For a person seeking communion with God, pointing only to the path of developing the fear of God in him is not enough. It is also important for him to know the means of acquiring and assimilating this gift.

First of all, it must be remembered that the fear of the Lord "is born and multiplied with the help of God" (2:254). It can be perceived and developed in the soul of a person of any age, but the most favorable time for this is childhood. A child's soul is not yet burdened with worldly cares and worldly vanity. She sensitively perceives the good instructions and exhortations of her elders, strives for everything good and sublime. Parents should remember about this feature of childhood; according to their Christian duty, they should make every effort to raise their children in the fear of God, instructing them on the path of salvation. "For the whole life depends on upbringing," says St. Tikhon, "and parents who do not bring up their children in the fear of the Lord will not escape God's punishment" (1:105). In one of the instructions to teachers of Voronezh schools, the Holy Father obliges teachers and mentors to teach children not only literacy, but also an honest life, the fear of God, since "literacy without the fear of God is nothing but a sword to a madman" (1:254).

A person who did not acquire the fear of God in childhood, but desires and seeks the salvation of his soul, must know that the fear of God is a gift of grace and in order to receive it, it is necessary to constantly ask God to send down this gift and to avoid sin (5:369). And, without a doubt, whoever spends his life holy, and believes in Christ with his heart, will feel the fear of the Lord in his heart in a short time (2:277). At the same time, it should always be remembered, the Zadonsk saint teaches, that the fear of God as a virtue develops and strengthens in the human soul only under the condition of an appropriate disposition of the Christian's will and his striving for a pious life. With a strict spiritual disposition, a Christian easily conquers sin in its very essence and becomes more and more strengthened and grows in the fear of God (5:369; 4:343).

An important means of strengthening the fear of God in the soul of a Christian is meditation "on the attributes of God" (2:255), His greatness, omnipotence, which teaches a person "everywhere and always to address the omnipresent and omniscient God, as children turn to their father" (4:343). Remembrance of God's attributes helps a Christian to always abide in the salvific fear of God, to have reverence for the Lord and to revere Him, it prompts him to constantly be vigilant in his soul and to eradicate harmful passions and vices. The worship of God "requires of us that we do nothing contrary to His will, that we say nothing not only evil, but also idle, and in our minds that we do not think anything contrary to God" (1:57).

Further, the fear of God is born and strengthened in the human heart from the knowledge of God's righteousness, which rewards each one according to his deeds, and from reflection on the terrible punishments of God that befell sinners in ancient times, for example, about God's punishment of Cain (Gen. 4), about the punishment of the human race by a flood (Gen. 7), about the fate of the Sodomites (Gen. 19), about the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the sea (Exodus 14). about the death of Dathan and Abiram, who were sacrificed by the earth (Num. 16), about the death of Absalom (2 Sam. 17) and many other examples (2:254-255). Remembrance of these fates of sinners and of the fact that God, Who formerly executed for sins and now says to us: "... if ye do not repent, ye shall all perish" (Luke 13:3), will establish the fear of God in the heart of man.

A particularly powerful and grace-filled means of affirmation in the fear of the Lord is the hearing of the word of God (2:254), for from hearing it is born true faith in God, and where there is faith, there is the fear of God (5:152). The Word of God has always been, is and will be an inexhaustible life-giving source of salvation for human souls.

For the acquisition of the gift of the fear of God, there are also other grace-filled means, for example, prayer, fasting, repentance, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, unity with the Church of Christ (2:254).

Next, let us consider the salvific qualities of the fear of God. First of all, it is the strongest Christian weapon in the struggle against sin, it helps a person to avoid sinful deeds and actions: "it does not allow the mind to be scattered" (2:253), "it does not allow the tongue to speak much, but to be silent more, thinking that even an idle word should be given an answer on the day of judgment" (2:254); He does not allow "the eyes to see everything, the ears to hear everything, but always and from everything, and, in the likeness of a bird, teaches them to look around" (2:253). The fear of God restrains a person not only from open sins, but also from secret ones, for he who has it always sees God before him (2:254) and fears to anger Him, so as not to be deprived of His mercy (2:72).

The salvific effect of this virtue is not limited to restraining a person from sin. He is the most effective means of preserving Christian piety, helping man to avoid evil and teaching him a virtuous life (5:152). The soul, "surrounded and contained by the fear of God, is immovable to no evil" (4:343). This guardian of God does not allow vicious inclinations to develop in the soul of a Christian, stops the access of seductive impressions to his "temple of the heart" (2:254), preserves the purity of thoughts and feelings. A Christian, who has the fear of God in his soul, by the power of God turns away from all evil and directs his will to do good, and so man is perfected day by day, becoming better (5:152). The one who has this gift of God "prays and sighs unceasingly and earnestly, that God Himself may instruct him and preserve him from sins and all that leads to sin" (2:254).

In a sinner, the fear of God is capable of evoking a deep feeling of repentance (1:157). He cleanses the soul of a Christian "from the filth of sin and prepares a place for spiritual wisdom. As if the beginning of bodily health is when the body is cleansed of harmful juices: so the beginning of spiritual health is when the soul is freed by the fear of God from evil lusts and taxes, which, like harmful juices, lead it into weakness and impotence" (2:17).

The filial fear of God, perceived by the soul, expels from the heart of a Christian all fear of people. Such a person will not fawn before those in power, but will always be honest and just in his judgments. He who fears the Lord "not only fears no temporal misfortune or fear of man, but also death itself" (2:254). And this fearlessness is explained not by indifference or disdain for earthly life, but by faith that separation from the body leads to the blessedness of the soul with the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, by the firm faith that "in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). A Christian who fears the Lord agrees that it is better "to suffer and die than to sin, and in the fear of God every misfortune and the very fear of death prevails" (2:254). St. Tikhon cites many examples from the Holy Scriptures that confirm his thought. Thus, "St. Joseph, the son of Jacob, deigns to sit in prison rather than to mingle and sin with the Egyptian woman", the three blessed youths were not afraid of the "kindled furnace", Susanna was not afraid of death "for the fear of God" and other examples (2:254-255).

All these feats of self-denial are accessible only to those who have attained complete fear of God and complete devotion to His holy will. The inner, spiritual life of such people is entirely concentrated in God. In Him are contained for them all the joys and consolations, the meaning and purpose of their existence. "Whoever fears God alone finds everything in God. To him God is honor, glory, riches, consolation and life, and all blessedness, although from men He is deprived of honor, glory, riches, consolation, and life" (5:330).

The Lord especially generously pours out His grace-filled gifts on those Christians who do all their deeds and undertakings with the fear of God. He affirms them in Christian virtues (5:330), enlightens the mind, and leads them to piety, righteousness, and holiness (2:18). The fear of God, established in the heart of a Christian, becomes the main driving force directing his entire life and activity towards the achievement of the only goal and meaning of earthly existence necessary for him – the acquisition of God's grace and unity with God (2:253-254).

And blessed is the man who has acquired the gift of the fear of God. But miserable and "poor is he who does not fear the Lord God" and neglects to gain the fear of the Lord (5:330). Shame and shame will be his lot in this life and in the next, because the absence of the fear of God has an unfavorable, destructive effect on the entire structure of spiritual life. In the words of St. Tikhon, a person who does not have the fear of God clings with all his soul to everything that seems good to him in this temporal life, to imaginary pleasures and joys, for "vanity and peace love occupy a place in his heart" (5:41). This sinful attachment of man to earthly goods and pleasures cannot be pleasing to God and not only will never attract His mercy, but, on the contrary, will attract the wrath and judgment of God. A person who is carried away only by earthly interests and deprived of Divine help exposes his soul to mortal danger. Without Divine grace and the gift of the fear of the Lord, he cannot even see and understand who he is and what the purpose of his life on earth is; He is spiritually unarmed and absolutely defenseless from sin, for "fearlessness opens the way to all evil and lawlessness" (2:257). In the words of St. Tikhon, "like a fierce horse, having no ruler, strives and runs wherever it wills, and eyes look: so a man, inclined by nature to all evil, when he loses the fear of God as a good ruler, rushes to all evil" (2:257). Then he adds iniquity to iniquity, falls from sin into sin, thinks evil, speaks evil, and "descends into the depths of evil as by steps, as by various iniquities" (2:257).