Power Over Fear
Today in our spiritual checkup, we’re looking at 2 Timothy 1:7 where we read that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self–control.” Our focus is on the first of the three things that overcome fear: power.
When God gives us something to do, He also gives us what we need to do it. Perhaps we should remind ourselves that what God want us to do is to glorify Him. There is lots of evidence for this. Two examples of many will suffice just now:
God’s purpose in giving us power is ultimately for His glory - not for any other reason - though there may be benefits to us and to others that flow from that. When we take the spiritual vigour that God imparts to us and use it for something else, we are doing less than what God has called us to.
Often in the Bible when we talk about glorifying God we are talking about reflecting His likeness to those around us. God is a God of self revelation and He wants others to see what He is like. People can't see God with their eyes and sense Him with their senses but they can see you as a Christian. So God says to you: “Reflect My likeness to those around you. People need love, so you show them My love. People need grace so you show them My grace.” People need all kinds of things spiritually speaking and God uses Christians to impart that.
Not all of us want power. There is sort of an illusion out there that everybody wants power. That is not true because when you really have the power then you have the responsibility. Let me give you a short version of a long story. One Friday afternoon, one of my colleagues at the office took a call from a man who said he had a problem he wanted to talk over with someone. He explained that his young neighbour was making sexual advances and that he was afraid he was going to sin. The main issue for him was he wanted to know that if he did what he thought he was likely to do, could God forgive him. As the conversation unfolded, it became clear that though he spoke of “fearing” the temptation, he rejected the power to overcome it.
On another occasion, I asked an older man to do a Scripture reading in a service. He said, “Oh no! I have never opened my mouth in any service here until now and I don't expect to start at this age.” (He was seventy plus.) When pushed, he said he frightened of speaking in public and just couldn’t do it. My sense is that he doesn't accept that God has empowered Him. God gives us power in place of fear.
You can be sure that if you are giving in to fear, you are missing an opportunity to develop spiritual maturity. God has called us to glorify Him and given us power we need to do that.
Check up question 10: Am I intentionally choosing the power of God to conquer my fear?
Ron Hughes
© December 2008
That the world may come to
Faith By Hearing.
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