To never fear again

Scripture Read: Romans 8:10-17 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 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!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him

Application: Rom 8:15 "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again" "AGAIN!" Now that is interesting! To return to a “fear” we had. What fear could this be? Well, obviously it might be more than one. The flesh lived under great fear of judgment. The knowledge that God is going to hold us accountable for the things we do in our flesh. That is a terrible fear – and even though salvation has removed that fear if my life goes back to my old master that fear can return. The flesh also has fear of loss of control. It loves to control the actions and drives we have. The flesh fears that control being broken, so this is a fear that would return if we live in the flesh due to the reality that we no longer belong to ourselves but to God. Both of those fears may be included in this statement, but I believe there is a more subtle fear that is being dealt with here. Our flesh has convinced us that only it can bring us the “pleasures” of life. The problem is that the “pleasures” the flesh brings are either perverted from real pleasure or selfishly sought after and out of control. Our flesh has us convinced that pleasure can only come from sinful living - God has freed us from that and taught us what real pleasure is - for the whole man - physical, emotional and spiritual! To go back to flesh controlled living would bring that slavery back. Once again we would be slaves to our bodies instead of master. God has freed us through adoption to be in a loving relationship with Him and be the master of ourselves through the power of His Spirit. Thanks Holy Spirit!