Romans 8:15 (CSB)
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
We no longer have a spirit of slavery when we have become sons and daughters of God through His spiritual adoption of us. We are free to call God, Our Father and Abba, Father because of our faith in His son Jesus Christ and the grace that is offered to us through our faith in Jesus.
When we are in need of help, make God your first port of call. Cry out to Him and He will hear you.
Psalm 18:6 (CSB)
I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
God is not deaf, He hears you and He will help you.
Psalm 34:6 (CSB)
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.
Psalm 34 tells us of David who knew he had nothing to give to God in return for God’s help, but he was humble and cried out to God, and God heard him and saved him from all his troubles. David was humble. God loves a humble heart, He does not want anyone to have a proud heart which makes them arrogant and overconfident.
Proverbs 16:18 (CSB)
Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (CSB)
And my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Firstly, God hears from heaven.
Secondly, God forgives sin when you humble yourself and repent.
Thirdly, God heals.
The above scripture refers to God restoring His favour to the Children of Israel after they had turned their backs on Him, but only when they repented of their sins. It tells of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
Psalm 50:15 (CSB)
“Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
Acts 4:12 (CSB)
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
1 Peter 1:8-9 (CSB)
Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Turning to God and repenting of your sins is the first step to take in getting to know Him. Accepting Jesus into your heart and being filled with God’s Holy Spirit is the path we need to be on to eternal life in heaven.
2 Timothy 4:3-5 (CSB)
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Paul was concerned that after his death, the people in Ephesus would turn away from the true gospel message and listen to false teachers telling them what they wanted to hear, instead of them admitting to themselves that they were sinners (as we all are) and that they needed to repent and turn to God.
As we look around us now in the world, in 2023, we can see this happening more and more. People have become lovers of themselves, pleasure and their possessions rather than lovers of God.
Mark 8:34-38 (CSB)
Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Those who follow the world will lose their lives, but those who follow Jesus will gain eternal life. To deny oneself requires sacrifice. It involves turning to Jesus fully and letting Him lead you through life. We either follow Jesus or the world, we can’t follow both.
1 Peter 2:24-25 (CSB)
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins. When we repent and believe in Jesus we are free in Christ Jesus to make the choice to not sin again and to live a righteous life, a life that is pleasing to God. Only then do we stop being a lost sheep and we come under the protection of God.
Onward Christian Soldiers 