Power Power That Overcomes Timidity and Fear

Power

Power That Overcomes Timidity and Fear

 

Life is hard

Jesus, the disciples and so many others have proved that

Paul reminded Timothy of the power God had given him

The Spirit of Power

The Spirit of Love

The Spirit of Self-Discipline

The Spirit of God that God has given us is powerful

Paul from prison was still confident that the Spirit of God

Is more powerful than the chains that hold him

So release the Power God has put in you

No believer is called to sit on the sidelines

We are all called to Power

Power that enables us to live righteous lives

Power to love the world and do something about it

Power That Overcomes Timidity and Fear

Life is hard.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy.

 

Paul started his letter

with compassion and concern.

Paul had been praying for Timothy and

let him know he remembered his tears.

You could say the ministry

had not been kind to Paul.

Like it was not kind to Jesus.

Hardships, and now Paul was in prison;

As Paul recalled the tears of Timothy.

I believe Paul was referring to his

arrest for preaching the gospel.

The persecution against Christians

was very real and intimidating.

Paul talked about Phygelus and Hermogenes who

deserted him and Onesiphorus who refreshed

him in prison at the end of 2 Timothy, Chapter 1.

We do not know what it was like for

Paul to be torn away from Timothy.

But the impact of those tears shows

both lives were greatly affected.

Paul encouraged Timothy not to be

ashamed of his imprisonment and do

not be ashamed to testify about our Lord.

This was the context we find 2 Timothy 1:7…

 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,

but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Paul reminded Timothy of the

power God had given him.

The Spirit of Power

The Spirit of Love

The Spirit of Self-Discipline

The Spirit of God that God

has given us is powerful.

I remember the night I received the Baptism of

the Holy Spirit I was overwhelmed with love.

The overwhelming feeling of love was

greater that speaking in tongues.

I wanted to go out

and hug everyone.

I was an avid hunter at the time, but

love so overwhelmed me, killing was

too hard for me so I gave up hunting. 

This power of love that comes from the

Holy Spirit is a must for every believer.

I now have an understanding of John 3:16

“for God so loved the world”.

If you don’t have that love, you

need more of the Spirit of God.

It is that love that has caused men and women

like Paul to leave everything so that one

more person might commit their life to Christ.

The Spirit of Self-Discipline

Before Christ, self-discipline, self-control, a sound

mind were all influenced by what you wanted in life.

If you didn’t want to go to jail, you obeyed the law.

If you wanted something from others

you were on your best behavior.

But when the Spirit of God comes into our

lives only one thing matters, “Righteousness”.

The Spirit of God empowers us to say no to sin.

Why? Because we see the only free

way to live, is to do what is right.

Our love of righteousness causes us to cry out

for mercy; not to get away without punishment

but to get another chance to do it right.

Paul told Timothy…

“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you —

guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

Verse 14

Turn to the Holy Spirit to guard the

“good deposit entrusted to you”.  

Remember the gifts God has given you…

Stir them up.

Remember the fruit of your

godly mother and grandmother.

Don’t let anything cause you to be ashamed.

Don’t let anything cause you to be afraid.

Paul told Timothy, and us, why he is strong,

why he was hanging onto the power even though

he had been through hardships and imprisonment…

“But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am.

Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

God is able to guard our eternal salvation.

Power to give you eternal life.

Let the power of God motivate you.

Let the power of the Holy

Spirit make you unstoppable.

No believer is called to sit on the sidelines.

We are all called to Power.

Power that enables us to live righteous lives.

Power to love the world

and do something about it.

Where does that power come from?

The Spirit of God.

Scripture Reading

2 Timothy 1:3-18 NIV

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.