When all the seats in the room are taken, and you get out of your seat so another can sit there, you have given place to them. Keep that in mind…“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death…By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life” (Proverbs 14:27; 22:4). “Fear” in the original Hebrew language of the scriptures, means “reverence.” To truly reverence someone is to defer to them or give place to them. To live in the fear of God, to reverence God, is to defer to or to give place to him. Since the Holy Spirit is the agency of God who is with us in this earth realm, we must conclude that to truly reverence God means that we defer to or give place to the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paraphrase: To give place to the Holy Spirit is a gushing fountain of life springing up to depart from the snares of death…by humbly giving place to the Holy Spirit brings riches, and honor, and life.
If there is one goal we should have, it should be to give place to the Holy Spirit in our lives. By yielding to God’s Spirit in our life, we realize forgiveness and release from sin through what Jesus did for us. By yielding to the Spirit we can walk in God’s power which will guide us and enable us to do his will in the earth. Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is important to keep us “awake” spiritually to what the Lord is working in our lives. Jesus spoke about a time in which “everything goes” so that many are ensnared in ways that lead away from the Lord. Without the fear of God operating in our lives, we are lulled to sleep spiritually, allowing all sorts of stuff in our life for which we will give account in the day of the Lord. There will be a day of reckoning. If we make a firm decision to walk in God’s ways instead of our own, and commit ourselves to doing just that, the blood of Jesus can cleanse us of our sin, the Spirit of God can empower us, and we can begin turning our life around to doing his will. Jesus said it is not those who just say, “Lord, Lord”, who enter into the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of the Father who are in heaven (Matthew 7:21-23). It is very important that we cultivate the fear of God in our lives. It is for our eternal life. “Have a seat, Sir.”
