The Fire and the Fear of the Lord Part 3

6.21.22

By

Nita Johnson

 

It is so good to be with you!  Thank you for joining me!  I would like to go over three Scriptures with you as a way of introduction. Please go to Psalm 111:10, Job 28:28, and Proverbs 1:7

Psalm 111:10 AMPC

10The reverent fear and worship of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and skill [the preceding and the first essential, the prerequisite and the alphabet]; a good understanding, wisdom, and meaning have all those who do [the will of the Lord]. The praise of Him endures forever.

 

Job 28:28 AMPC

28But to man He said, Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord- that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

 

Proverbs 1:7 AMPC

7The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and is essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.

 

 

These passages help us to know where we stand with the Lord, right?  If we love correction, discipline and instruction, we are wise.  If we hate those things, we are fools.  This is very black and white. 

 

Prayer:

 

          My dear, Lord and Savior, my heart has felt these tears flowing over my heart all afternoon regarding this message.  The tears seem to be two-fold.  The tears of people who belong to you have suffered because they do not have the Fear of the Lord, and they do not really understand what their life is missing.  This is the hour and moment when You would like to change that.  You would like Your people to be granted the Fear of the Lord that they may have the essential qualities to endure walking with You in glory.  That is the other reason for the tears.  Those who have suffered, and out most compassionate God who cares that we have suffered, for lack of understanding. 

 

Help us to humble ourselves.  Help us break ourselves before You, and to fear pride, rebellion, stubbornness and the many things that steal us away from the truth.  We pray that You will grant us grace, humility, a sense of love for What and Who You are, and what You require for our good.  Help me to share You hear, Lord.  We thank You, in the precious Name of Your dear Son Whom we love so much Father, We thank You, amen. 

 

I would like to start by hopefully putting everything into focus.  Upon receiving Salvation, prayer is the greatest privilege in life.  Learning of Him and from Him, loving Him and living in the Fear of the Lord is a life of wonder.  Living in Divine Love and in the Fear of God opens the mysteries and the secrets of God that are explicitly beautiful and joyously wonderful.  There is no other way to live with God, I promise!  Additionally, to live in His own Divine Love is to enlarge our tiny hearts to love those whom He loves no matter how many that may be.  I thank You, Lord that You teach us to humble ourselves that we never consider ourselves as better than another and break the Law of Love. 

 

You and I understand, my dear intercessors, the importance of Divine Love.  Can I be honest with you?  I learned about His Divine Love in its beginning through intercession.  When I would go into prayer, He would show me people that were living in sin.  He would also let me experience His own love for that person.  His desire is to set them free.  He wants to help them find, know and understand the greater value in life.  That value is loving God in the Fear of God.  When He revealed this to me about a person, I would just weep sometimes for hours that He would break this stronghold over their lives. 

 

The Church by and large is not equipped with the Fear of God.  People can love God.  They can sense His presence and Love.  They think God touched them in a way that it is just unbelievable to them.  Yet, the Fear of God that He imparts is a different kind of experience. 

 

We can Fear God in a way that we do not want to disobey Him.  We want to live according to what He asks of us or according to His commandments, and yet do many things in the flesh.  Sometimes even do these many things in the flesh that when He tries to convict us of the sin in which we are engaging, we just shake our head momentarily to get our self- will back and brush it off.  That is not living in the Fear of God. 

 

When you are living in the fear of God, He has given you a very part of Himself.  Jesus Christ was the foremost that ever walked on the earth.  He walked in the Fear of God the way He wants His Church to walk.   Now before you think, “We can’t do that,”. Yes, you can.  This is part of the Spirit of Christ that He wants to take dominion by over our own soulish lower nature.  It is possible, but the Spirit of Christ must first permeate us with the fear of God.  Then, it begins to help us recognize when the fear of God is in operation and seeks to give us strength and grace to turn away from that which offends the Lord.  There is a process.  It is not something that happens overnight. 

