A Spirit of Power, Love, and Self-Control

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Scripture: 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

Meditation:
            Paul is speaking to his young protégé Timothy in these verses. Paul is urging him not to be afraid to use the gifts God had given to him. In the same way I believe that Paul would urge us to use the gifts we have received from God.
There is no question that it is getting harder and harder to live as a committed Evangelical Christian in these days. If we are prone to fear (as I am) then we may be tempted to curl up in our little cocoon of safety within our circle of church friends rather than to boldly act on our faith.
Giving our testimony to others verbally may be something that we are simply too afraid to try. We can and should live our lives in such a way that they can be our testimony in front of a watching world. We should pray daily (at least) that God would give us the Holy Spirit so that we would love others enough that when they ask what is different about us we should have an answer for them.
Remembering that our answer should be given in love with gentleness and respect for the person asking. We can be courageous in giving that answer, because we know that God’s spirit is working in us to give us the power, love, and self-control to overcome our fears. We will love our neighbors enough not to keep our faith a secret, if we can remember that God loves our neighbors. God is pursuing them just as God pursued and captured us with his love.

Prayer:

            Dear Heavenly Father, we worship you today because you have turned our fear to courage by the presence of your Holy Spirit. We ask you to forgive us if we have been frightened by this world into silence both in our work and in our words until we have stopped being a witness to your death, and resurrection in the world. Grant us a Spirit of power, love and self-control, so that we can again be your witnesses and carry your message of love to the ends of the earth. In Jesus name we ask this. Amen. 

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