No Fear!
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
The ability to act rationally within the Christian faith has much to do with our understanding of this verse. Over the years I have been given the ominous responsibility of counseling many Christian people who could not see their way clearly through a situation; occasionally, I have found myself the counselee. When we face the unexpected, the unsure, or some particular challenge, we are more prone to flee the situation and take the path of least resistance. God assures us through His word that He has not given us the spirit of fear. Because God has given us His Spirit as a down-payment and a seal of our new birth; and because His Holy Spirit resides within each born again believer permanently, fear is not of God. On the other hand, God has given us another kind of spiritual infusion; the presence of divine discernment. It is His Spirit that witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16), and because of this we are able to understand the daily battle and how to overcome the enemy. I need not fall apart when the enemy strikes, though he strikes at my most vulnerable parts. He knows my weaknesses and how to exploit them for his purpose that, I would fear and be overtaken with much concern so as to cease trusting in the Lord. So then through this divine infusion He gives me a spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind which is really to be sensible in one’s thinking. This power is never derived through any innate trait, or manifest through them, but is the spiritual exercise of trust, faith, hope, in the one who intimately knows and is known of His Lord. God’s power in us is no where realized more perfectly than in the spirit of love. Unconditional love is the love that God sent His Son into the world by, the love that we are saved by, and the love that He keeps us by. When we have love one for another the world knows that we are Christ’s disciples (John 13:35), and the power of God is revealed. The Apostle also says that we have the spirit of a sound mind (sensible thinking). The Christian faith is not blind faith! It is that which stands firm on the promises of God. God has given us His word that we can know Him and be directed more perfectly in our lives. The failure of many Christians today is that they do not study the Bible and apply its rich teachings to their lives. They expect to fix their broken lives without using the God given manual. The true sensibleness in the faith is a firm reliance on the Word of God. These three: divine power, love, and a sound mind, will conquer the worst of our fears, and establish our faith in the one who loved us and gave Himself for us.
