{"id":2358,"date":"2015-08-12T12:29:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T16:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=2358"},"modified":"2015-08-12T12:29:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T16:29:25","slug":"a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 14:27)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The fear of the Lord adds length to life. (Proverbs 10:27)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I was blessed to have a dad who I respected so much that I never wanted to disappoint him. Just the thought of his\u00a0look of disapproval was enough to stop me in my tracks when I was tempted to disobey. When my mom made bread (which was often), she would give me a small piece of dough. With it I would make tiny\u00a0cinnamon rolls with my toy utensils\u00a0just for Dad. Pleasing him gave me such delight. I wanted to give him something exceptional. I remember once discovering an\u00a0extra small banana in the bunch; of course I insisted that we set that one aside for Dad. Dear, sweet Dad. I didn’t know it, but I was being groomed for an understanding of the fear of the Lord. It was simply this: longing to please and honor my Father, desiring to see his sweet smile when I handed him his little gift; imperfect as it was, he always received it with the greatest pleasure. Imperfect as you and I are, God always receives us with joy.<\/p>\n

Father,<\/em><\/p>\n

I long to understand the secret to fearing you. This concept has been twisted and distorted, indicating that you are a dominating tyrant that makes our hearts tremble. \u00a0I reject this false notion, and I believe the truth: that you are a Father who loves His children. I receive Your\u00a0love today, and I choose to maintain a heart that fears you \u2013 giving you reverence, avoiding at all costs doing anything that would cause you pain, and enjoying your love, provision, and protection every day of my life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 14:27) The fear of the Lord adds length to life. (Proverbs 10:27) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7) I was blessed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[547,909,1293,499,1741,319,457,1294,1292],"class_list":["post-2358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-abundant-life","tag-delight","tag-father-heart-of-god","tag-joy-2","tag-love","tag-protection","tag-provision","tag-reverence","tag-the-fear-of-the-lord"],"yoast_head":"\nA Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 14:27) The fear of the Lord adds length to life. (Proverbs 10:27) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7) I was blessed…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-12T16:29:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark and Jill Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord","og_description":"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 14:27) The fear of the Lord adds length to life. (Proverbs 10:27) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7) I was blessed…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","og_site_name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","article_published_time":"2015-08-12T16:29:25+00:00","author":"Mark and Jill Herringshaw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","name":"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-12T16:29:25+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-12T16:29:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/29563cda917dd596f93dba2ff3a7fedf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/08\/a-prayer-to-understand-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Prayer to Understand the Fear of the Lord"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/","name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","description":"Prayer, Daily Prayer, Simple Prayers, Quick Prayers, Prayer Requests","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/29563cda917dd596f93dba2ff3a7fedf","name":"Mark and Jill Herringshaw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/94f\/94fb184ea80985d82e603e3d8dd0056bx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/94f\/94fb184ea80985d82e603e3d8dd0056bx96.jpg","caption":"Mark and Jill Herringshaw"},"description":"Mark and Jill Herringshaw and their four children have been ministering in their local church since 1990. Jill is an accomplished worship leader and recording artist with several CDs in Target stores\u2019 \u201cLifescapes\u201d collection. Mark is the former pastor of the 7,000 member North Heights Lutheran Church. He holds a Ph.D. in leadership from Regent University, is the author of three books and a recognized conference speaker.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/author\/mherringshaw1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions\/2360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}