“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.” (Psa. 128:1-4)

WOW – what an awesome PROMISE from God to husbands and fathers! If you’ve been praying for your wife to overflow with the light and love of Christ, and for your children to be saplings of Jesus, growing in the discipline and fear of the Lord, then the equation is simple:

FEAR GOD and walk in HIS ways, and you will be blessed!

Fear for an unbeliever, is the judgment of God. But fear for a believer, is reverence of the Lord.

Hebrews 12:28-29 describes the fear of the Lord: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

A life of worship, characterized by reverence and awe, is fear of the Lord.

If your heart’s desire for your family is that they are all growing, fruitful disciples of Christ, then the answer is simple: Fear God. If you desire that the labor of your hands is productive and prosperous in providing for your family and expanding God’s kingdom, then walk in His ways.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord and who walk in His ways.

[From November 19, 2018]