THE FEAR OF THE LORD · “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10 KJV) “The man that wandereth out of

DR. JOSEPH & MRS MERCY

OLOWE HOSTS

DR. JOSEPH & MRS MERCY

OLOWE HOSTS

KINGDOM DOMINION MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

Our Kingdom Heritage

THE FEAR OF THE LORD

A Principal Element for Raising Great and Mighty Children

PART 52

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KNOWLEDGE“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children

to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6 KJV)

“There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.” (Exodus 23:26 KJV)

“Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the genera�on of

the upright shall be blessed.” (Psalms 112:1-2 KJV)

Gleaning from the insight of the psalmist, we understand that children are the heritage of the Lord and a reward that He alone can give. And in God's goodness, not only does He give us children, but He also gives us countless clues about how to raise them such that they can fulfill the numbers of their days and realise their glorious des�nies. How good God is! He gives us guidance from His Word and commits Himself irrevocably by His promise to come alongside us and help us as we raise the seeds He has put in our care. Very many �mes, my wife and l had told our first daughter that she was our 'experiment'. We've never been privileged to parent anyone un�l she came, and as such, there was a lot of learning to do for her mum and I. Thankfully, we have some incredible promises from God's Word to fall back on when we are at our wits end. There is a wonderful promise in Isaiah 54:13. It says:

“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isaiah 54:13 KJV)

What a promise! God has commi�ed Himself to teach our children. And the result? GREAT shall be their peace! It doesn't get be�er than that! When they are peaceful, we, as parents, can enjoy peace as well. And so because of promises like this, I can wake and say to myself, “Great is the peace of my children for they are taught of the Lord; they are protected, healthy, wealthy, and anointed.”

It is very important that we take God up on His wonderful promises, however, this is hanging on our diligence in pursuit of knowledge. King Solomon advises us:

“Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.” (Proverbs 27:23 KJV)

That is a helpful parental advice. We must be diligent to know what's going on with our children so we can leverage on the promise in Isaiah 54:13. It's unfortunate that, to start with, there are many parents that are totally oblivious to God's presence in their homes and His workings in the lives of their children. Like Jacob, they dwell in god's presence without even knowing He is there (Genesis 28:16). And if we can't discern God's presence while He's at work, how shall we discern when He is absent in our endeavours? God did not create us to parent like that.




WHAT IS THE FEAR OF THE LORD?The fear of the Lord has been the focus of our discussion since last week. We have established that it is the substance that drives migh�ness and greatness. If we desire to raise great and mighty children, then it is important to know what “the fear of the Lord” is and learn how we can plug into it for the sake of God's heritage.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10 KJV)

“The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congrega�on of the dead.” (Proverbs 21:16 KJV)

Solomon is telling us in the above verses that wisdom and understanding begins with the fear of the Lord and the KNOWLEDGE of God. To depart from that framework, Solomon tells us in Proverbs 21:16, is to REMAIN in the congrega�on of the DEAD. Surely, no family desires that and to avoid such a misplacement we must pursue wisdom, the principal thing we all need.

Wisdom, as we have been discussing for many weeks now, is founded on seven pillars. We drew these seven pillars of wisdom from wisdom's seven a�ributes described in Proverbs 8:12-14. It reads:

“I, wisdom, dwell together with PRUDENCE; I possess KNOWLEDGE and DISCRETION. To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. COUNSEL and

SOUND JUDGMENT are mine; I have INSIGHT and POWER.” (Proverbs 8:12-14 NIV)

Can you spot the seven pillars of wisdom right there? Prudence is doing the right thing; Knowledge is an awareness of what is true or right; Discre�on is forethought — ac�ng based on convic�on and according to truth; Counsel is good advice; Sound Judgement is the ability to determine right from wrong; Insight (or Understanding) is applied knowledge; and Power is the ability or rate of ge�ng

things done.

