December 15, 2022

II Timothy 1: 7 (NIV)

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

If we ask how such a power can ever be ours the answer is that there is nothing to do but receive it. It does not come by striving for it. It comes when we cease to strive.*

If you are a person with a timid temperament, this verse may cause you to feel anxious. Relax. Paul isn’t suggesting that we have to change our personalities – we just have to enlarge our comfort zones. If we think of “a spirit of timidity” as fear instead of as a personality trait, we can allow that a timid person is not necessarily a scaredy-cat. If we determine that the opposite of “a spirit of timidity” is confidence rather than boldness, we are already moving toward grabbing hold of that spirit of power.

So what does the spirit of power give us power to do? One commentator answers: “Power to encounter foes and dangers; power to bear up under trials; power to triumph in persecutions.”* I would add that we receive power to resist temptation; to understand scripture; to go where God leads; to face tomorrow. A spirit of power is available to the followers of Christ, but we seem more inclined to hang on to that spirit of timidity. We have the potential to strike fear into the heart of the enemy but we choose to live like Barney Fife with our little pistol and the one bullet that we keep in our pocket. Instead, we could be Rambo with the heavy artillery in our hands and the extra ammo belts across our chest.

You may have figured out by now that we do not generate this power with our own resources. The Holy Spirit is the source of our power and our spirit of love and self-discipline. Why do we settle for the energy equivalent of a flashlight battery when we have the force of a nuclear power plant at our disposal? Forget about trying to be an overcomer with your own strength. When you let go, your weakness becomes your mightiness. March boldly into spiritual battle. You are armed and dangerous.

Jesus did not try to do it by himself. Why should you?*