A Spirit of Power

2 Tim 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."  It is amazing to know the power that is available to those in whom the Spirit dwells.  It is even more amazing how much power goes unused.  Power is meant to be used to demonstrate that God is alive and engaged in our lives.

So many people ask for more power and yet they have never used what they have.  I cannot even begin to estimate how many prayer meetings I've attended in my life.  It never fails that someone wants prayer for power in their lives.  I've often wanted to ask them, when was the last time that you shared your faith with someone?

Ask that question and the excuses start to come out.  "Well, you know I don't want to offend anyone" or "They are going to think I'm weird" or my personal favorite "I'm just shy and I get embarrassed when I talk to people about Jesus."

OK, so I'm not being fair.  Maybe this doesn't describe you.  If you are reading this blog then most likely you are an active follower of Christ, right? OK then, so tell me, have you always followed the leading of the Holy Spirit when He's asked you to share Christ with someone? Or better yet, have you shared what God has done in your life and talked about Jesus at length with someone but you didn't close the deal because for some reason you couldn't bring yourself to ask them if they would like to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior?  I wish I could answer no to that last one but it has happened more than once.  For some reason I was afraid that they would say no as if that was a personal rejection.  If they said no then it would be my fault. I didn't say something just right or I should have said something more.  If they say no then I failed to bring them to Christ, didn't I?

For some reason we have taken the Great Commission and rewritten it.   Where it says to make disciples we have instead changed that to converts.

Matt 28:19-20  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"

Making disciples is about relationship.  Did you know that you make disciples way before they pray the prayer?  Did you that making disciples doesn't end with them praying the prayer?

Let's not forget the context of 2 Timothy 1:7.  In addition to power it also talks about love.  Sharing the Gospel is not about obligation; it is not about duty.  To effectively share the Gospel there has to be love in your heart for the person you are discipling.  You have to love them enough to be heartbroken at the thought that they might spend eternity separated from God with all the hopelessness and torment that entails .

The last part of the verse talks about self-discipline.  That one is a bit tricky.  With a word like self-discipline it is easy to think that it begins and ends with us making ourselves do something that doesn't come naturally.  If it were that easy then no one would be addicted and the diet industry would cease to exist.  At least part of it has to do with us. We have to initiate the process.  When God prompts us to do something we have to take that first step to doing it. But then, that is where we come back to power.  When we take a step toward God, His Spirit then empowers us to do the rest.  In fact, he empowers us to take that first step to begin with, but it does require our cooperation with the Spirit.

It goes against the spirit of this age to share a Gospel that is diametrically opposed to what this world holds dear. Because of that our flesh resists it and the spirit of timidity wants to take over.

The cool thing is that we are tapped into an endless and indefatigable source of power.  God's Spirit is stronger than any spirit of fear or timidity.  Let's access that power and put it to use.