 

A person who has really been baptized in the Fear of God live truly changed lives. I mean changed remarkably.  They begin to see, feel and know things differently than they have ever have before.  It makes it easier for them to pull away from things that offend the Lord.  They see through His eyes.  When they see through His eyes, it becomes fearful to continue on that path.  They are not afraid that He is going to discipline them, but they are afraid of what the spirit that owns that path has in mind for them.  It is a spirit that wants to keep inciting and tempting them to stay on the path of rebellion.  They see things differently, and they will turn away from them out of wisdom, knowledge and understanding of those things in and about His ways, His plans and His purposes. This is a good thing. 

 

He wants to help His Church come into the place where they live to please Jesus in all things.  When they make a mistake, they bend their knee.   Their heart breaks knowing that they offended His precious and holy heart.  They will do anything to avoid doing that in the future.  Because they have the Fear of Lord, they also have the fear of hurting Him.  They have the fire of God that cleanses and purges these tendencies out of their souls, Praise God!

 

His desire is to make us into the image of His dear Son.  We cannot do this.  We can hope for this, work toward and study the Word.  We can learn His character.  For instance, you can go into the love chapter in First Corinthians and pray it every day until it is so deep in your heart.  You can know it by memory.  Out of love for Him, (He just set my heart on fire) you learn to live and obey Him until at long last He has so inundated you with a Spirit of grace. In that place you would never do anything knowingly to disobey Him. 

 

Now, I am in union.  Can I grow more? Can I do more? The answer to both of those questions is yes.  Can I experience more of Him than I have right now? Again, the answer is yes.  There are still times, it just breaks my heart I cannot stand it when that happens, but there are still times when I will forget that He said, “Do this or that or do not do this or that.”  And I will do it.  Then He must correct me for doing what He has told me not to do, and it always hurts.  Not that I feel upset that He corrected me, but I hurt that I hurt Him by forgetting.

 

This life that He wants us to live becomes the compass of our own heart a fresh and anew.  You can have a compass attached to the mechanics of the ship but if you don’t have someone who knows what they are doing monitoring the compass, the ship could still go off course.  We have the Person Who knows what to do living inside of us.  That Person is the Holy Spirit.  When He sees that we had done this and made a mistake, He will in His graciousness and love for God and us convict us.  We do not ever want to turn from that. 

 

The Fear of God teaches us not to trust ourselves but to trust God only.  We should also love selflessly so that we may know Him.  I told someone once, and quite honestly, this has happened many times, that the Lord would open that door of Union if this person would do certain things that He required.  The very next time I saw that person there had been a dramatic change, but not the kind of change that I hoped to see.  That person got lifted in pride.  It was so obvious that it was almost scary.  Instead of humbling before that invitation, this person began walking in pride because the invitation had been ordered.  Finally, I had to tell this person, “You know this is His invitation, but if you do not live up to what He requires, He is no longer required to give it to you.  Furthermore, you would not enjoy it if He did.  You need to change the path you are on.”  I did not feel that person was ready to do that yet, but I hope someday that will change. 

 

There have been many times that the Lord has told me that He would let someone into the life of Union, but in a short time, they are so offended with the requirements of Union that they lose the open door.  Hopefully, the Fear of God will help us in this endeavor. The Fear of God does open the windows and doors of wisdom, knowledge and understanding of our God. Also, to those things given to man.  There are so many things in Heaven and in God that man has never seen, heard and know.   So, few over the generations have paid the price to hear, know and understand those things.

 

I know Paul saw so many glorious things, but he himself admitted in the end of his life that he could have experienced more.  The fact that he did not tell us that he had some battles that took him a little longer to overcome than what he thought it would.  It is very important for all of us to be conscious.  If a man like Paul can miss it, so can we. 

 

The minute the Lord tells us this is what I require, pay attention, humble yourself, and begin to do it immediately, asking all the while for the grace and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in that area of your heart.  If our God teaches us to hunger and thirst for His righteousness that we may learn to walk in the depths, width, length and height of the love of God, no good thing will. He will withhold from those who walk uprightly.

