For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Into the Text
Is there an area of your life right now where fear has been louder than faith? Where insecurity has been keeping you from stepping into something God has been nudging you toward?
I’ve been there more times than I would like to admit.
And it is in those moments that 2 Timothy 1:7 meets me right where I am. Paul wrote those words to Timothy, a young man who had every gift God needed him to use but was allowing fear and insecurity to hold him back. Timothy wasn’t lacking ability or a calling. He was lacking the confidence to walk in what God had already placed inside him.
And Paul’s reminder is just as relevant for us today as it was for Timothy back then.
God has not given you a spirit of fear. He has given you power, the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. He has given you love, a deep, secure love that has nothing to prove and nothing to fear. And He has given you self-discipline, not the white-knuckled, gritted-teeth, trying-harder kind but a Spirit-produced, eyes-on-Jesus, rooted-in-His-strength kind.
This changes everything about how we approach self-control. We are not striving our way through temptation in our own strength. We are drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside us.
Walking in the Spirit looks like choosing to pray before you panic or stepping into the hard conversation instead of avoiding it. Sweet friend, you are not on your own in this. You have not been given a spirit of fear. You have been given power. You have been given love. You have been given self-discipline.
Now walk in it today, sweet friend.