I know I keep saying “Wow, what a big week,” but seriously, wow, what a big week! I feel like that is just life with God though. Right when you think He can’t blow your mind anymore, He makes you realize that you are just on level 7, and there is no end to the levels! The topic this week was ‘Fear of the Lord.’ When you are digging deep and uncovering the areas where you still fear other people, or just aren’t paying attention to God at all, you are bound to get some heavy but necessary (and in my case greatly desired) personal revelation. You will notice that even my ten points are a little more personal this week. I hope they will inspire you to dig a little deeper too! On top of a really intense but refreshing week of teaching, God also gave me some really wonderful opportunities to serve this week. I had my second ‘On the Spot’ teaching where I talked about how God is our protector. I went away for the weekend to be a part of a two-day missions event in Montelimar, France. There was diverse musical worship, as well as a time for us to talk to different groups about what YWAM does and what it looks like to apply a missions mindset to whatever you are passionate about. I also sang during our bilingual worship time for Community Night.
I am totally convinced that God has a sense of humor, but it is never meaningless. French was pretty much the only class I ever took at school that I didn’t do well in, and I gave up on it after just half a semester. Singing in front of people used to be one of my biggest fears. So much so that for one school project when we were supposed to write and sing a song in front of our music class, I just stood before the group and cried. This week I sang in front of people, and even sang a little bit in French. What? I know that this is only because of God and that He is showing me (and hopefully will show you through me) that really anything is possible with Him. Those things we think we can’t do, those things that make us anxious, those things we just want to give up on, when we hand them over to Him, they are so possible.
And with that, here are some lessons and pictures from all the exciting stuff I got to experience with and through God this week:
Week 10 – Fear of the Lord – Kay-Charlotte McClurg
The Key: Exploring what it looks like to fear man, what it looks like to fear the Lord, and why we should choose to fear the Lord. Exploring what it looks like to have a healthy fear of the Lord and walk in holiness and freedom, while building a relationship with God, as opposed to just being afraid of God and always trying to work our way to worthiness through religion.
Ten Main Points
- To fear the Lord is to hate evil and sin, to relinquish your rights, and to be in complete awe of God. It is not the same as being afraid of God. Here the word fear does not mean what it typically means. Standard fear is the anticipation of pain not yet realized. Faith (which is built up by ‘fearing’ God) is the anticipation of good things not yet realized.
- We need to ask ourselves if we are worshipping God, or our own idea of God. God is not defined by what we imagine, God is who He is.
- We need to learn to obey God right away. Not on the count of three. Partial or delayed obedience is disobedience.
- There is a difference between true and truth. We must have a relationship with God and be asking the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us on a regular basis, otherwise we can very easily skim over the truth by trying to cover it up with something true. For instance, I could say that I’m not sure if I want to be in a relationship because if I am single I can do more overseas mission work. And it is true that I would be able to do more overseas mission work if I was single. But the Holy Spirit can then reveal to me that the real truth is that I am afraid of rejection and intimacy, and that is why I feel resistance about having a relationship. Once we let the Holy Spirit tell us the truth, the truth will set us free!
- If you are diligently seeking God’s will, He will reveal it to you. You can’t miss it if you are really trying to obey. See John 7:17. Usually we want understanding before we are willing to obey, but the order is obey, and then you will receive understanding.
- The first conversation had about a God who is ALWAYS there, as though He wasn’t there, lead to doubt, temptation, and then sin. (Genesis 3:1-6)
- If we fear man, then we will seek approval from man, and we will build our identity based on the applause of man. This type of identity can only be sustained by the applause of man. If we fear the Lord, our identity will be based on the work of Christ, and our sense of worth as well as the sustainment of that identity will come from God.
- God lets us choose pretty much everything in life. He tells us what will bring life and what will bring death, but then He lets us choose. He is very hands off, but He wants to be very hands on in our lives, once we choose that. It is a C.H.O.I.C.E to fear the Lord: C – Choose to follow who God really is. H – Humble yourself and have a hatred of evil and sin. O – Open your heart to hear and obey what God has to say. I – Identify any idols you have set before God. C – Confess where you have sinned. E – Expect to see God do what He says He will do in ways that are beyond your wildest imagination!
- When an injustice occurs in our lives, whether it is actual or perceived, we have two choices. We can either choose God’s justice or our own justice. Either way we will have anger, hurt, pain, and grief to process through initially, but if we choose God’s justice (and therefore choose to fear the Lord) there will be forgiveness, mercy, freedom, healing, grace, peace, joy, releasing of anger, and redeemed relationships. If we choose our own justice it will lead to bitterness, blame, resentment, hate, depression, destruction, violence, and isolation.
- Love without respect is more likely compassion, or even pity. You must respect someone in order to really love them. So if you say you love God, but you don’t actually respect Him or what He says, then you don’t really love Him.
What I Learned About Leading Worship From Kay-Charlotte
“Our God is an Awesome God”
To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of Him. When we worship God we most certainly should be in awe of the one we are worshipping too. Fearing God and worshipping God are two things that go hand in hand. We cannot truly worship God if we do not fear Him, and if we truly fear God, we are going to want to worship Him in every possible way. We cannot truly fear God or worship God if we do not know who He really is.
All through this week each of us broke down the areas of our lives where we do not fear God, and we asked the Holy Spirit to bring healing and truth to the root cause of that lack of fear. Kay-Charlotte insisted multiple times throughout our week that we had spent the day worshipping, even though we hadn’t picked up any instruments. She showed us what it looks like to worship God through fearing Him – by really seeking Him, really seeking His will, and then choosing to obey. A huge part of this process was ensuring our view of God was accurate. We would look at scripture and see what the Bible says about God and who He really is, and then observe how the root cause of our lack of fear was usually some part of us that doubted that truth about God. Declaring who God is and choosing to trust that is certainly an act of worship, and it is also an act that restores our fear of the Lord.
All the glory to God for yet another amazing opportunity to learn, grow, and serve! May He bless each one of you on each of your own journeys too! To end this post I will share the verse that we memorized this week:
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” – 2 Timothy 2:1-2
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