 

When He corrects us and shows us something in our heart and soul that is not pleasant.  A great deal of the people get offended and angry.  Their self-righteousness rose to put a wall between themselves and the Word of the Lord.  If we cannot be instructed and corrected, we will never have Union.  If there is any group of people on earth that Jesus wants to give Union to, it is His intercessors.  I think in all honesty you are numero uno of the people that He would love to see the way to grant the Fear of the Lord. 

 

He is not a God who withholds the best.  He wants to be the One Who will shower you with the horn of plenty from the Spirit realm.  He desires that greatly because intercessors give themselves a lot to be an intercessor.  He wants to repay with His kindness, goodness, mercy and blessings.  Let not any of you be the one that forces Him to withhold when He so lovingly desires to give. 

 

Many in the Church are lost to the cults for the sake of indifference.  The cults, false churches and religions are lost from Christianity to these godforsaken waves of stimulation because of their indifference to a God who has rules and regulations.  They do not feel like they should have to live with them, and it promotes indifference. 

 

What does the Book of Revelation tell us that He will do those are indifferent?  This tells us clearly and in a very strong warning that He will spew us out of His mouth.  One of the ways that He does that is to let delusions come upon us.  We accept things in religious circles that have no basis in truth.

 

We must be careful my dear friends.  The loss of any one of His, breaks His heart.  Let it break yours, so that you never make that mistake.  There is an anointing that can break the yoke of this devilish enslavement.  I believe that God is grace His Church with that to help people that have gone amuck but will return.  They have not so hardened their hearts to rebellion that they cannot come back. 

 

They will take the lessons they learned.  They fell into the wrong path for a little while and He will bring them home to the path in Christ.  They will remember forever the mistake that they made, and they will never make it again. 

 

King David was such a man.  If God could restore someone like King David or heal a man like Abraham who made his mistake with Haggai, He can heal anyone.  He can restore anyone.  We need to pray for our loved ones that God will restore them.  That His grace will be upon them to restore them to His goodness, righteousness and His Holiness in the love of Christ.  I think He will do it. 

 

I can remember an incredible and glorious time.  I ministered to a woman’s situation.  Before I left the pulpit, I happened to notice one woman in the auditorium.  The Lord spoke to me about her.  He said her son was into homosexuality, and it broke her heart.  She was fearful that he was going to die before he returns to the Lord.  Tell her I have a special plan in store for her son.  And in the midst, I will be able to restore him.  Keep praying for him. 

 

It turned out that in this meeting that woman brought together women from three different cities in the surrounding area.  Because they frequently come to these kinds of meetings, everyone knew who the Lord was speaking about when I gave her the word of the Lord.  She burst into tears and came running up to me when the meeting was over.  She said, do you know what my son is involved in?  I responded, “Yes, but I did not want to express that in front everyone.  He is engaged in homosexuality.  “She said, “That is right.  It is true.  I cry my heart out every night.” I said, “So now you can pray in faith because God is going to honor your tears.”

 

The Lord waits to bless us.  He really does.  He is not looking for reasons to pull away from us and from His promises.  He looks to bless us, and He looks to fulfill His promises.  Still, there is a point when if we do not chase after the good, He will watch our hearts close to the blessed promise.  He will let it happen because we did not care enough to protect the relationship.  Nevertheless, He is going to work, and it is very soon. 

 

All afternoon I thought about things I do and think about.  Many people over the years that wanted to walk and travel with me, they do not last very long because I am really 100% Jesus.  They thought they were going to get a lot of friendship, conversation, and making me their kind friend. It did not turn out that way.  I kept my life before the Lord.  They would get offended and think they better go someplace else.  Quite honestly, I would have to agree with them because they were miserable. 

 

I live a life yearning to know Him more deeply and intimately.  I cannot help it.  If the yearning was ever at a point where it seemed all consuming, since entering into Union, it is even worse.  It burns in my heart like an unstoppable fire.  I want to know Him deeply, intimately and to become more deeply acquainted with Him in all depths.  That I may become wholly owned by Him.  May they win Christ in the expanse of the wonder of His person. 

