by Phyllis Ducey
pfdoriginalartworks


"God did not give us a spirit of fear

If you missed my last post on March 15th, you may feel like you are being dropped into the middle of a thought. Here is the link in case you would like to read "Spirit of Fear". In that post I stated this verse has meant a lot to me throughout my Christian walk. The beginning and the end of the verse were the sections that carried me through the times when I believed lies that told me I was not capable or worthy of being a true follower of Christ.

The words "but of power" came alive to me about 7 or 8 years ago as I studied Ephesians. Did you ever read a section of the Bible over and over and all of a sudden one day a word or phrase popped out at you like you had never read it before? The word "power" kept popping out at me.

I'd ask myself how we as Christians had power? I know we do because this verse in 2Tim 1:7 states that God did not give us a spirit of fear... but of power.

Not to sound overly geeky but I am really into definitions. I love to understand the meaning behind a word and often even its roots. So bear with me as I go into definitions of how a word is being used in the Bible. As with so many words, there are different root languages and nuances that they possess. Power in many verses may refer to (this is not all inclusive) strength, might, force, valor, or authority. But in the verses that I am using all of them are from a word meaning ability.

"...and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength..." Ephesians 1:19

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

"When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Acts 3:12

In the verse from Ephesians above it states that power is like the working of God's mighty strength. In Acts 1:8 we see that we are empowered from the Holy Spirit and in Acts 3:12 it is not by our own abilities.

"Of power" brought me to realize that yet in another way I have the ability to conquer my fears, not only that but I have the strength through God's mighty hand! In my last post Spirit of Fear, Sammysgrammy stated in her comments: "I heard it said that the bible contains 365 "fear nots", one for each day of the year. That would make a good study." She is right, it would make a great study and if you did the same thing with a study on power, you would be amazed at how many times in the new testament that it refers to us having power to do something beyond our own abilities.

When I began ruminating on this concept of being empowered by the Holy Spirit it helped me understand that I can do nothing by myself and that it is only through God who works within that anything can be accomplished.

"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt 19:26

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power..."




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