Strange but true: Fearing God, we learn to abandon our fears. This may sound a bit crazy, but in all reality tables are turned when God begins to matter in our lives. As far as I am concerned, finding the Lord has totally changed my perspective. Demons shrink; self-erected walls break down; my world gets bigger and my fears smaller. An interesting revelation in the book of Proverbs tells us that fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7):

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Back in Paradise, Adam and Eve were fascinated by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge is an attraction to the curious mind, and we all are born with an innate curiosity. However, if fearing the Lord is only the beginning of knowledge then the source of all knowledge is in the Lord; hence the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been a misleading source of information. That tree was a deception that threw mankind off pointing us in the wrong direction.

The Lord is good, there is no shadow in Him, and He alone knows how to properly deal with darkness. His light dispels it. In this life we need to learn how to beat our demons. It is easy to be dragged down and get discouraged. The Lord teaches us to stand up and successfully fight these things.

There is a lot to be learned in battle, but our finest moments in life are the occasions when we respond to hate with love. This is how the Lord wages His battles. Love overrules all conflicts and is the solution to every problem. We don’t know how to love if it wasn’t for the Lord. learn from Him, the source of all love. It is His love that has drawn us to Him in the first place.

Without His love there would be nothing worth fighting for. We need to stay strong in trying times by seeking His presence daily. The Lord will give us all the encouragement we need.