Empowered by God

     Good morning Children of God. It is a wonderful morning to be Praising My Savior for all the Blessings He has given to His Family. There may be chaos in the world but for God’s Family ‘Peace in Christ reigns Supreme’!

     God has given me several scriptures to memorize through the years and when I get into a situation where I need to use them the Holy Spirit brings them ‘back to my remembrance’. (John 14:26) Thank You Lord.

     The other day as I was in my quiet time I looked one of the scriptures up to refresh my memory. I found something I hadn’t noticed before in the scripture. (You see if you just quote scripture with your head and not really give it to your heart, to trust it and believe it, God is really not in it yet for us.) I don’t know if that makes sense or not but I started asking the Lord questions and just voicing my concerns to My Lord. Oh! I haven’t given you the verse yet, sorry.

II Timothy 1:7

     “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of ‘power’ and of ‘love’ and of a ‘sound mind’”.

     Let’s get a review first before we actually get into the verse. The sub-title for verses 6-18 of II Timothy chapter 1 is: ‘Reminder of Timothy’s Responsibility’. Please read the verses for yourself, it beings back to “our” memory what is required of us as God’s Children also. Paul outlines important facts and truths for Timothy AND US.

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#1. tells us not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. (verse 8)

#2. tells us about our holy calling according to His own purpose. (verse 9)

#3. tells us that Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (verse 10)

#4. tells us to hold fast the pattern of sound words He has given us in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (verse 13)

#5. most important is the responsibility of keeping the ‘good things’ which were committed to us “by the Holy Spirit who dwells ‘in’ us.” (verse 14) Awesome reading in God’s Word!

     O. K. let’s go back to our verse (but keeping the rest of the chapter in mind).

     There is a natural world and a Spiritual world, Church and in verse 7 Paul tells us a TRUTH: ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear’. The reference to that part of the verse is:

Romans 8:15

     “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”!

     Pastor Hagee quotes it like this: “When a person believes in Christ as Savior, his estate is wonderfully changed from grim condemnation to privileged son-ship. This new standing grants to all believers the legal right and spiritual privileges of divine son-ship: ‘heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ’ (Romans 8:17).”

     My right standing with Christ gives me the privilege of eternity with my Father in heaven. GLORY!

     Now Saints, the last part of that verse gave me pause as I actually digested it when I was reading. Listen closely. Instead of the spirit of fear God has given us 3 wonderfully Blessed things: Power, Love, Sound Mind. I then asked the Lord—why is ‘power’ first on the list? I would think Love would be first above all because ‘You are Love’. He lead me to the reference in Acts about “HOW” we are empowered by God. It tells “us” our REAL calling from the beginning of Christ’s stay here on earth until He comes back for us.

Acts 1:8

     “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samoria, and to the end of the earth.”

     “ALL” God’s Children are empowered by the Holy Spirit—Fact and Truth from God, Church. (I Corinthians 6:19)

But as Pastor Hagee puts it:

     “However, living the Christian life under the Spirit’s power must not be thought of as simply allowing the Spirit to take control while the believer does nothing. The believer still must live the Christian life (being aware/conscience) as we do it through the Spirit’s Power.”

     Yes, “we” are to put the deeds of the body to death, but “we” are to do it “through the Spirits’ Power”. (Romans 8:13) We cannot do it within our own power. It is getting “our wills” in line with God’s Will in and for our lives and we won’t know what God’s will is unless we are “in the Word-Jesus Christ”.

     God provides the ‘Power’ to live the Christian life, Saints. God has given us the Holy Spirit ‘IN’ us to lead, guide, direct and empower us for His Will. I don’t believe we can have the ‘fullness’ of God’s love and a sound mind until we accept the leading of the Holy Spirit Who abides “IN” us.

     Can we put the “Power” where it belongs in our lives? Jesus PAID the “Blood Price” to take our sins away on the Cross over 2 thousand years ago. Maybe we need to put the Power where it belongs---first, so we can have that wonderful Love and Sound Mind for the rest of our stay here on earth.

                                  How?       By:

 

Trusting and Believing in God’s Love for us.

 

All scriptures are from: King James Version of Prophecy Study Bible, General Editor-John C. Hagee unless otherwise stated.