God’s Spirit of Power and Love and a Sound Mind, Part 1

God has not given us a spirit of fear, of craven and cringing and fawning fear, but He has given us a Spirit of Power and of Love and of a Sound Mind (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV and Amplified Bible).

No, God has not given us as His children a spirit of fear.  That spirit of fear is from satan.  It is his method of operation.  Fear is more than being afraid.  It is having faith in satan’s ability to harm you and take away from you.  We are instructed here with a very specific instruction.  God has not given us a spirit of fear.

Here is what God has given us.  He has given us His Holy Spirit of Power.  He has given us His Holy Spirit of Love.  He has given us His Holy Spirit of a Sound Mind.

Let’s look at these three forces we have been given:  power, love, a sound mind.

God has given us His Spirit of Power.  The Greek word for power here is dunamis.  It is the same word as Paul used in Ephesians 1:19 to describe the working of God when He raised Jesus from the dead.  It is resurrection power.  It is the pure power of God.  There is no power greater than His power.  It is the mighty power of God that is inherent in Christ, the power that is fixed in the Anointed One and exists in His anointing.  It is the same power that has been given to us, that resides in us.

In Romans 8:11 we are told that the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in us.  He is in us.  He lives in us as Christians.  Christ is in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).  God’s power is in us.  So what is the problem?  Why aren’t we seeing more of the demonstration of God’s power in us on this earth like His power was demonstrated in Jesus?  As with everything with God, it takes faith; we must believe His power is available and operating in us; we must have confidence His power is working in us.  Nothing will happen until we choose to believe that God’s power is personally working in us.

God’s Vision, Part 2

It was a sad day for the Lord when the man and woman He had created, submitted to the deception of the devil and hooked up with him.  Three things happened to Adam and Eve when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:7,8).

(1)  Their eyes were opened to evil.  Their eyes were opened in the wrong way.  It was never God’s intent that they know anything about the devil’s ways of evil from the devil’s perspective.  The devil tricked them into submission to him.  He convinced them that God did not mean what He said to them.  He was just holding out on them.  The devil works the same way today convincing people that what God said in His Word is not true.  This is called deception.

I fully believe that God would have explained the ways of evil to Adam and Eve, if they had waited on their Father to talk to them about it.  He is a loving Heavenly Father.  And, if He thought it was best that they never know about evil, that would have been OK also.  They should have allowed their Father to handle it.  He had given them an instruction to obey.  Their disobedience opened up the temptation of the whole world of the devil and his evil ways.

(2)  They knew they were naked.  They perceived that spiritually first.  They realized that the light of God’s glorious presence on them was gone.  Then they saw physically that their bodies were no longer clothed in that presence.  They looked for something to cover them.  Fig leaves were a poor substitute for God’s glory.

(3)  They were afraid.

This is the condition of the world today without God.  They are open to evil.  They are not clothed in God’s robe of righteousness.  They are full of fear.

Unfortunately, that is the condition of too many Christians.  They don’t know that they are righteous and can walk in a new way with the Lord.  They don’t know their rightful position, a position of being right with God through Jesus, Who makes us right through His blood.  They don’t know that they are royalty in the Father’s household, with all the rights and privileges of the household.

Many Christians are full of fear of so many things—-cancer, heart attacks, terrorism, losing their jobs, families falling apart, marriages failing.  They are in no better place than the people of the world, except they are going to heaven, which is a wonderful thing to know.  But, oh, the benefits of serving the Lord while we are right here on this earth.  We do not have to fear because our dear Heavenly Father has taken care of us through Jesus His Son coming and taking our place.  Now the Holy Spirit is living in us to show us how to receive in our daily lives what Jesus has purchased for us.

My prayer today for you is that you will take on God’s vision and understand the hope to which He has called you, the richness of your inheritance, and the very resurrection power that God has given you, which seats you far above all principality and power and all earthly titles and names.  Hallelujah!