What are you afraid of today? Sickness. Rejection. Conflict. Poverty. Loneliness. Those are some of my fears. God is teaching me to be still in the midst of fear. The fear feels real, but as you claim the promises of God, fear falls away. Why is that possible? You have been adopted by God! Living in the truth of your identity as a literal child of God gives us victory over fear like nothing else can.
What Do You Mean by Adopted? The message is clear from Paul, that being adopted by God chases away fear. Click To TweetDid you find this mid-series? Go back here and read the intro and keep up with the series.
What Does the Bible Say About Being Adopted by God?
As Christians, we are sons and daughters of God. There are many Bible verses about Spiritual adoption that detail what that looks like.
Related Post: 10 Adopted By Go Veres
Of those, Romans 8:15 is my favorite adopted by God verse.
“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 NASB)
Today we will dig into this passage, understand it’s context and see how it teaches us to be still and know HIM more. We will also see that when fear comes, trusting in that adoption calms it in amazing ways.
Adoption Does Not Promise A Life Without Fear
The context of Romans 8:15 is that the author, the apostle Paul is writing to the gentile church in Rome. This was a time where Christians were being persecuted and Paul knew it first hand. Historians tell us he wrote this letter bound in shackled to a Roman guard.
If anyone could have been afraid it would have been Paul.
Christians Have Always Faced Trials
Some things to know before we begin about the context of the book of Romans and the entire New Testament church are:
- Early Christianity was in conflict with traditional Judaism.
- The Jews held strongly to their laws and traditions and their belief that Jehovah was the God of the Jews.
- The Law and sacrifices had been their way of dealing with sin and bondage to sin.
- Jesus Christ came in and revolutionized everything!
- No longer are we slaves to the law.
- Traditions are not the way to God now.
- God made a way for the whole world to come to Him, not just the Jews.
Aren’t you glad Jesus came to make a way for us gentiles to know God?
All of these things meant that the New Testament church would face trials. Trials cause us to respond in fear so easily.
Does The Bible Say We Are Adopted?
What we observe in Romans 8:15, in fact, all throughout Romans is that fear does not have to define our lives because we have been adopted into the family of God
Romans is this beautiful letter telling us how to live the Christian life, how to live free from the bondage of sin. It is amazing!
Right smack dab in the middle of chapter 8 Paul tells us, “Do not fear. You were adopted by God.”
What Do You Mean by Adopted?
The message is clear from Paul, that being adopted by God chases away fear. I get his point, that God is amazing, faithful, trustworthy, able to protect us and defend us and all of that is tied up in the image of God the Father. But what happens when you don’t naturally relate those titles with the word father?
How was your relationship with your daddy?
Mine was an on-again-off-again relationship for most of my life. Most of the time I felt like an orphan, unwanted, unloved, and unimportant.
On the other hand, I’ve seen kids use the very idea of their daddy as a way to scare bullies away.
“If you do that again I’ll get my daddy.”
It has taken many years to be in a place of accepting that I don’t have a right understanding of God being my dad because my earthly dad (doing the best he could) didn’t act like my Heavenly Father.
Today I imagine using my Father’s name to warn the devil he’s picking on the wrong Jesus Girl! Powerful right?!?!?!
Related Post: What Does The Bible Say About Orphans
What Does It Mean to Be Adopted by God?
We are adopted by God. Accepting that truth leads to a natural question. What does it mean that we are adopted by God, especially when we don’t have a good earthly example?
Your Heavenly Father is far superior to your earthly dad. Maybe like my dad, you’ve been hurt and let down, abandoned, and neglected. God the Father would never do that.
Related Post: Knowing God as a Loving Father
What Your Abba Father Does For You
What will your Abba Father do for you to show His Love?
- Your Abba loves you
- Chose you
- Delivered you
- Redeemed you
- Called you by name
- Claims you as His own
- Made you a Royal Priesthood
- Calls you beloved
- Removed your shame
- Is with you
- Hears you when you cry
- Is for you
- Fights for you
- Never leaves you or forsakes you
- Made a way to have a real relationship with Him
- Is coming back to take you home to be with Him for eternity
A Promise About Adoption Into God’s Family
When we see Some of the adopted by God scriptures we see a promise that can’t be denied. When You were adopted by God there are promises you can claim!
- God gives you His name.
- The LORD makes you a co-heir with Christ.
- God blesses you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
- Your salvation and adoption are Eternal.
- Once you are adopted you can never be written out of God’s will!
