John Bevere: The TRUTH About a HEALTHY Fear of God

** Awe of God: Understanding Healthy Fear and the Meaning of Faithfulness as Multiplication

John Bevere, speaker and author, discusses the profound concepts of the fear of the Lord and the biblical definition of faithfulness with Kirk Cameron, drawing on insights from his book, The Awe of God. Bevere emphasizes that a proper, healthy fear of God is crucial for spiritual endurance and maturity.

Redefining the Fear of God: A Healthy Awe

Bevere clarifies that the biblical fear of the Lord is not synonymous with being terrified of God as an awful monster. Instead, it is an intense, healthy fear—a terror of being away from Him.

The Purpose of God’s Treasure

• God’s Treasure: Isaiah 33:6 states that the fear of the Lord is God’s treasure. This treasure is given to believers specifically to keep them from walking away from God.
• The Balance: The love of God woos a person toward Him, while the fear of God keeps them from walking away.
• Maturity: Paul wrote that believers should work out their salvation with fear and trembling. This is essential because the fear of God is what matures our salvation.

Enduring Forever

The source material connects the lack of fear of God to spiritual failure and cynicism:

• Solomon’s Example: David raised Solomon to walk in the fear of God, which brought immense benefits, including wisdom and understanding. Solomon became the greatest king on earth in his generation. However, he lost this fear of God, thinking he could disregard God’s instructions (marrying many women), which caused his heart to turn away. The result was the cynical book of Ecclesiastes, written by a “jaded cynical man”.
• Spiritual Failure: Lucifer, who led worship in heaven, did not have the fear of God and failed to endure, leading a third of the angels astray. Similarly, Adam and Eve walked in God’s presence but lacked the fear of God, resulting in their departure from the Garden.
• Endurance: Psalm 19 declares that the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

The Real-World Impact of No Fear

Bevere recounted a powerful testimony from one of the most well-known evangelists of the 1980s who was sentenced to prison. After reading Bevere’s book, the man stated that the prison sentence was not God’s judgment, but His mercy, because continuing his path would have led to “hell forever”.

When questioned by Bevere about when he fell out of love with Jesus, the man revealed the core problem: “I love Jesus but I have no fear of God“. The man had committed adultery seven years before his sentencing. He believed millions of American Christians are like him—they love Jesus but do not possess the fear of the Lord.

Recognizing Healthy Fears

Bevere argues that people often place all fear into an “unhealthy bucket,” attempting to remove it through self-help. However, there are healthy fears:

• The healthy fear of being mauled by a grizzly bear provides the wisdom to avoid messing with her cubs.
• The healthy fear of falling 2,000 feet prompts the wisdom to avoid walking too close to a cliff edge.
• The fear of the Lord is categorized as a healthy fear.

Faithfulness Redefined: Multiplication

Bevere provides a fresh, important perspective on faithfulness, arguing that the most crucial definition is multiplication. He shared that for 12 years, he asked leadership teams globally for definitions of faithfulness, receiving common, excellent answers like “steadfast,” “consistent,” and “dependable,” but never multiplication.

The Parable of the Talents

Jesus explicitly defines faithfulness as multiplication in the Parable of the Talents:

• The Action: In the parable, the servants who were given talents multiplied their master’s goods (5 to 10, and 2 to 4) while the master was on a long trip.
• The Reward: When the master returned and saw the multiplication, he rewarded them by saying, “Well done good and faithful servant“.
• The Connection: Jesus directly connects the action of multiplying the goods with the descriptor “you were faithful“. There is no other virtue or action described in the parable besides the successful multiplication. This shows that Jesus literally connects faithfulness with multiplication.