“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:31, BSB).
The church was strengthened and experienced peace. Do you want to be at peace and be strengthened? This verse tells how. They lived in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
First, the fear of the Lord. To live in the fear of the Lord is to walk in holiness. If you were really fearful of God, you wouldn’t treat Him like it wasn’t important what He said. You wouldn’t treat Him like He’ll just forgive you, so it doesn’t matter if you just do what you want. You would honor Him with your life. To fear God is to just believe the Bible is true.
Our God caused the earth to swallow someone up for stealing. Our God knocked two people dead on the spot for lying to look impressive to the church. The Bible shows us, and tells us, that sin separates us from God. Eternal separation from God is hell. If we feared God, we’d fear being separated from Him and would hunger and thirst for righteousness instead of the desires of our flesh. The Lord has a promise for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He promises they will be satisfied. Remember, it’s still all His work. We set our heart on the right things, and He gives us the desires of our heart. (I’m quoting and referencing Matthew 5 and Psalm 37.)
The second part of their experiencing peace and being strengthened is that they were living in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and comforter, and He teaches and comforts us to bring us encouragement, to move us along in our walk with Christ.
Our sin brings us discomfort. The Holy Spirit, as Comforter, doesn’t come along and say, “There, there, it’s okay. It’s just a little sin.” He doesn’t comfort us in our sin. The comfort is in dealing with our sin: coming to God, confessing our sin, asking forgiveness, asking Him to remove the sin from our life. The Holy Spirit assures us of God’s mercy and forgiveness, and we worship in thanksgiving because the Holy Spirit is leading you on the path of life, and is answering your prayers to be like Jesus, to walk in righteousness. We read the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit makes a verse come alive to us. It stands out to us and it speaks encouragement to us, answering a question, confirming a thought, or reminding us of God’s goodness and love.
If you want to walk in a revived state, alive and not dead or sleeping, then this is the key—the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. If we are walking in the fear of the Lord, seeking to walk righteously because of it, then we are living acceptable to Him.
Acts 10:35, “But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (NKJV). When we are accepted by Him, then we can live in His presence, and the Holy Spirit, Himself, will be our encourager, to spur us along the paths of righteousness to eternal dwellings for His name’s sake.