Only 3 days to go! Today’s song, by Jonathon and Melissa Helser, is an absolute anthem of the last few years. It speaks to the truth that we are ‘No Longer Slaves’ to fear because as soon as we put our trust in Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God (Ephesians 1:5). It’s a battle cry as we walk (or even march!) into the freedom that Christ died to enable us to enjoy. We confidently take hold of the promises of God over our lives and nothing, no fear, no anxiety, is going to hold us back!
It’s easy for us to get caught up in the moment, when singing songs like this – the melody, the triumphant crescendos, the uplifting words and the feelings they invoke. We can often worship to songs like this whether we really grasp their meaning or not.
But the purpose of the songs we sing is never to just create an inspiring atmosphere or environment that causes us only to feel encouraged and uplifted. It’s important that we understand the true meaning of the words that we’re singing. For, God is looking for worshippers who worship in both spirit and truth (John 4:23).
The repeated declaration throughout this song is ‘I’m no longer a slave to fear’.
The Bible mentions two specific types of fear; fear of the Lord and the “spirit of fear”. Fear of the Lord is to be encouraged and does not necessarily mean to be afraid of him in the traditional sense. Rather, it is a reverential awe of God; a reverence for His power and glory and a proper, healthy respect for his wrath and anger. In other words, the fear of the Lord is a total acknowledgement of all that God is, which comes through knowing Him and His attributes.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and leads to good understanding (Psalm 111:10). It is the fountain and life (Proverbs 14:27) and leads to rest, peace, and contentment (Proverbs 19:23). It provides a security and a place of safety for us (Proverbs 14:26).
In fact, it is only when we have a healthy fear of the Lord, a healthy understanding of all that God is and his power and glory, that we can overcome the second type of fear mentioned in the Bible.
The “spirit of fear” is not beneficial at all. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This type of fear, a spirit of fearfulness and timidity, does not come from God.
This isn’t to say that we won’t ever have troubles or suffering where we are unsure of the outcome. In fact the bible says time and time again that we will have troubles in this life (Matthew 5:45; John 16:33; 1 Peter 4:12; Mark 4:17). But this song speaks to the truth that God is perfect love and “perfect love casts out all fear” (1 John 4:18).
So often our fears are rooted in not knowing what the future holds and what will become of us. But Jesus reminds us that God cares even for the birds of the air, so how much more will He provide for His children? (Matthew 10:31). God tells us not to be afraid of being alone, of being too weak, of not being enough, of not being heard, of not having enough, or even of what is to come. “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:11)
The key to overcoming fear is total and complete trust in God. It is turning to God even in the darkest times and trusting Him to make things right. This trust comes from knowing God and knowing that He is good. The bible speaks of so many truths of God’s goodness:
God is our hiding place. He protects us from trouble and surround us with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:7). He rescues us from our enemies, so that we might serve him without fear (Luke 1:74). He formed us in our mother’s womb and set us apart before we were even born (Jeremiah 1:5). He chose us even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and we have been born again into his family “through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). In Christ Jesus we have all been made children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26-27).
But this song is not just speaking about God helping us through a rough time. It’s not just about being delivered from a specific fear, phobia, worry or anxiety. This song is about salvation. It’s about our Exodus.
‘You split the sea so I could walk right through it.’
Remember the account of Moses parting the red sea? In it God literally split the sea so that God’s people could walk across it and be free from their suffering as slaves in Egypt. So how is this relevant to us today? The “sea” that God has split for us is the one that Christ parted for us on the cross when we were freed from our slavery to sin.
‘My fears are drowned in perfect love’
In the same way that the Egyptian army were drowned and destroyed by God’s right hand, through the perfect love that Jesus demonstrated on Calvary, he completely defeated anything that could ever come against us. Because he died, was buried, and rose again, he rescued us from sin, slavery, death, and defeat. So just as the Israelites did following their deliverance from Egypt, we will stand and sing, “I am a child of God!”
It all leads back to Christ. Everything in God’s word, every lyric we choose to sing, and every encounter we have with the Holy Spirit, they are meant to lead us to Christ. As we learn to put our trust in God, as we find our confidence, our security, and our hope in the fact that we are his children, we will no longer be afraid of the things that come against us. We will no longer be a slave to fear.
Thank you, God, that you are powerful, glorious and victorious.
Thank you that you paid the price for me at Calvary, so I no longer have to fear anything because of your perfect love.
Help me to understand the victory that I have in you, to look to you in every season and every circumstance, knowing that you are bigger than anything that might come against me.
For if my God is for me then who can stand against me? (Romans 8:31)
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