No, No. Not Fear - A Father!

Scripture: Romans 8:15 "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out "Abba, Father."

Observation: Bondage, slavery, fear, condemnation - these things are the reality of what we all have before giving our lives to God in faith.

All of my life apart from Jesus, before entrusting my life to Him, was about me being in charge and reaping the consequences of it. I may have felt like it worked, in reality I was ever aware of the condemnation and guilt that I knew were rightly mine.

But once I gave control to God and recognized His rightful place as my Lord, I stepped into freedom. Here is the paradox: by making myself a slave, I was finally truly free. Leaving fear behind, I was adopted by God! Now my inheritance is not guilt, but God as father! God doesn't have to be feared. We can be closed to Him, as close as the best of fathers.

Application: Truly, deep down this is what we all want. Every disappointment, every fear, every longing, every pain of mankind is at its core a lack of the presence of God. He is the answer to everything. So what I need to do when conflict or hurt arises is to turn to the Lord for the answer first. He will be comfort to my pain, love for my loss, acceptance for my rejection, tenderness for my abuses, light for my doubt, wisdom for my confusion, strength in my weakness, completeness when I lack, purpose when I am wandering and a firm foundation when all the world is shifting.

Cling to God. He has made a way for us all to draw near to Him and to experience Him.

Prayer: Father, often I don't see my need for connecting with You until I've already given myself over to sin instead: whether it be responding to others harshly or spending hours watching movies or surfing the Facebook news feed! As I meditate on Your word this morning I see the foolishness of trying to satisfy my soul with anything but You. Please steel my determination to pursue You. Your goodness, Your worth and Your power are beyond my comprehension and yet I must still strive to comprehend all of You I can. But I also can't stop at the academic. I want to - I need to -
know You as my perfect and loving Father. Thank You for everything You have done for me.