How Fear Taught Me to Be Afraid of God
learning to recognize the voice of adoption over anxiety
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.” —Romans 8:15
There are two spirits under which a believer can live: the spirit of slavery or the Spirit of adoption. The spirit of slavery is a fearful spirit where we are still controlled by something outside of ourselves and are always feeling the threat of punishment for our failure. It keeps us always on edge, always needing to perform, to be better, to do more, and to live life overwhelmed. It leaves us with the anxious feeling that things just aren’t right; That there is something else we need to do, or to be. It’s a spirit of slavery in its emotional experience of constant fear and anxiety, not to mention fatigue and persistent stress.
But God reminds us in Romans 8:15, that we did not receive a spirit of slavery to the law and the fear of punishment, like they lived with through the entire Old Testament, but a Spirit of adoption, making us His kids. As His children, we are no longer living with the shadow of impending punishment. No, we are given a Spirit of adoption which makes us fully acceptable as a child is acceptable to their Father, and gives us a freedom from fear that only comes through the grace of God, in the form of His Holy Spirit.
But, the difference between the Spirit of adoption and the spirit of slavery goes beyond eternal life and death: It’s also the difference between:
power and subjugation,
peace and anxiety,
contentment and regret.
The Spirit we are given is a Spirit of grace whereby we are no longer fearful of what the world fears, but instead we are confident in who we are as children of God. It is when we reject the gift of God’s grace, made possible by the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, that we fall back again into the Spirit of slavery to fear. And while that is a sorry place to find yourself, it’s also a good place to recognize, so that you can become uncomfortable enough to move out.
That means that it’s not a slip punishable by death, that is what the spirit of slavery would have you believe, but it is a slip forgivable by a simple confession. “God, I fell back again into a spirit of slavery. Thank you for your amazing grace and the forgiveness that provides for even me.”
When we find ourselves living with fear, anxiety, or worry, it’s a signal that we have slipped back into that Old Testament spirit, the spirit of slavery that keeps us worried about what we did, are doing, or will do, and how that will affect not only our future here on earth but in heaven. That spirit is hard to ignore. We all listen to it. It’s a part of the DNA of humanity since the beginning of time. There is a sense in us all that something is wrong. That God isn’t telling us everything, that we too need to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so that we can figure this thing called life out and save ourselves from, well, ourselves and everything else. Just like the original parents had an unquenchable need to know, so do we, and in that need to know, we find ourselves with a need for control. Ironically, in grasping for control, we actually give up control to the spirit of slavery.
It’s a little ironic. Don’t you think? That in our attempt to control our lives, we end up enslaving ourselves? But that’s the truth. We enslave ourselves because we ignore the Spirit with His whispers of grace, of mercy, of love, and forgiveness, of God’s sovereign power and omnipresence, and instead we listen to the list of to-dos, and to-don’ts, and we panic thinking there is something that we need to do to make it all better. But the truth is that He has made it all better and all He’s asking is for us to believe Him. To remember Him. To trust Him.
The Spirit of adoption has a voice of acceptance because He speaks grace. Grace has to do with the full acceptance that God gives His children in place of punishment. And the welcome into His family that He extends to all of us. As a child of God, you are adopted, and that means you have all that comes with childship. You are permanently His. You are an heir to all that He has. You have His DNA in you in the form of His Spirit. You are no longer a slave, being ordered around, and walking on the eggshells of fear and trepidation.
You are a victorious soul, a citizen of heaven, and nothing can take that away from you—not death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor failure, nor sin, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, remember who you are. Reject who you were. And trust that God doesn’t need your fear or worry, your anxiety or panic in order to rescue you from your circumstances. The Spirit of adoption says you’ve already been rescued, now rest in that.
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Thoughts to Ponder
What do you fear that is common to a lot of people in the world?
In what ways do you struggle with the need to know or to be in control?
Both fear and the need to know come from the spirit of slavery. Are you willing to reject that spirit and to embrace the Spirit of adoption? How will you do that?