Today We Consider A Very Popular Portion Of Scripture Extracted From Paul’s Letter To Timothy, Who Was Leading A Large Congregation In Ephesus. When Timothy Was Facing Internal Conflict And External Discouragement, Paul Admonishes Him Not To Let Any Man Despise His Youth (1 Timothy 4:12) Or Listen To Old Women’s Fables (1 Timothy 4:7), But To Remember The Prophecies That Were Spoken Over Him (1 Timothy 1:18). In The Midst Of Everything Timothy Was Going Through, Paul Writes This To Him: “For God Hath Not Given Us The Spirit Of Fear; But Of Power, And Of Love, And Of A Sound Mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This Scripture Immediately Reminds Us That The Christian Walk And Life In General Is About Spirits. Because God Is A Spirit, He Gives Us Things In Spirit Form, And We See This In Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed Be The God And Father Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Hath Blessed Us With All Spiritual Blessings In Heavenly Places In Christ”. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul Mentions That God Did Not Give Us The Spirit Of Fear, Meaning Fear Comes From The Evil One. We Can Understand From This Scripture That Fear Is A Spirit. We Do Not Take The World’s Stance Of Understanding Fear And Accepting It As A Part Of Life. In The Kingdom That We Are In, It Is Not Normal – Church, Do Not Allow Fear To Function In Your Life.
The Only Way To Respond To Fear Is To Vocalize Your Resistance. Don’t Wait To Resist Later, Don’t Allow Fear To Grow Roots In The Garden Of Your Mind – Resist Right There And Then! Remember, Words Are Seeds And If They Find Good Ground, They Grow. Notice How The Bible Uses Very Forceful Terms As In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Saying, “Casting Down Imaginations, And Every High Thing That Exalteth Itself Against The Knowledge Of God, And Bringing Into Captivity Every Thought To The Obedience Of Christ”. So When You Speak Against Fear, You Create Images In Your Mind And But If You Keep Quiet, You Are Consenting To The Plantation Of Seeds You Did Not Sow (Proverbs 18:21). If You Wait For Later, You Will Have To Spend More Time Getting The Negativity Out Of Your Heart Because It Has Had The Chance To Spread And Multiply. Like Any Other Seed, It Starts Small Then Multiplies – Before You Know It, You Are Fearful Of Every Possibility In Your Life!
One Of The Biggest Reasons For Fear Is Selfishness – Putting Ourselves In The Picture. This Is Why We Become So Afraid Of People’s Opinions. However, When We Instead Engulf Ourselves With The Love Of God, What Society Says About Us Ceases To Matter Because We Know That His Love Is Sufficient. Church, We Need To Come To A Place Where God Is Our Sufficient Source And Where His Love Fulfills Us, Otherwise Fear Will Continually Rob Us Of The Blessings Of God. Fear Makes Us Do What We Would Not Otherwise Do, Making Hasty Decisions In A Panic, Settling For Things We Would Otherwise Not Settle For. We Have Power (2 Timothy 1:7) Given To Us By God – Power Over Sickness, Over Demons, Over Life Situations. The Power Being Referred To Here By Paul Is The Power For Us To Live; Above Any And All Circumstances. And This Is True For Every Believer, Not Just A Select Few – We Have Authority Over All The Enemy’s Ammunition And We Should Thus Refuse Thoughts Of Fear In The Name Of Jesus! This Is What Is Referred To As Actively Engaging In Warfare, Quenching All The Fiery Darts Of The Enemy Right In The Moment They Appear (Ephesians 6:16).
The Next Element We See That God Gave Us Is Love (2 Timothy 1:7). As A Believer, You Operate In Power And In Loving Others. Loving The Brethren Is The Highest Operation Of Power. The Power God Gave Us Is Not For Manipulating One Another, But For Showing Genuine Love To The Body Of Believers. Likewise, The Gifts Of The Spirit Given To Us Are For The Serving Of Others – We Function Healthily As A Body When We Operate In This Mindset. And Lastly, We See That God Gave Us A Sound Mind. See, When In Fear, We Are Normally Not Operating In Love And In Power, And As A Result, We Usually Don’t Make Sound Decisions. What Is This Sound Mind We Are Speaking Of? It Is A Balanced And Disciplined Mind, Led And Guided By The Word Of God. It Is Important To Note That Fear And Faith Operate The Same – Where “Faith Comes By Hearing And Hearing By The Word Of God” (Romans 10:17), And Fear Comes By Hearing What Is Contrary To The Word Of God. Fear Is Faith In Reverse, And The More We Digest Contradictions To His Word, The More Fear We Breed In Ourselves. In Genesis 3:7-11, We See Adam And Eve Hiding Themselves From God, Saying They Were Afraid Because Of Their Nakedness. The First Thing God Asks Adam Is “Who Told You?” (Vs. 11), And We See Here That The Only Thing That Caused Adam To Fear Was The Information That He Received. So Church, It Is Imperative That We Check Our Sources Of Information And Sometimes This Will Mean That We Need To Change The Friends We Surround Ourselves With. Good Friends Speak Faith, Hope, Love, Abundance, The Goodness Of God – They Are Not Negative, But They Encourage And Build You Up.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, We Thank You For Your Word And The Faith It Produces In Us, Eliminating All Fear And Exposing The Lies Of The Enemy. You Are True, All That You Say Is True! We Choose To Believe What You Have Said About Us, That We Are Your Righteousness In Christ Jesus, That We Have Peace With You, That We Have No Charge Against Us, That We Have Been Set Free From The Law Of Sin And Death! We Refuse To Fear! We Refuse To Fail! And We Have A Sound Mind. In The Name Of Jesus, Amen!
