Derek Prince - Fear God And Be Humble
This is a clip from: God's Word Your Inexhaustible Resource
Now let me just take a few moments in closing to give you some suggestions as to how to receive the Word of God. I've spoken about what it will do some of the things, there are many more. Now let me just take a little while to speak about how you can receive it. I'd like to begin with a Scripture that may surprise you in Isaiah 66, the last chapter of Isaiah the first two verses. Isaiah 66:1-2. This is right in line with what I was saying about God wanting to make His home with us. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me and where is the place of my rest? What kind of building are you going to build me? what kind of temple or cathedral? God says that doesn't impress me. He says: All these things my hands made and all these things exist, says the Lord.
Now comes the message. But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. There are three requirements there. A sense of being poor. You remember what Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That doesn't mean we're cowardly or timid it means that we see how poor we are in ourselves how desperately we need God. And then it says contrite. That means we are sorry for all the things we've said and done that have grieved God and kept Him out of our lives and made it impossible for God really to make His dwelling with us. And then it says - and this is surprising the one who trembles at my word. So, one of the requirements for receiving God's word is to tremble at it. Tremble expressed fear, expresses awe. I think what I've said just previously is the reason. If we were to be told that God the Father and God the Son were going to come into this building in the next five minutes.
I don't know how it would be with you, but I would tremble. I would have a sense, am I ready? What are they going to do? What are they going to expect? How can we poor earthen human beings face up to God the Father and God the Son? But Jesus said if you keep my word my Father and I will come and make our home with you. So I understand why God expects us, in a sense to tremble at His word. Because it's God in person coming into our lives. I've said many times to people: If you want to know what your attitude to God is find out what your attitude to His word is. Because that's your attitude to God. You do not love God more than you love His word. You do not obey God more than you obey His word. You do not have more room in your life for God than you have for His word.
So if you want to know how much God means to you find out how much His word means to you. That's the answer because the word is the way God comes into our lives. I don't believe that God wants us frightened but I do believe He wants us reverent. I believe He wants a sense of awe. I can't go into this but one of the phrases used frequently in the Bible is 'the fear of the Lord'. That doesn't mean we're afraid of being punished, it means we have a tremendous sense of awe. And if you look, especially in the book of Proverbs and the Psalms what the Bible says about the fear of the Lord. There is nothing that carries greater promises of blessing in the whole Bible than the fear of the Lord. The Bible says the fear of the Lord tends to life and he that has it will abide satisfied and will not be visited with evil. Think of that. It tends to life. If you have it you'll always be satisfied and you'll never be visited with evil. If you have a concordance or any other way to find out just spend time going through what the Bible says about the fear of the Lord.
In fact, we're coming in what I'm going to teach right now because the next requirement, which is really right related is to be humble and God fearing. Psalm 25 is one of my favorite psalms and it tells us the kind of person that God will take trouble to teach. You know, you can enroll in any Bible college or seminary but it doesn't necessarily mean that God accepts you as a pupil. God chooses His pupil by character not by intellectual attainment or by the degrees they hold. And Psalm 25 tells you what God looks for in the ones He's willing to accept as His pupils. Psalm 25:8-9: Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble he guides in justice and the humble he teaches His way. What's the requirement there? Humility. The old translation used to say meekness, which I prefer actually because I think meek is in some ways a better word. And then in the same psalm, verse 12: Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way He chooses. What's the requirement there for God to teach you? The man who fears the Lord. And in verse 14: The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and He will show them His covenant. The word secret there means the secret counsel of the Lord.
God shares His intimate plans with what kind of people? Those who fear Him, that's right. So this is the attitude that we need to cultivate. And elsewhere the Bible tells us that we must choose the fear of the Lord. If we don't choose it we won't have it. In Proverbs 1 it says disaster comes on those who did not choose the fear of the Lord. And then in James 1:21... All these are very similar. As a matter of fact, as I'm teaching them I'm impressed by how much they really all emphasize the same thing. James 1:21. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. That's the first requirement, is we turn our back on everything that's unclean and impure and unacceptable to God. And there's basically one word that's used for doing that. What's that word? I can't hear you. Repent, that's right. Repent means turn away from everything that's unpleasing and unacceptable to God, turn your back on it. So, James says: Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word - the word of God - which is able to save your souls. So how are we to receive it? With what? Meekness, that's right. You see, it's all saying the same thing really.