving. And we can praise him for that. The second prong of that is if we, in our spirit, even if we don't say it audibly, or if we won't even admit it to ourselves, but in our spirit, we have this thing that I've got this. He's going to let us fall on our face. he's like,
Zach:Those
Todd:who are whole, not a physician, it's not that they don't need a physicians. They don't, they think they're whole. And so as long as we think we hold, as long as we think we don't need a physician, the physician is not going to come barging into the room.
Zach:but
Todd:The fear of the Lord puts us in a position and keeps us in a position
Zach:to realize
Todd:I need you from
Zach:zero here
Todd:Every day is from zero. to your point, that's when he's like, yeah, I know you need me. I just needed you to you admit that you need me. And that's when we walk in the fear of the Lord. We don't have it. It doesn't matter the situation. Even if we've done it a thousand times, he has a different way for us. And it's like surrendering it and submitting it. And I think that's a great way to kind of wind this up is, just walking in that. And we've said it many times, but allowing that we fear being away from him, that we fear that we would fall from him
Zach:Um,
Todd:Batterson makes this thing. He said the, the only God ordained fear. Is the fear of God. And if we fear him, we don't have to fear anything else. And I just think that's a beautiful way to wrap up. This episode he
Zach:is
Todd:the ultimate, he is the one who can protect us from all fears. He's the solver of comfort of our hearts. Um, no matter how chaotic and wild the world gets around us. We can have a peace when our fear is in him. And, um, the fear of the Lord, I like this thought too, is that is the concept of taking whatever fears I do have and giving it to him. And so that his fear overcomes all that. And if we fear
Zach:we don't have to fear anyone else.
Todd:Excellent wrap up. So, well, thanks for listening, uh, to, to this episode. And don't forget, we'd love to hear from you. our email again is
Zach:the surrendered soul
Todd:thesurrenderedsoul24 at gmail. com. So shoot us, uh, any of your thoughts or questions or anything. So thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.
Zach:Thank you.
The only path to freedom is living a surrendered life. the Surrendered Soul Podcast.