PILLAR #2: KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is becoming aware of what's true and right. Last week, we looked at prudence and we concluded that it is the lens through which wisdom sees — it is the eyesight of wisdom. Likening wisdom to a camera, prudence is the lens of wisdom's camera. When we look through that lens, then we develop a KNOWLEDGE — an awareness — of our object of focus. From that point, a photographer looking through his camera's lens to take the picture of someone posing in front of the camera can instruct the person to adjust in certain areas so that the image captured can come out right. To apply this to our homes, when we look at our homes through the lens of prudence, what naturally follows is for us to develop the deep KNOWLEDGE of how to manage and lead our homes aright. Knowledge is so vital to us that prophet Hosea said concerning God's people (you and I):

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will




also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgo�en the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hosea 4:6 KJV)

May you or your household never perish in Jesus name.

THE PRICE OF REJECTING KNOWLEDGE: A CASE STUDY OF ELI, THE PRIEST“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord.

Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congrega�on. And he said unto

them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against

another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay

them.” (1 Samuel 2:12, 22-25 KJV)

“And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” (1 Samuel 3:18 KJV)

To give a quick background, Prophet Eli had two sons who were nothing but thugs. They behaved unseemly before the people, and even incited God's people to sin against God. Their father, Eli the priest, did warn them to stop but there was no record of any discipline that was measured out to the kids to that effect. For all we know, he did not do enough to influence a change in the behavior and disposi�on of his kids. In fact, on the contrary, Eli dared the Lord to do whatever pleases Him concerning his children. Of course, God gave Eli perspec�ve through the “lens” of prudence. He did this for Eli in two ways — I have called them “Prudence Lenses”:

PRUDENCE LENS 1First, God sent a warning to Eli via a man of God — just like He some�mes reveals the condi�on of our home to a friend, or our pastor, when we are insensi�ve to pick what He is poin�ng our a�en�on to.

“And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?”

(1 Samuel 2:27KJV)

PRUDENCE LENS 2 Secondly, through Prophet Samuel, God issued another warning to Eli and again, Eli did not mind. As a result, his genera�on was wiped out in one day and the priesthood that used to be exclusively from that lineage ceased.

“And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall �ngle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have

spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.” (1 Samuel 3:11-12 KJV)




Here are a few lessons from the story:

1. You will observe that Eli raised Samuel well, but not his own children. Some parents are very strict on the kids that are not theirs but living with them, yet they condone all kinds of atroci�es for which their own children are culpable.

2. Parents should be open-minded when someone comes to report their children's misbehavior. It's so unfortunate that in our postmodern world (especially in the West), it no longer takes a village to raise a child. You hear today's kids saying things like “YOU ARE NOT MY DAD OR MUM” when you a�empt to correct them.

3. If you refuse to correct your kids now, the system will correct them for you, and you might not like the end result of that. The prison has not been known to be a truthful correc�onal ins�tu�on. Eli refused to tame his children and God did it for him.

4. Your children's disobedience today may affect genera�ons to come. At the end of the story of Eli's family, we find that his grandson was named Ichabod, which means “the glory has departed”. When you don't tame your children through the lens of prudence and you refuse or reject knowledge, glory will depart from your home.

5. Eli and his children died in one day. It was obvious that their mother was not involved in their upbringing. Although the bible is silent about her, the point s�ll remains that the role of a mother in raising great and mighty children cannot be overemphasized. Are you a mother? Please a�end to your home.

CALL TO ACTIONAre your children like the sons and daughters of Belial? What are the traits that we saw in the house of Eli that are present in yours? Dear parents, be willing to be firm with your children; their des�nies might just be hanging on it.

WORD TO PONDER ON FOR WEEK: “THE SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE”

“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;” (Isaiah 11:2 KJV)

There's a spirit of knowledge. l urge every parent to pursue it vehemently. God is willing to let you into some knowledge about your home that is not visible to the

naked eyes. Let Him.

PRAYER POINTS1. Father, bap�ze me with the Spirit of Knowledge in the name of Jesus.2. Lord, dispel every shadow of ignorance by which the enemy is manipula�ng my home in the name of Jesus.Amen.

Documents

THE FEAR OF THE LORD · “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10 KJV) “The man that wandereth out of