Teach Your Children the Reverential Fear of Jehovah their God

God our Father desires that we learn the holy reverential fear of Jehovah, so that we may stay focused on our duty to God and to others, and to prevent our sinning against God.  We must always have in our mind and hearts a holy reverence of God's majesty and holiness. We must carry in our hearts a dread of God's displeasure and an obedient regard to His sovereign authority over us. This holy fear will quicken us to our duty and make us circumspect in our walk with the Lord.

Parents must understand that all education of children begins with the reverential fear of Jehovah, for this is the only beginning foundation stone for true wisdom. If we want our children to love the Lord and to grow in wisdom and knowledge, then we must teach them the reverential fear of Jehovah. We are called to teach them through the Word of God and His commandments, as well as by our daily modeling and example. God cares that His children keep His commandments, and He tells us that they are not burdensome. Once a person is born again by the Holy Spirit, then God's Spirit within him will give him the power and the grace to keep God's commandments and be pleasing to Him in all that they are, do, and speak. Teach your children to know and treasure God's commandments in their hearts, that they might not sin against Him and be pleasing to Him in all their ways.

The evidence that our children are growing in the fear of Jehovah is that they will develop a love for God and for His commandments, and as a result, they will delight in doing His commandments. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15

The good fruit or works of obedience are the real test of love. The fear of Jehovah is the foundation, the love of God is the heart motivation, and the obedience to God's commandments is the fruit or result. 
 
Thank you for visiting my blog on Preparing parents grandparents and teachers for their primary purpose of educating generations for Christ. This is Josiah Friberg asking you to check back often for my most recent Christian education postings on Kingdom education, Christian schools, homeschooling, Psalm78 education and ministry, and the dangers of public schools. Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly alternatives to public schools. This article was posted by Josiah Friberg of Educating Generations For Christ, on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com.

The Fear of the Lord & Education Part 2 - Educating Generations for Christ

 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverb 9:10) This is our foundational Scripture from Part 1. 

 

In his book, The Fear of the Lord, John Bevere states: “Holy fear is the key to God’s sure foundation, unlocking the treasures of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.” This truth comes right out of Isaiah 33:6, “And HE shall be the sure foundation [stability] of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is his treasure.” 

Consequently, if we desire to live securely in these troubled times and teach our children and students how to do this, we must seek the Lord and ask Him to etch in our hearts and in their hearts - the holy fear of the Lord. We can only expect to receive this impartation and discernment that fears God if we are earnestly seeking God’s face (Jeremiah 29:11-14; 32:40) and spending time with Him in His Word. Then the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the fear of the Lord, for it truly is one of the manifestations of the Spirit of God (Isaiah 11:1-2).

There is an interlocking relationship between fearing God and loving God. In other words, we cannot truly love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength until we first learn to reverentially fear Him, and we cannot properly fear Him as we should until we first love Him. To fear God properly leads us to love Him wholeheartedly and appropriately. If fearing God is the beginning of wisdom and knowing God as He truly is, then loving God as He really is leads us to the fulfilling purpose of wisdom, which is to know Him intimately and is eternal life. In short, the love of God must be complemented with the fear of God.

God’s Word teaches us that we need to “Behold then the kindness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22).  We are in danger of error and judgment when the doctrine of the love of God is not balanced properly with the doctrine of the fear of the Lord. As it says in Isaiah 66:2 and Jeremiah 5:22, a person who truly fears God will tremble at His Word and in His presence. Obviously, we cannot expect to be admitted into the presence of our glorious King with an attitude of disrespect. We learn to give God the reverence He deserves by pursuing the knowledge of the greatness of His glorious character. The greater our beholding of His glory is and the comprehension of His greatness, the greater our capacity for properly fearing Him and reverencing Him according to His divine order.

“Toward Your holy temple I will bow down in fear of You [in reverence for You].” Psalm 5:7

Finally,we must learn to approach God and serve Him acceptably, in reverence and godly fear (Heb 12:28). This is the KEY to acquiring wisdom and understanding, which will lead us to an intimate relationship with God. The holy and reverential FEAR OF THE LORD is absolutely required as the foundation for all true education. 

All education that is not built on the fear of the Lord is built on the shifting sands of humanistic philosophies, and as such, will provide its students with a faulty foundation that will not stand the tests and trials of life. As an example, take a close look at the foundation of the modern American public school system: secular humanism. There is no way for a student to receive a truly godly education in the public school system because that system does not teach the fear of the Lord or the knowledge of the Holy One. In fact, state education exalts man above God and seeks to replace God with man. In such a corrupt system, God is ignored as totally insignificant, or worse, He is denounced as non-existent. Can such a system truly educate children? No, it is simply impossible, for the school system has destroyed the very foundation of all sound wisdom and understanding - the fear of the Lord and Jesus Christ. I pray that Christian parents who have their kids in public schools will wake up to this fact and see that they must in all good conscience remove their children from such an ungodly system that can never truly educate their children.

The final posting in this series, Part 3, will follow soon...

Thank you for visiting my blog on Preparing parents for their primary purpose educating children for God. This is Josiah Friberg asking you to check back often for my most recent Christian education postings on Christian schools, homeschooling, and the dangers of public schools. Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly alternatives to public schools. This article was posted by Josiah Friberg on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com. For assistance, contact Exodus Mandate at: Click here - ExodusMandate.org

The Fear of the Lord and Education Part I - Educating Generations for Christ

 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Prov 9:10

 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Prov 1:7

A foundational principle in the Bible is:  “the fear of the Lord” is the beginning of wisdom and of knowledge.
All true learning and education must begin with the knowledge of God and the holy fear of the Lord.  

