“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 NKJV
Paul is writing to Timothy in the days before he dies. Paul was encouraging Timothy to preach the gospel correctly as Paul was not going to be around much longer to direct him. He wanted Timothy to be strong, to rely on God, not himself. Paul was telling Timothy that he did not have to act in fear as He continued to preach the gospel because God had given His believers, His children, a spirit not of fear but of love, power and sound thinking.
Many times when we are in situations that we may feel God has led us into so that we can further His kingdom by spreading His word, we become uncomfortable and then the emotion of fear sets in. It is at that point that we have a choice to make, we either choose to follow the emotion of fear and let it paralyze us or we can choose to turn to God.
When we choose to let fear control our actions, most of the time we end up not doing what God has sent us to do. As fear builds in us, our body has 3 actions that it can do. The first action is that we may freeze up and say nothing, do nothing, resulting in us not completing what God has asked us to do. The second action is that we may try and run away from the situation and avoid doing what God has asked us to do. The third action is that we may decide that we are going to fight, which can look like us possibly arguing with someone involved with the situation or being defiant regarding the situation.
When we choose to turn to God, we are choosing to lean on His strength and His wisdom to lead us through whatever the situation is that we are encountering. He is capable of anything! Now, I am not saying that by leaning on God we are not afraid, but there is a difference between choosing to allow fear to take over your actions and being afraid but choosing to continue moving forward by trusting God to get you through what you need to do or experience.
Clearly being a member of the early church, being told that your leader is not going to be with you for much longer, that you are to continue to preach the gospel and do it correctly, could be fear producing. That is why Paul is writing to Timothy, so he can encourage him before fear begins and Timothy makes a choice based on that fear.
We have all been in situations that have produced that fear in us and it has been in those moments when we had to make the choice, the choice to either let fear control what we do next or move forward before the fear has a chance to become too strong. I faced that fear when I decided to follow the leading that I believe God has given me to write this blog. The devil was placing thoughts in my mind that I didn’t have the right credentials to write anything down for others to see, that I didn’t write well enough for people to be able to understand what I was trying to say and that there was no way that I could keep up with the promise of writing and posting a devotional each and every day.
That fear almost won, but during one evening when I was battling what I should do, I made a choice. I choose to lean on God and believe and trust that He knew things that I did not know. I believe to this day that even if I am not able to keep up with posting devotionals daily, that I have chose to do my best to do what God has asked of me. God gives us the ability to do things we never thought we could do through His Spirit. He gives us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.
This blog is something that I didn’t believe that I could do for very long, but by the will of God and my acceptance of the spirit of power that He has placed inside me, I am able to say that this is my 30th consecutive post. I could view the amount of time that it takes to complete each blog as too demanding but I am being refreshed spending time with God and learning from Him each time I sit down to write the next post.
I pray that you will find encouragement from what I am writing, and even if you don’t agree with what I have written, I pray that it makes you think. Also, please know that I take no credit for it, as I am simply wiling to be a vessel for God to do His will. I hope that when you have to face a situation and fear begins to build inside you, that you choose to turn to God, trust Him and move forward. Have a wonderful day.