The Fire and the Fear of the Lord

 

Part 1

 

By

 

Nita Johnson

 

6.16.22

 

I will share God’s heart with you concerning two essential issues for believers. First, there is the issue of walking in Union with Christ. Most do not know nor comprehend this invitation of God. If people knew, we would have a different Church.

 

The second might be that many have fallen into the fallacy that the financial blessing that God gives to His Church always constitutes God’s approval of our youthful ways. In response to that quandary, God has no problem blessing His Church financially. While God does not need money to enable Him to pour out His Spirit, the Church does need finances to take the message of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of Grace to those local and to spread the message to the world. Finances are significant in spreading the Gospel wherever the Lord desires the servant to go. God does not need finances, but the Church does.  

 

I am not discounting God’s desire to bless the Church financially. However, most Christians are not always as careful as they should be when using some of God’s finances. So, for some, He has to limit what He releases to keep them out of deep trouble. If they did nothing more than help feed the poor and the needy, it would please God. We believe that if we use funds appropriately, God will pour out blessing upon blessing because this is His heart. God wants us to care for those who need it critically, even in this country. We could go into any city in America and find people that fit God’s criteria for need. God’s genuine desire is to meet the needs of people and families alike. The needs of the people are broad in scope and are at the heart of God. If you are familiar with the Book of Acts, you know that meeting the needs of the people was the focus of the early Church. They must have learned it from someone, and who better to have learned it from than the Lord Himself.   

 

The purpose of the above writing is not to make you feel guilty if God blesses you, but there is a blessing that can come from the Lord that far surpasses anything temporal that He could give us. There are several reasons. The first reason is that the blessing of the Fear of the Lord will help you come to know God in a more extraordinary way than you have ever thought possible. This blessing enables you to live a Christian life in a higher way. Some believe skipping, shouting, and jumping up and down like the man healed at the Gate Beautiful is a wonderful exercise in praise. It is if provoked by the Holy Spirit. If you are so happy in God that you do that daily in your home, bless you.  

 

There is more that is needed to bless Him. Only He can give us this. He loves us, but He knows that we are people of the soul and walk in the flesh. He created us before Adam recreated us. He also knows what it takes to bring a soul into the high dynamic living that Adam and Eve walked in during their hour before the fall. As it turns out, we appreciate what we have when we lose it, which is also what happened with them. God wants to restore that sacred life in His mercy, compassion, and great estimable love. He always seeks a way to impart His incredible love to people, communities, and Church families. I will address this in this article.  

 

Prayer:

 

Father, thank you for Your unbelievable goodness to us. Help us, Lord! Help me to convey Your heart in the very few minutes I have to do so. I want them to hear, feel, and understand Your heart so there is no fear but only the divine energy and faith to reach out and receive what You are offering. We thank You for that, Lord. In Your precious Name, Amen.

 

Teaching: 

 

Matthew 3:11, we hear a term that most assuredly is not heard again in the Bible. We are only aware of this one time when John the Baptist talks to the people. He says, “There is One coming Who is greater than I.” This Man is so great I am unworthy to take off His shoes to carry or not carry them or even to touch His shoes. He is far greater than I and is coming to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire.  

 

Now, we hear much talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. My daughter Ricci and I have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I assume everyone on staff is Baptized with the Spirit, but I do not ask them. We observe their character. That is a great judge and evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit. Based on that evidence, I feel there is no doubt they have the Baptism of the Spirit.

 

It is not a stretch to say that only a minority of the Church has received this wonderful gift. You are not a lesser Christian if you do not have it. There are people like Billy Graham, whom God used powerfully and mightily. Some people like to defame his name currently, yet his family looks at him as a godly man and father. Billy said he did not receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit during his time here on earth. He said he believed that he would have accepted it if God gave it, (the Baptism of the Spirit) to him.  

 

As part of this beautiful gift, God will give you a special prayer language that is unique to you. This prayer language sounds remarkably like the Angels when they talk. I have heard them converse with each other. Those with a prayer language given by the Holy Spirit sound much like the Angels. Gifts of the Spirit flow more freely toward and through those who have the Baptism of the Spirit.  

 

Do I believe you must have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to receive the gifts of the Spirit? I do not believe the Baptism is necessary to operate in the gifts. If you can grow in the virtues of love and the “Fear of the Lord,” you are a candidate to flow in the gifts of the Spirit. If you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, it certainly makes it more accessible, and I say do it. Receive it, and praise God for it.  I also believe that you can move into a new level of relationship 

with Jesus when you receive it. For me, the skies seemed to open when I received this marvelous and gracious gift.