 In what is probably the oldest book in the Bible, and certainly one of the oldest verses in the Scriptures, we read:

“Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? ….God understands its [wisdom’s] way; and He knows its place….Then He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. And to man He said, ‘Behold, the FEAR OF THE LORD, that is wisdom;  and to depart from evil is understanding’….With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.”  Job 28:12,23,27-28 and 12:13

What exactly is "the fear of the Lord?”

Noah Webster defines it as:  “In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear [of the Lord].”

As we see in this definition and in the Scriptures above, the fear of the Lord is often coupled with the accompanying heart attitude and behavioral action of hating evil and departing from evil. Here are a few other Scriptures that show this important relationship:

“By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord, one keeps away from evil.” Prov 16:6 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverted mouth, I hate.” Prov 8:13  “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”  Prov 3:7

In light of these Scriptures, a more thorough definition would be:  "The fear of the Lord" is to hate evil as much as God hates evil, and thereby to shun evil and turn away from evil so as not to offend such a holy being. This holy fear of God provides the conscience with the motive to be pleasing and obedient to God in everything, to turn away from evil, and to not give in to temptation.

The book of Proverbs makes it clear that “the fear of the Lord” is a godly virtue that must be valued, that must be chosen, that must be sought after, and that must be desired and searched for as for hidden treasure. Proverbs chapter two teaches how a disciple of Jesus can discern, cultivate, and find the fear of the Lord. Simply put, there is man’s part and there is God’s part, described in an “IF” condition followed by a “THEN” resulting reward. Man’s part is to actively cry out for discernment, to ask for understanding, and to seek for wisdom from God as silver and to search for her as for hidden treasure. This includes receiving God’s words and treasuring His commandments within one’s heart, actively listening to God’s wisdom, and inclining one’s heart to understanding.

In practical steps, this involves listening, reading, praying over, meditating upon, and memorizing God’s Word and God’s commandments. Christian parents need to model this to their children, practice it with them, and teach them this holy discipline of crying out for and searching for God’s hidden treasure of wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and understanding. This process can also be fostered, encouraged, modeled, and practiced in Christian home schools and in Christian day schools. 

However, this invaluable spiritual and moral discipline cannot be modeled and taught in public schools which despise the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy One and which are built upon the shifting sandy foundations of secular humanism, socialism, and atheism. The fear of the Lord is a virtue that is the antithesis of everything the government schools stand for. The fear of the Lord is incompatible with humanism and the idolatry of man found in government schools.

God’s part, the “THEN” aspect of this principle, is to impart into the heart of the searching disciple the fear of the Lord, the knowledge of God, discernment, and understanding. It is the Lord alone who gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. In this whole process, the disciple of Jesus will discover the knowledge of God and will discern the fear of the Lord, righteousness, justice, equity, and discretion. God’s stored up wisdom will be poured out on the disciple so that wisdom will enter his heart, knowledge will become pleasant to his soul, discretion will guard him, and understanding will watch over him to deliver him from the evil way and from the perverted man and from the strange woman and the adulteress. 

I will continue this message in Part 2 soon to follow...

Thank you for visiting my blog on Preparing parents for their primary purpose educating children for God. This is Josiah Friberg asking you to check back often for my most recent Christian education postings on Christian schools, homeschooling, and the dangers of public schools. Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly alternatives to public schools. This article was posted by Josiah Friberg on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com. For assistance, contact Exodus Mandate at: Click here - ExodusMandate.org

Christian Biblical Worldview Education Mandate: Parents Educating Generations for Christ

Our purpose is to strengthen Christian parents and families through the awareness of and obedience to the Christian Biblical Worldview Education Mandate. Our mission at Educating Generations for Christ is to inspire, motivate, educate, and equip Christian parents to obey God's Christian Biblical worldview education mandate by providing their children with a truly Christ-centered, Bible-based education, primarily through homeschooling or by partnering with a high quality Christian worldview school.

This education mandate must become the priority of the church, and the first step is to call all Christian parents to remove their children from the government public school system which is ungodly, anti-Christian, and founded on the religion of secular humanism where man is exalted and worshiped and God is denied and opposed. The harsh truth about public schools is that they are corrupting and destroying Christian children morally, spiritually, and intellectually, and this leads to 88% of these children falling away from their faith and falling in love with the world and self. The most important and powerful thing you can do to save your children from following after the world is to remove them immediately from the government school system and then to take personal responsibility for providing them with a godly, holy, Christ-centered, Bible-based education.



We are here to help you make this exodus and transition into educating your children for Christ and doing it God's way. True education is about being reconciled with your Creator through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, submitting your will and life to Him, becoming transformed by allowing the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to renew your mind, discovering who God is in all His glory and character and goodness, learning to know His voice and love Him whole-heartedly, following Him and His commandments, and growing in a living and loving relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ (Yahshua Messiah).

The beginning of all true education, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding is and always has been - the reverential holy fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy One, in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The Bible begins with these five eternally significant words related to education: "In the beginning God created..." and then in the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word (Logos)..." To truly educate our children, we must begin with God our Creator (not with man and humanism) who created all things by His great power and wisdom, and it is this living and eternal God who gives wisdom and understanding to those who fear Him and love Him.

For more information or to stay informed, please visit our Facebook page:
Christian Biblical Worldview Education Mandate and Exodus

Thank you for visiting my blog on Christian parents educating children God's way. This is Josiah Friberg asking you to check back often for my most recent Christian education postings on Christian schools, homeschooling, public school indoctrination, and the dangers of public schools. Consider adding my RSS FEED so you can keep up to date on godly alternatives to public schools. This article was posted by Josiah Friberg on his Christian Education blog: www.alleducationisreligious.blogspot.com. For assistance, contact Exodus Mandate at: www.ExodusMandate.org