| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility” Our Bible verse for today: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV) Our thought for today: “This is no time to be timid” In yesterday’s devotional I posed the question, “What do we do now?” and I answered it by quoting the words of Jesus as He gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. The Great Commission is the answer to the question. I also suggested it would be helpful to go to the Oak Hill Baptist Church website (oakhillbaptist.net) and listen to the sermon for February 20th about the Great Commission. I ended that sermon with a quote from Dr. David Jeremiah in his book, “Where do we go from here?” That quote is, “We cannot be discouraged, not a bit! There’s no room in these days for defeated Christians.” This is what Paul was referring to in 2 Timothy 1:7 (above). I like the way the Amplified Bible translates this verse, using all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original Greek: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of sound discipline (abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control). This is important because our attitude regarding how we will approach the difficult issues of our day is crucial. God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity. Instead, He has given us a spirit of courage and boldness and conviction. He has also given us the ability to interact with difficult people and difficult situations in a calm, reasoned, balanced manner, maintaining self-control and combining conviction with love. The question, of course, is how do we get that spirit? How do we put aside the fear, the doubts, the hesitancy, and live boldly and courageously on-mission with the Lord? We intentionally cultivate it. In advance, we think about the people and situations we are going to have to interact and engage with. We pray 2 Timothy 1:7 over it and we claim the promise to be true of us. We imagine what our best response would be in that situation, we pray for that, and then we go and act that way instead of in some other way. We live in challenging times (maybe the end times). So, this is no time for timid Christians, nor is it a time for out-of-control Christians (Christians who are not calm, reasoned, and self- controlled). Don’t miss the fact that in 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul didn’t just mention power and courage, but also love and self-discipline. We are to fearlessly love people, and this is no time to be timid about it. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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Please pray tomorrow for my 4 year old grandson Eli. He is having seizures and the last one lasted 15 minutes. We are believing God to intervene. May His will be done. In Jesus’name.
I certainly will. Our daughter Tracy suffered from seizures as well, so I understand what you’re all experiencing. Praying for you all.
Thank you! My daughter shared a song today for him. I believe it is so fitting. I will send in another message in case it goes to spam.