 

Our brother Paul lived with that same kind of heart.  Let us go to Philippians because he said it so much better than I am.  We must come to this place, all of us, if we want the deeper things of God. 

 

Philippians 3:7-9a

7 But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [[a]one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.

8Yes furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [ of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly], For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs),  in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),

9And that I may [ actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands.

 

This is not a guy who is saying I want to be recognized for my own righteousness because no one knows more than me that my own righteousness is as filthy rags.  That means I got a mess going here.  That is not this kind of guy. 

 

Philippians 3:9b-11

 

…not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own,

Based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and

Supposed right standing with God thus acquire), but possessing that

[genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed

One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by

[saving] faith.

10[ For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may

progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him,

perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person

more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to

know the power outflowing from His resurrection[[b]which it exerts over

believers], and that I may so share His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11 That if possible, I may attain to the [[c]spiritual and moral] resurrection

[that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

 

I hunger and thirst after Him and His righteousness which He gave to me when He took me into Union, but it is not enough.  It needs to be evermore constantly applied until it has consumed everything that has ever fought it.  I hunger and thirst to know Christ.  He owns me now.

 

When He eradicated my sinful nature in 2018.  He told me that He wrote His name on my heart in 2019.   “Your heart belongs wholly to Me now; not to another thing or person.” That was a beautiful thing to me.  I wept and wept.   He did that to and in me.  He claimed me as his own. 

 

He longs to see a Church so impassioned to be owned by Him.  He wants us to have faith in the call because He wants our faith to overcome every hinderance that would rise up against this call.  It is a beautiful thing.  When a person has died so much to themselves that He can eradicate the sinful nature.  It means everything to Him.  It was very painful experience. 

 

He took me to the Cross which was very painful.  He showed me Scripture, after Scripture of what He did.  He wants in it all because He wanted to make sure that the sinful nature was ready for Him to eradicate from my soul.  He could then bring my soul into a level of cleanness in Him, so that He could actually take me into Union.  This is not something I did, but something He did.

 

This is a remarkably beautiful thing to Him.  Because it was beautiful to Him, it was beautiful to me.  He looked at me so tenderly in my eyes, and He said to me, “You are mine now, wholly mine.  I am not trying to come across as a braggart.  I do not feel that way.  Just repeating His words bring tears of love all over again. 

 

What He will go through to own us and make us His is so remarkable to me.  I cannot bear to think of setting anything back that He gave because I know the price, He paid to make it happen.  That hurts me more than any price.  I went to the virtual cross. 

 

There is hardly anything that He experienced that I did not experience at some point in time.  I even learned things that He experienced by what I experienced.  He told me that He too experienced that on a Cross.  It was frightening, but I would not change it for anything.  As difficult as it was to endure, I would do it again.  If the end of the thing meant what it meant, my dear brothers and sisters, I would go through anything to be owned by Him; counted worthy to be owned by Him. Anything!

 

I want to encourage that line of thought in you.  You are an intercessor.  You work with this ministry.  If there are people anywhere in the world that I want to see have this beautiful grace, it is you.  My daughter is coming up and going up so fast.  He showed me that is what would happen and part of that is because of what I went through.  The same thing will happen to you.  If you pay a price that seems a little bit excessive, you may be paying vicariously for one of your children to experience Union.  Whatever He ends up calling you through, there is a reason.  Pay it!!!!!!!

 

How great He is! How wonderful He is! How Majestic He is! How wonderful, loving and gentle He is! He is a firm disciplinarian and I love that too.  The wonders of His person Paul said. I cannot tell you the gazillion times or gazillion tears I have wept over that passage.  That I may know the wonders of His Person. 

 

They are so wonderful.  His holiness is my favorite part.  His Holiness is so pure and beautiful.  His throne is beautiful because He is beautiful.  Desire it all, but never say no to correction.  Do not ever do that to yourself. Do not do it to Him.  Desire it all, so He may give it to you. 

In Him,

Nita Johnson