Why You Might Be Operating in a Spirit of Fear Without Realizing It

“For ye have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15).

Religiosity has a baby called fear. This is not from God. We need to renounce it, reject it. God has given us the spirit of adoption. It does not matter how anointed or full of knowledge you are. We are always going to be moved by two things: by the spirit of fear or by the spirit of adoption.

The spirit of fear is something that comes from the system of religion. Every time you go through something in your life, you have fear, you get in despair, you are always afraid. You react too quickly. You pray even more. You fast even more. You call the pastor, brothers and sisters, and say, “Please, please, pray for me.” You tell them all the reasons why they should be praying for your marriage, family or ministry. Because you are afraid of what can happen next, you feel you need to worship even more.

I was living like that: always with fear. Fear of Satan, of lack, about tomorrow. Even though I was going to church, I was always full of fear. All that I knew was to worship. I always tried to fix the situation through worship. I remember one day, I was going through something really bad, and then I started to worship and cry, “O Father, O Father …” As I was worshipping, I heard God speaking to me: “The enemy is right outside the door. What are you going to do about it?” It does not make sense, right? I was worshipping God. I even started to feel better, but God spoke to me, “You need to know how to fight this in a right way.”

When you are bound by the spirit of fear, you will do what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9:26: keep beating the air. Actually, it is like this: You have this gun, and it is loaded. Then you start shooting at everything that moves. So what you are doing is trying to win a battle, but you don’t even know who you are really fighting against. You fast so hard, you pray so hard, you worship so hard. You are crying out, “Abba, Father,” but you are being led by the spirit of fear. You will not be able to accomplish everything that God has for you to accomplish if you are not set free from it.

God showed me that we have this fear binding us even when we worship Him. Something is happening within you, but you are afraid to let it out. God will pull it out. God will fill you with the spirit of adoption, and next time you call, “Abba Father,” it is not going to be because of fear but out of love.

The Spirit of adoption makes you to feel secure. Even if the enemy is all around, you will say: “Abba Father. I know you will take care of this. I rest in you. You are beautiful. You will never leave me or forsake me.” The more you lean on the spirit of adoption, the more filled with hope, joy, peace you are.

But you need to understand and see the spirit of fear for yourself. It does not matter how many years you have been Christian. You still can react out of fear, year after year, but God is opening your eyes. He is filling you with boldness, boldness to worship him, boldness to be extravagant in His presence. God has called you to walk in freedom.

“For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).

I have been a Christian for many years, and only in the last 12 years have I started walking in this place of freedom. There are only a few moments that I am scared, once in a while, because I am still a work in process. God still is working on me, but one thing I tell you: I am not a slave of fear anymore because I know who I am in Him. I have received the Spirit of adoption. By this Spirit, I am filled with boldness, and God wants every single child to speak, to pray, by the spirit of adoption, to prophesy not because you are afraid or because the enemy is messing with your marriage, your calling or your family. We need to be free. We need to break free, and God is doing this right now. You will see a weight being lifted off your shoulders.

This is what the spirit of fear brings to you: heaviness! You feel really heavy. Your heart is heavy; even your face will look heavy. There is no joy, no peace, and this is not what God has for you.

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).

We all know the Bible, and it says: For God has not given us a spirit of fear. So every time you feel that way, you need to reject it right away because what the enemy needs is just one second of your time. He does not need you to meditate on fear a whole day. He needs you to meditate on it for just one second. Then he takes over your thoughts and actions. He has got you.

The Spirit of adoption will establish in you a sound mind. God wants to change things and break your mindset, because it may have been corrupted by the thought that came from Satan. You need to discern them and separate if it comes from the spirit of fear. “My God, my Father, has not given me that. He has given me the spirit of adoption, a sound mind.” When we are bound by a spirit of fear, you can’t have a sound mind, a mind that is secure, stable.

A sound mind means a mind that is stable. Do you know what the next thing is that happens to you when Satan throws that seed of fear inside of you? Torment. You start thinking about it and thinking about it again. You can’t even sleep at night anymore because of torment. The spirit of fear has got you—until now. God is setting you free.

A sound mind is one of the things that He has given you, and the other is power. When you are bound by the spirit of fear, we are powerless, hopeless. There is nothing inside of you that will tell you everything is going to be fine. You start getting weaker and weaker.

But the spirit of adoption fills us up with power. Do you see the difference?

When you face a situation, whatever that is, you don’t get weaker. No. You are filled with power. That is what God has for you. My daughter, 10 years old, had a problem with darkness. She could not go anywhere if the light was not on. One day, my husband turned the light off and grabbed her in his arms, and he went upstairs in the darkness and said, “You have to face this.”

She was saying, “No, Father, no”. This is what God is doing with us right now. He is carrying us in his arms and saying, “You need to face it. You will be free from fear because this is not your portion, your bread, this does not come from Me. What comes from Me will give you power and a stable mind.”

Another thing that comes by the spirit of adoption is love. Many times, when I had a chance to react quickly because I am afraid of something, I have to remember: This is not from my Father. This is what He has given me. You will tell yourself, “My Father is carrying me right now in His arms. I can see you, Father. I am going up the stairs. Everything is going to be fine. This is my portion. I feel free in you.” Then suddenly everything changes within. The situation around you may change or may not have changed right away, but it does not matter, because inside of you something changed. You are right back in the garden. It is just you and He, and then you cry out, “Abba, Daddy!”

Not out of fear. Out of love. You are secure in Him, in His love. {eoa}

Among many voices, Shane W. Roessiger, founder of H.O.T. HOUSE OF TRUTH and author of Smashing Deception in the House of God—has been crying out in the USA and in the nations of the earth, preparing the bride for the bridegroom, Jesus. Located in Nokomis, Florida, H.O.T. HOUSE OF TRUTH is a place designed by God to make His bride ready, to awaken her by the preaching of His uncompromising Word, to purify her by His fire, to equip her by His Spirit, to send her out full of oil, fire and fruits.