Do you fear the Lord? That’s good. How were you taught to fear the Lord? Have you learned it by the precept of scripture, or was the word of God manifested to you through the due order of living contact He established in Jesus’ covenant? This teaching will compare and contrast these two patterns and bring out the effect of each upon faith and the state of the conscience.

I received a dream of the Lord wherein He used the symbolism of hungry people being able to access food by producing a proper (approved) map. A homeless man tried to circumvent the system by presenting a counterfeit version of a map, but it was examined by those issuing the food and disqualified.

In the dream, those providing the meal symbolized God’s sanctified stewardship, beginning with living apostles. The food in the dream symbolized the doctrine of Christ. The proper map spoke of a heart prepared by the grace of God to receive Christ in His holy knowledge, which living apostles teach. The homeless man represents those who claim to seek the bread of life yet want to do so without responsibility and on their own terms, denying God’s due order.

The man in the dream didn’t care what his map looked like; he wanted a free meal without the responsibility of following the established rules. To this man, the rules were an unreasonable burden. God is teaching about the need to conform to His standard in order for faith to profit from His promises – just because one can read of the things of God in the Bible does not mean you are sharing in the living reality of its riches.

In the natural, hunger and thirst cannot be satisfied by a zealous desire to eat and drink; neither can they be satisfied by the shadow of a fruit tree or the sight of water. The appetite, shadow, and sight are evidence of the existence of things that satisfy but carry no substance within themselves to meet that need. Spiritually, it is so also with the written word of God. The prophet Isaiah addressed this in chapter 29.

Isaiah 29:8
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

Dreaming of substance does not produce substance. Passionate desire can stir up zeal, but it cannot produce fruit, and it cannot bring forth water from a dry well. Yet this is what most people have in mind when they talk about faith. The world defines faith by man’s own needs and desires. Believers yet unconverted to the new covenant define faith as having confidence in something that cannot be seen, heard, or tasted. This definition is a supposition drawn from select verses but lacks the insight of God’s covenant perspective. As such, it gives direction to the imagination to project outcomes; to hope for desired outcomes, and aspire for greater things, but what it does not do is direct believers to the activity God sanctified for fruitful faith.

Apostle Estelle Tolmay of the restored government of God recently received a word of knowledge: “Faith needs direction.” God calls this direction His wisdom which is always from His perspective and always centers on His own purpose and plan. To gain understanding of God’s character, purpose and plan begins with the stewardship through whom He makes His knowledge known, laying within the heart of faith his truth as the foundation for faith.

The imagination can picture many things to appease a hungered soul for a moment, but it is not sanctified for faith, and it is faith that gives substance to hope by following God’s design and function. The wisdom of the world directs the aspiration of man, resourcing the imagination to reach beyond boundaries in pursuit of one’s own purpose and plan (even in religion).

In contrast, the wisdom of God directs faith into a covenant relationship with Him. God set the terms and the conditions for the covenant of Jesus Christ to govern the faith of believers and, thereby, to offer substantiated hope in Christ Jesus. The promise of covenant faith (and living experience for those who serve God thereby) is to daily experience rest and refuge in Christ. At the same time, the soul is expanded by Him to receive ever-increasing substance from above in the powers of His peace, joy, temperance, love, etc.

The wisdom of the world also gives direction to the boast of the flesh. This zeal, inspired by worldly wisdom, fights to defend one’s own principles and traditions as being sacrosanct.

“Sacrosanct” is a word of knowledge the Spirit ministered to me for this teaching and has to do with those things which are regarded as being too important or valuable to be interfered with (Oxford Dictionary).

Considering this, one can understand why the Pharisees so strongly held on to their own philosophies drawn from scripture apart from the anointing. Many Christians today face a similar struggle as God brings correction to the church.

When you think of God, I want you to think of how GOD is the Governor of Our Destiny. God governs our destiny by overseeing our faith in Jesus Christ. How does He do this? God sends stewards to set order to His knowledge, rebuke the proud, and give direction for faith so that all who hear His voice may repent and turn to Him. This pattern is confirmed in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah brings out this distinction in verse 13.

Isaiah 29:13
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Notice how the Spirit, through the stewardship of Prophet Isaiah, addresses those who feel as though they are drawing near to God. They believe in their hearts that they are honoring Him with their words and deeds. They feel confident in their religious principles and traditions.

Notice also that God is giving knowledge, through the stewardship of the Prophet Isaiah, to correct their faulty thinking. God does this by manifesting His word through the preaching of the Prophet Isaiah.

We see here how the Spirit of God works with His elect stewardship to set order to our thinking according to the true pattern revealed by God from above. God gives freely of His wisdom through the lips of His anointed stewardship. While the Bible confirms this reality, it cannot produce it. Role-playing what we read in the Bible will not bring about the manifestation of Jesus Christ, no matter how sincere one is in their religious zeal.

While these people say they fear the Lord, God is making known to them that they are standing in error and that their fear is taught by the precepts of men. Jesus brought this out, too, as we see in the gospel of Apostle Matthew:

Matthew 15:9
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Highlight the words “in vain” and “worship”. It’s not that they denied the existence of God. They were worshipping Him. God calls this vain worship because this form of worship did not conform to His revelation and, as such, lacked His desired outcome: the fruit of faith in the heart.

The precepts of man lack the power to join faith to God, and so there is no true contact with His divinity. In the absence of this power, the imagination steps up in a vain attempt to fill in the gaps. As the saying goes, nature hates a vacuum. The fleshly nature strives to make sense out of what one cannot understand and takes solace in finding closure when completion is found to be out of reach.

Stewardship is God’s key to unlocking the mystery of Christ. While God inspires every scripture, not every interpretation is sanctified by Him. God provides the measure of grace necessary to teach doctrine through His apostles. God confirms Christ in this knowledge to all those who believe on Him through their word. (John 17:20).

Apostle Peter warned of following after those who self-interpret the scriptures and bring about the destruction of faith by turning believers’ towards vain worship. He contrasts this with reminding those under his stewardship of the foundation knowledge they had received from him: “…seeing ye know these things before…” (2 Peter 3:17). He was reminding them of their experience, since their conversion, with God manifesting Christ in their hearts while partaking of the preaching of His elect stewards (beginning with apostles).

The fear of the Lord has to do with having gained living experience with the revelation and empowerment of God and fearing ever losing that access and being separated from Him again. Thus the fear of the Lord directs us to faithfulness to walk worthy of Him, increasing in His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and the fruit of His virtue.

As Jesus called the first apostles and prepared them in His knowledge to instruct believers in His ways, so also has God restored the oversight of living apostles today to restore the church to His one standard for faith according to the terms of Jesus’ spiritual covenant and priesthood. To learn more about how to progress from being awakened by God and desiring to please Him to daily growing in His grace, experiencing the purging of your conscience, and learning how to serve God with pure praise, please use this link to our Steps to Covenant lesson.