2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 15
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 15
“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!’” Romans 8:15
A Spirit of Slavery Leading to Fear;
When we were in bondage to sin, we lived in fear of God’s condemnation. Paul opened the chapter with the way things used to be before Christ. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation." Now in Christ we are free from the power of "the law of sin and death" and the condemnation of God because of our sin. Without grace through faith in Christ, there is a reality of condemnation and judgment. Fear is the natural reaction to this coming judgment for those outside of Christ. If fear fills a person's heart when hearing of a future encounter with the living God, then that may be a sign that they have never come to saving faith in Christ Jesus. There are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who have a joyful future with God forever and ever through faith in Christ. There are those who have a terrifying future of separation from God forever and ever because they have never believed in Christ as their Savior. I John 4:17-19 tells us, "By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment;... There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love."
A Spirit of Adoption
As believers, we have been freed from the bondage of sin and its associated fear of judgment. God set us free. We are free from sins pervasive influence. We are free from God’s judgment of sin. If we have been freed in this way, why would we allow sin to continue to control us? Our life was once like that, under the sway of sin and the fearful reality of judgment. The bondage to sin led us to the terrible place of the fear of God’s judgment. As believers, when we allow sin to dominate our lives; we imitate our life prior to God’s freeing work of salvation in Christ. This is not the type of spirit we have received. Instead we have been given the Spirit of God. Just as the “spirit of slavery” leads us to fear and bondage, the “spirit of adoption” leads us to confidence and freedom. We can have confidence in God’s presence. Fear has no power over us anymore. Just as fear has no power over us anymore, sin has no power to dominate us anymore. We must live in a way that reflects our newfound freedom. We must live under the leadership of the Spirit of God so that righteousness and goodness and truth dominate our daily experience.
We Cry Out “Daddy!”
In our newfound confidence we cry out. Our soul cries out from the longing of our hearts. Like a young child confidently shouts “daddy” to her earthly father, so too, we can cry out to God our Father. In our past, we cried out “O Holy God, do not condemn me forever,” now we cry out “my Daddy and my Father.” The adoption of children gives us a beautiful picture of what God has accomplished in us through His Son. When adopting a child, the adopting parents must go through a rigorous process of approval. Their credibility is tested by a series of court appointed attorneys and social workers. The adopting family must also pay the legal costs associated with the adoption process. I speak from personal experience when I say that the adoption process is a grueling endeavor. However, the first time you hold the child in your arms, the first time you give the child a bottle, the first time you hear that child say “dada,” all of the effort is worth it. Paul described a similar reality with God’s adoption of us. God paid an enormous legal price in order to secure our legal adoption into His family. He gave His One and Only Son to bring us into the family. However, just as earthly parents love to hear their children say “momma” or “dada” even so our Heavenly Father loves to hear us say “Abba! Father!” "Abba" was one of the first words spoken by a young child in Paul's day. Since the short "a" sound and the "b" sound are some of the easiest for young children to form, "abba" became an early word associated with father. This is much like the words "momma" and "dada" today. When Paul spoke of "Abba! Father!" he described for us the intimate and personal relationship between us and God. God has adopted us. He invites us to call Him our own Father. For God's great glory, through the exalting of His Son, God has adopted us into His family. This adoption has resulted in our great joy. We once lived in fear. Now we live in joy. Listen to the joy in the heart of the child of God crying out to God, “My Daddy!”
Prayer Focus
Oh My Father, You are so good. You have adopted me into Your family. Such knowledge is beyond my comprehension. Such truth is more than I can understand. I praise You, Oh God, for Your mercy. Today, please work in my life in such a way as others will see the family resemblance. I want to be like Your Son. I want others to see Christ Jesus in me. I pray that You will help me with my confidence before You. I know that You have forgiven me all my sins. I know that You will never cast me away from Your presence because of the loving work You have done to save me.
From DL Moody's Secret Power
THE GREATEST WEAPON.
The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, and what we need specially is to be filled with the Spirit, so we can know how to use the Word. There was a Christian man talking to a skeptic, who was using the Word, and the skeptic said, “I don’t believe, sir, in that Book.” But the man went right on and he gave him more of the Word’ and the man again remarked, “I don’t believe the Word,” but he kept giving him more, and at last the man was reached. And the brother added, “When I have proved a good sword which does the work of execution, I would just keep right on using it.” That is what we want. Skeptics may say they don’t believe in it. It is not our work to make them believe in it; that is the work of the Spirit. Our work is to give them the Word of God; not to preach our theories and our ideas about it, but just to deliver the message as God gives it to us. We read in the Scriptures of the Sword of the Lord and Gideon. Suppose Gideon had gone out without the Word, he would have been defeated. But the Lord used Gideon; and I think you find all through the Scriptures, God takes up and uses human instruments. You cannot find, I believe, a case in the Bible where a man is converted without God calling in some human agency - using some human instrument; not but that He cannot do it in His own independent sovereignty; there is no doubt about that. Even when by the revealed glory of the Lord Jesus, Saul of Tarsus was smitten to the earth, Annanias was used to open his eyes and lead him into the light of the Gospel. I heard a man once say, if you put a man on a mountain peak, higher than one of the Alpine peaks, God could save him without a human messenger; but that is not His way; that is not His method; but it is “The sword of the Lord and Gideon”; and the Lord and Gideon will do the work; and if we are just willing to let the Lord use us, He will.