I have never been the same since. The more Jesus governs you, the more the Father owns you. I would recommend

that each Christian gives prayer toward that end.   

 

John the Baptist also speaks of this gift in correlation with the Baptism of Fire, which is impressive. The “Fear of the Lord” also profoundly affects a Christian who has received it. First, let us go through some aspects of the “Fear of the Lord”: What it feels like and means. Secondly, we will share an experience with you to help you see what it might feel like in a practical way. There are not many who have this gift. One can cultivate the “Fear of the Lord” by loving Him, desiring to please Him, and seeking to obey Him. Also, and perhaps more importantly, your Word life is extremely valuable and precious, to say the least. But this is different from receiving the “Spirit of the Fear of the Lord,” which we will address.  

 

What can we expect from having a fear of the Lord? We can begin with the following. The awe, reverence, and adoration of our Holy God, as well as the honor and worship of God in a higher realm, the righteous confidence in His Goodness, thankfulness, and a higher caliber of love, are also important. It provokes contrition of spirit and heart, a holy awe, divine respect, Dread, Wonder, and selfless love for His Majesty.  

 

One writer says, “An overwhelming feeling of sense of Divine reverence. A holy fear of Him. A healthy fear of Him. This fear is not the kind that you would feel when seeing an enemy coming to harm you. It is something totally different. It is the Wonder provoked by His Holiness and Majesty, and incomparable Purity and Perfection.”

 

When you are before the Lord and in His highest presence, you will feel many of the previously mentioned emotions. There have been times when I have been before His Majesty wherein He showed Himself to me as the Majestic God that He is. I could not speak or think for myself and was in total awe. I could not think of anything but Him because what I saw and experienced looked different. You can look at the Son of God as He reveals Himself as the Shepherd of Israel or our Brother, where He appears very close to what you and I look like, except He does have that sense of holiness about Him. When you are standing before His Majesty, if you can stand before Him, it is exceptional. Thinking of the times I experienced it, I could stand only when He told me to stand. When He instructed me to stand, I had strength that I did not have two minutes before.  

 

When He comes in, His Majesty, every hair on my arms stands erect. It is as though every cell in my body is functioning under the terror of the Lord. He is so beautiful. There is none like Him. No beauty in all creation compares to Him in His Majesty. The incredible Purity and sense of His Perfection are so profound that you find yourself speechless. You are speechless because you are under the “Terror of the Lord.” It is His love that upholds you. How could anyone endure some of the places I have been before Him? They could only do so if they were also experiencing His mighty and Holy love.

 

It is from being in these places before the Lord that changes your life. The change is absolute. It will not allow you to be a nominal Christian any longer. It almost catapults you to a desired state of phenomenal Christianity. There is something inside of you that changes dramatically. Your habits, actions, and thoughts change.

 

 

Visit: 

Let me share two more experiences. While very young in the Lord, I knew I had a calling in my life. Ricci and I would have to make many challenging changes in our lives. There were seasons of my life when I just worshipped and praised Him for hours. It was not uncommon for me to stay up all night praying. There was such a hunger in my heart for God. Simultaneously, we experienced a great deal of insecurity because of the requirements our Lord was asking. Ricci suffered even more significantly than I did, so I prayed a lot for her as well.    

 

One day, while walking around in a room praising the Lord, I noticed the atmosphere change. I felt the Holy presence of God becoming stronger and stronger in the room. Before long, the presence was so heavy I could barely walk. As I sang a song, I noticed the change from singing in English to singing in the Spirit.

The song was melodic and uttered more slowly. It was challenging to get any utterance out of my mouth because His Holiness was filling the room. It finally reached a point where I could no longer walk. Standing and barely singing, within minutes, all the singing was from my heart. My verbal utterance suddenly ceased because the Holiness of God came so profound a manifestation.  

 

Suddenly, the Lord Himself came in. I fell on my face in terror. It was not one of those meetings where He was wrapping His arms around me, telling me He liked or even loved me. It was not even a meeting of being comforted. It was nothing like that. 

 

He came in His holiness and was so profoundly Holy that I was literally shaking. My body felt like I was plugged into a live electrical outlet. I felt like I was being electrocuted. When God releases this presence, it is absolutely terrifying. It was then that I noticed that He was standing before me. As previously stated, I was on the floor, shaking, and I noticed His feet. Christ was there in person, and I was shaking so badly. Christ began to speak to me and comfort and console me. My desire was for Him to keep speaking to me. I wanted to speak to Him as well. It felt like one word from Him would cause me to die. There was a knowing that our communication was taking place Spirit to spirit and heart to heart, or I would not survive. 

 

I felt so much love from Him that I was undone emotionally. His presence provoked reverence and honor. There was a sense of worship that no words could express. 

