What our spirits are made of

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. -2 Timothy 1:7

God's word has much to say about times of trial and testing. But before trial hits, I think it's important to be prepared (1 Peter 5:8). The verse above from 2 Timothy was written by Paul to encourage Timothy in his ministry of evangelism. This verse was not written to comfort Timothy is a trial, but to encourage Timothy before the trial starts or worsens. As such, I find each aspect of this verse useful in fortifying our own hearts, minds, and souls for God's work in our lives. Meditating on these truths is a sort of preemptive strike against the enemy's lies that are aimed at disheartening us.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. In other words, fear is not from God, it is from the enemy. Courage is from God. Satan tries to work by placing doubt and fear of the unknown into our minds. But God gave us a spirit that knows no fear--a spirit with the courage to trust God with all of our needs. If we give into fear, we are giving into the enemy and not utilizing the spirit that God has placed within us. When we feel fear creeping in, we should recognize it for what it is--the enemy's handiwork--and for what it is not--real according to God's spirit within us.

The spirit God has placed in His children is one of power. In difficult circumstances, we may be tempted to give into lies and feel hopeless. But we are not ever hopeless. God has given us spirits of power and sometimes the greatest power comes when our spirits place full trust in God--when our spirits are in harmony with His Spirit. We don't always have control over our circumstances, but we do always have control over our reactions. Part of the power in our spirit comes from our free will with which we can make a choice about how we react. Our spirits exercise power over the enemy when we take circumstances that he hopes will devestate us and we choose not to be devestated. We have victory over the darkness when we choose trust and peace over despair.

God has also given us a spirit of love. Looking at God's character and Jesus' life, I truly believe that God created us to love with complete abandon. I think that the ways we "protect" ourselves by putting barriers up in our hearts hurt His heart. We build the barriers out of self-preservation because we listen to the lies of the enemy about people, our circumstances, and the future. In part, I think that God won't allow us to know what tomorrow holds because He knows that if we knew, we may choose not to love fully and completely as God loves all of His children, the lost ones included. All any of us has is today and we need to use each day to give of ourselves and our hearts without reservation or regret.

Finally, God has given us a spirit of a sound mind (or self-discipline, depending on the translation). This spiritual trait is particularly crucial to the Christian life during trial. Consider Job, for example. Satan requested permission to throw slings and arrows at Job because Satan knows that when times get hard, it's very easy for him to feed us with lies and lead us into temptation. But what Job (and Jesus during his temptation) demonstrates is God's higher calling on our lives. God wants us to remember in times when we're tempted to fear or lose heart that He gave us the sound mind/self-discipline to turn to Him for our hope, strength, and peace. Instead of giving into human fraility and losing our in place of our sound mind, we can choose to discipline ourselves to turn to God every time we feel the fear creeeping in.

Knowing and believing each of these aspects about the spirit God gave us will prove invaluable when trial comes (as it inevitably will). The best advice I could give to someone setting out on the Christian journey (or someone far along) is to meditate on this verse and keep each word of it on the tip of your tongue. Do not be deceived into thinking that hard times and testing won't come. They will come because they are part of the plan and part of the nature of fallenness. But know that when they come, you don't have to react with fear or weakness. In the very nature of the spirit that He has placed within us, God has given us exactly what we need to withstand any test or trial.

Posted by Kim at March 16, 2006 11:06 AM