The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you
received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit
Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom. 8:15-16).
Assurance of our sonship frees us from the bondage and enslavement to fear. Fear
makes us timid as we focus on ourselves—our weaknesses, inabilities, sins. We end up in
negativism which saps us of our energies. Either we try to fight our feelings of worthlessness
and uselessness by proving to God, ourselves and others that we have some worth, or we give
in to despair. Either way, our focus is on ourselves. Assurance that we are God’s children frees
us from having to prove anything since all we have to do is accept our sonship as a free gift.
This enables us to focus on the God who has so graciously accepted us into His family and
give our energies to opportunities for ministry which He opens up as we live in communion
with our heavenly Father. As our minds are disciplined by the Spirit we have no time for
thoughts that are self-condemning and despairing. The Spirit keeps us in tune to Himself.
Paul had the proper perspective witnessed by his address to the Christians at Corinth:
“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are
competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence
comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—
not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life . . .
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us” (II Cor. 3:4-6; 4:7).
When we see ourselves as “jars of clay” whose confidence, competence and power
comes from God we are freed to minister in humility and love.
FEAR OF OTHERS
Fear is such a normal human emotion that there are more than thirty Greek and Hebrew
words for it in the Bible. While there are some fears that are positive and necessary, most are
negative and unnecessary. Although Scripture exhorts us to show a healthy fear (respect) to
those in authority over us whether in the realm of politics, vocation or religion (Rom. 13:1-3;
I Pet. 2:18; Heb. 13:17), we are not to be intimidated or slavishly fearful of anyone. The Bible
is replete with warnings about the fear of man. Solomon pointed out that it is a real trap.
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”
(Prov. 29:25)