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Self Control Over Fear

The third element of God’s antidote to fear is self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7 says: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self–control.”) This is where our will kicks in. Many don’t move into spiritual maturity because they don't have the will to do it. God has given us intellect and emotion and volition. Volition is the part that makes the decisions that activates the behaviour, that makes us act the way we do. Volition is extremely important. When it’s missing you can have all of the power and love you can imagine, but nothing happens.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul affirms that God has given us power and love and the will to drive out fear and move into spiritual maturity. In his letter to the Philippians, he says that God has given us both “to will and to do” God's purposes. If we love God with all our hearts, He gives us the desires of our hearts. (See Psalm 37:4) He gives us a brand new set of desires.

The will part in our old life just did what we wanted to do apart from a few social restraints. As believers, God gives us a new will and we change. This can seem very threatening. We are all in different ages and stages and situations, but wherever we are we face the temptation to give in to fear. We contemplate the next step. We could verbalize that we believe that God could take care of us there. We believe we move on, but we’re afraid and we don’t.

Take a minute and think. Is there a place in your life where you have said to God, thus far and no farther. It is a matter of your will. We've seen that God has given us the power and He has provided adequate motivation. What's the problem? The problem is we are not cooperating.

Consider the implications of not cooperating with God. What does that mean? It means not having what God wants us to have. That is kind of weird. Don't we all want what God wants for us. Does God have things for you and He is saying, here, I've equipped you, I've put you in a nurturing environment, I've given you all the resources you need to do what I have called you to do, please take everything and go make it happen. And we say, “No!”

We are not going to grow spiritually if we do that. There is no hope that we will begin to blossom and become the balanced, complete people God wants us to be if we say “no” to God. There are lots of competing philosophies and ideas particularly today which put each individual at the centre of his or her own little world. These teach that you really only have to please yourself. This idea prevails around us. It is a direct challenge to God.

All kinds of fears keep us from progressing along the path of spiritual maturity. We fear having to give up cherished possessions, hard won advantage in relationships, the realization of goals and dreams which have cost us dearly. We don’t want to exercise our will, motivated by love and empowered by the Spirit within us. But if we are to be the people of God in this dark generation, we’d better get over that. God makes power, love and self-control available to us. What are you doing with that?

Check up question 12: Am I exercising my self-control to say “no” to fear and “yes” to God?

Ron Hughes
© December 2008