How To Be Still and Not Fear Because You Are Adopted By God
When we look at the practical application of Romans 8:15 we see several points.
Fear is real and has been an enemy of Christians from day one. Regardless of the fear, however, God is faithful and trustworthy. When you believe that God cares so much that He literally brought you into His family as a child of us – not as a servant or a guest – you grow in confidence. That confidence in your position in God’s family is powerful for fighting fear!
Know That Fear Is Real
What are you afraid of in life today?
- If I am not needed that I won’t be wanted. #PeoplePleaser
- Fear that my marriage won’t endure the test of time #BeatTheOddsOfDivorce
- When I don’t do it, it won’t get done. #ControlFreak
- Pain and fatigue will rob me of the joy of life. #AutoImmuneDiseaseLife
Just to name a few.
Fear is real. It comes in when we are facing real-life situations that seem impossible.
Do you ever say to the LORD, “God I am scared”? He hears you and cares about what you care about!
Let’s hit some of the hard things head first here.
Understand That Trusting God Is Hard
Let me re-phrase that. Trusting God in the midst of uncertainty is hard
When I don’t know what’s happening or why it’s happening I am afraid. I am afraid to trust God because there have been some real things in my past that were too hard. He allowed them. It’s made me fearful to trust Him or anyone else.
Related Post: How To Trust That God is For You
Learn To Trust God Anyway
How do you learn to trust God when life has been so hard?
You step out in faith, believing He is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do. Believing God requires trusting that the hard parts of your life were not for nothing and he has a plan even if we don’t understand it or like it.
Learning to trust God required that I internalize Scripture. I focused on Scriptures about Overcoming fear and found that fear didn’t have to be the end of the story!
Trusting God means we step out in faith despite the fear! We don’t allow it to paralyze us, we act even in the midst of the fear! And He will give us the strength to do just that if we ask Him!
Related Post: 40 Bible verses on overcoming fear and Anxiety
Remember God’s Faithfulness
I trust in God because I’ve seen Him show up. Honestly, God has shown up in my life in miraculous ways! Miraculous ways! It was hard to see at first because I was so fixated on the problems and hard parts that I was missing the beauty. When I stepped back and began fixing my eyes on Him, I began to see His hand working in ways I never dreamed possible!
“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3 NASB)
When you look at Bible verses on trust in God you see a cool same pattern, things get hard and God shows up!
Has God Shown up in a Powerful Way in Your Life?
The way we trust Him when He says, “Don’t be afraid for I am with you,” is to remember the times He’s shown up in the past.
Remember He has adopted you into His own family. You have the rights of a child of God. Start living like one. Don’t be afraid to come to God when you need help. In fact, come to God all the time and it won’t even be a question!
Live in the identity of a child of God, who can call on His name when fear comes, with confidence that your Father will always come running to help.
A Prayer to Be Still Trust in God’s Adoption
Abba! Father!
When I am afraid I will trust in you. I choose to trust You today. Thank you for choosing me. I praise You for adopting me into Your family. It’s hard to remember I am your daughter, a princess to the King of kings. It’s so much easier to be afraid than it is to come to You. Make it my daily habit to talk to You, bring you my needs, and be in an active, intimate relationship with You.
Thank You for breaking the bondage to sin that has held me for so long. I praise Your name Father for being a God of second chances. Thank You that you forgive me and bring new mercy into this new day. Be my help and strength to not blow it today.
Amen.
You Are Adopted By God – Will You Let It Change Everything?
Romans 8:15 is just another truth fitting the theme in our study on how to be still. Have you noticed the theme? The Bible pits fear against trust in God over and over!
I want to say I put my trust in God in every circumstance but I know that is a lie. Usually, I get there, but it takes a lot of wrestling.
Today we saw another reason and way to learn how to trust God more. You are adopted by God. You don’t have to be afraid because your Abba is far bigger and far more powerful than the enemy! Call out to Him. Lean on Him. Trust Him. Be still with Him when fear comes.
How can you overcome fear through the adoption of God?
- Know That Fear Is Real
- Understand That Trusting God Is Hard
- Learn To Trust God Anyway
- Remember God’s Faithfulness
Will you embrace the identity of God’s adopted child today and let Him fight your fears?
in HIM,
Tiffany of Hope Joy in Christ inspires Christian Women to grow in faith, live out Biblical Marriage Principles and raise Godly Children. Join the Wives Only Facebook Group here or keep up with her through Pinterest.
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