Thoughts for another day

July 14, 2008

Today's verse: 2 Tim. 1:7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Paul says, Christians are endowed with power. Yet situations and time, make us susceptible to fears, defeats and frustrations. These are the devil’s tools to destroy us because in our fight with principalities and powers of the air, the devil wants us to lose. The first step is to instill fear in our minds. Having done that, he just needs to step back and see us sink to be finally defeated. He can then smirk at God saying how easy it is to destroy the creature He loves. In reflection, I can say, I really don’t understand how we can be fearful when God Himself asks us not to be!

As soon as we became Christians in the real sense of the word, the Grace of God became available to us. This Grace has endowed us with His awesomeness to the degree needed and in the period of trial to the extent the trial puts us down by. God’s Grace is completely in control of the situation and available to the extent we need, just as Christ told Paul, ‘My Grace is sufficient for you’.

Should we forget the above that God tells us in His Word? No, you might say, and then quickly forget, right? It’s easy to be confident in God when the sea is calm, but when things go wrong, when it’s bleak everywhere; we have to remember God’s promises and tell Him we’re ready to stand on them whatever happens. Only then can we sit back and witness his power work in our lives. Difficult things seem easy and that which seemed impossible now looks possible. See, God sharpens the edges of our abilities, so that we are sharp enough to handle situations of challenge.

With the spirit of Power, God also gives us the spirit of love and a sound mind for God knows that all need to work together. If we do not have a sound mind and love, then any power is wasteful, therefore, we need to accept these gifts of God and exercise them collectively. In the area of love, we may not be able to love most people, but we can at the least not hate them. Absence of hate, we will discover, will enable us to love. Only then we will be far removed from the defeat the devil has in store for us.