Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

August 09, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO GIVE US THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD (part 5)

Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

I hope it has helped your Christian walk for us to look at the message in these verses. Hopefully, it has helped us to emphasize, in a greater way, our need for the leading of the Holy Spirit in our day to day life. We need the Spirit of the Lord in every area, every decision, every step, and every action.

The last spirit that I want to discuss is the SPIRIT OF THE FEAR OF THE LORD. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest, motivating factors in a Christian’s life. This Hebrew word for fear means “reverence”. It is not a fear that the Lord might hurt you, it is a fear that you might hurt the Lord. It is having the kind of spirit that is so respectful, so thankful, and so reverent, that every part of us desires to do everything we can to honor the Lord. If God ever is put in a position where He has to discipline us, we do not have to be afraid of Him. God does not discipline us to hurt us, He disciplines us to help us. I would not be scared that God would discipline me, I would be more scared if He did not. Read these verses:

* Hebrews 12: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

These verses make it clear that God chastens us “for our profit”. I know God does not want to hurt me, so I should want even more not to hurt Him. The more I preach, and teach, and minister, and pastor; and the more I see what sin, and the flesh, and Satan does to lives, I am convinced that you and I are to be more afraid of Satan hurting and ruining us. Fear God, but you better be scared of Satan.