 

My desire was for my body, spirit, and soul to worship. I did not know how to give Him the worship He was due. I was so thankful for His presence. My spirit was in such a state of contrition that I was beside myself. 

 

He seemed so majestic (powerful or causing great admiration or respect), high (as the Bible says, “High and lifted up”), and holy. I felt so human. I felt like the worst sinner in the universe. I felt so sinful next to His Holiness. I could not help but compare myself. He was so holy!

 

My dear sisters and brothers, the thought of making myself holy enough for Him came to a halt before it even started. If I had even a speck or a single cell of holiness, it would have had to have come from Him. We cannot make ourselves holy enough for Him. Holiness is about God. We do not have the ability to be holy. Our fallen nature absolutely prohibits holiness. If I were to have holiness, it would only come from Him. How do you bridge the gap between the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the very essence of holiness, and someone just like me? 

 

I sent my daughter to school, and I would spend all day in prayer and the Word. Spending time in prayer and the Word still did not make me holy. I thought I was righteous until I met Him, Who is Righteousness and Holy.  

 

Finally, I told Him, spirit to Spirit, “Lord, I love You. I love You so much. You are so beautiful. You are so Righteous, Holy, and Pure. I want You to stay and change me, but I am so terrified of You that I want You to leave. You are Holy.” At that time, I did not know what some of the words that I said to Him meant.

An example of this is when I said: You are Majestic. My thought is, where in the world did that word come from? We have never heard the words majesty or majestic preached in the past.

 

I communicated to Him my desires and the terror that I was feeling. After sharing my terror with Him, my spirit said to Him, “Please make me able to endure Your presence, or I need you to leave because this is not bearable.” He shared more with me. One of the things He shared with me was that He would visit His Church in this manner, but not now. I said to Him in my spirit, “Why not now, Lord?” My spirit thought,” Why are You visiting me like this but not the rest of Your Church?” He responded, “My Church is not ready for this kind of visitation. Many Christians have so much sin in their heart that they would die if I came into their presence in this form.” That was all that my spirit would say.  

 

Forty years later, the Church is still not ready for His Holy Presence. Nevertheless, He is coming in His Holy Presence soon. He desires to give you something that will prepare you for His Holy Presence.  

 

Even though it was late when I went to bed that night, I woke at dawn. It was summer, so it was very early. His voice trumpeted down to me from Heaven. It was a Voice that sounded like many waters. His voice was full of Holiness. He said to me, “My Word is Holy!”

 

Please hear the sincerity of my heart. I do not play with His Word. I do not mock it or make light of it. It is unbearable for me to hear people make light of His Holy Word. He placed that reverence in me. Everything I experienced in that visitation was imparted to me. It was months before hearing His name did not cause me to tremble uncontrollably because of the Fear of the Lord. He knows where everyone is and where you are in your walk. He knows what you can bear or not. He wants to grant to you according to your ability to bear. I pray that He pours out to you according to what you are ready to bear.

 

 I want to pray for those who desire that God grant them the “Fire of God and the Fear of the Lord.” Let us look at the Scripture in Isaiah to go a little deeper.  

 

 

The Bible says, 

 

Isaiah 57:15 AMPC

15 For thus says the high and lofty One—He Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, but with him also who is of a thoroughly penitent and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the thoroughly penitent [bruised with sorrow for sin].

 

 

We must learn how to walk with God if we want Him to draw near. 

 

People say they love God with all their heart. If this were reality, God would own our hearts. God would own all our desires and passions. God wants ownership of our hearts. He wants all of it. He desires to give us the Fear of God. This fear is all-encompassing. It is not a fear like that which you would experience retribution, but it is the Awe of God, the reverence of a Holy God.  

 

If you are ready, I want to pray that you receive a small impartation of the “Fire and the Fear of the Lord.” Just pray lightly in the Spirit and lift your heart to God.  

 

Prayer:

 

Lord, Jesus Christ, we thank You for granting us this powerful part of God, the “Fear of the Lord.” We ask for this Fire of the Lord that will set the fire of Your presence in our souls to do a great and mighty work. We want the Fear of the Lord established in us and will enable us to walk before You in a way that is pleasing in Your sight. I pray now, Let Your Spirit fall now on these people, Lord.  

 

All of these who are lifting their hands to You just now, Lord, let it enter upon them. Let it enter them, Lord. This dwelling of the Most High God […. Praying in Tongues]. Oh God, there it is. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for doing this for Your people, Lord. Great and Mighty God, thank You! Thank You! Help them to receive and drink until they are full, Lord, of the Fire and the Fear of God. 

 

 In Your precious, precious Name, Amen.

Nita Johnson