Fear Not!

One night an unexpected storm swept over a passenger ship sailing from England to New York, tossing the ship violently and waking up everyone on board, including the captain’s 8-yr.-old daughter.

“What’s the matter?” the frightened child cried.

After her mother explained about the storm, she asked, “Is father on deck?”

Assured that he was, the little girl snuggled back into her bed and in a few moments was sound asleep.

Although the winds still blew and the waves still rolled, she had peace because her father was at the helm.

Romans 8:15 says: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Because we have not received a Spirit of slavery leading to fear, we can have the assurance that our Father is at the helm.

He is in control of our lives and upholds us through the Holy Spirit.

Fellow believers, did you get this.

We have not received a Spirit that promotes slavery, which leads to fear.

We do not have a hard task-master in which we cower in fear like a slave.

We are not enslaved to the Law or rules and regulations, which we may think the Lord is holding over our heads and has placed us under.

How do you see the Lord?

Do you see Him as a hard task-master?

Are you all bound up with fear because you think He is going to punish you for your sins?

This is not the Spirit that the believer has received!

Anything that would enslave us in fear is not from the Holy Spirit, “God has not given us a Spirit of fear.”

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected (or matured) in love.”

The Holy Spirit produces a trust in the love of our Heavenly Father for us.

Since the Holy Spirit is in our human spirit, we are free and no longer in bondage to fear since we are not under the Law, but under grace.

We are now adult sons and can live in intimacy with God as our heavenly Father and cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Abba is a personal term that expresses tender emotions and deep affection and has the idea of dependence and intimacy.

Father speaks of one who nourishes and protects.

These two words together express our love and confidence we can have in our Heavenly Father.

Through Christ we have been brought into the closest possible intimacy with our loving Heavenly Father.

May we yield to the Holy Spirit moment-by-moment and enjoy our intimacy with Him!

Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries