II Timothy 1:7 (AB)
For God did not give us a spirit of
timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has
given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and
discipline and self-control.
The Bible is very clear by its persistent
repetition throughout its pages that if you are a child of God, you are never
to fear anyone or anything except Him (and to fear Him means to honor and
reverence Him, not hide or cower from Him).
One clear indication that you are filled and being led by the Holy
Spirit is when you absolutely feel no fear, no timidity, no cowardice about
anyone or anything around you. Can you
honestly admit this? Or, must you admit
that you live much of your life in fear?
You must not give up or give in. God is always at work in you (Philippians
1:6). He has given you His Holy Spirit
once you sincerely confessed Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord (Ephesians
1:13). The Spirit wants to fill you
completely, but there are many obstacles to this happening for any sustained
period of time and some of those main obstacles are flesh-borne, sometimes
irrational fears that you’ve accumulated your whole life.
For many years I had a great fear of roller
coasters. I would not get on them and
didn’t care that others thought less of me for having such fear. One time while chaperoning a youth group on a
Kings Island trip, there was one girl who did not have a partner to ride The
Beast with her. She asked me to ride
with her. Of course, at first I
resisted, but, candidly, my male ego started to bother me that here a 13-year
old girl wasn’t afraid yet this near 40 year old man was. So, I reluctantly agreed to get on the roller
coaster with her and fear overwhelmingly gripped my heart. As the roller coaster zoomed down that first
precipice, I was white as a sheet and wanted to throw up. This young girl looked at me, saw that I was
in trouble and said something like, “Mr. Akers, just scream your lungs
out”. Well, I did and you know what
happened? All the tension and stress and
fear just dissipated from my body and soul.
From that point on, I had no problems riding roller coasters because I
learned how to deal with the fear of them.
Perhaps a poor analogy, but my illustration
points out that outward screaming replaced inward fear. In Paul’s words to Timothy, the Spirit of
God—all His power and love and calmness and discipline and self-control—will
replace whatever inwardly causes you to fear.
God brings His Spirit from outside of you to inside of you and replaces
whatever inside of you is anti-God and being fearful and timid is anti-God.
So, how might you apply this verse right
now? What are you afraid of? Ask God to fill you with His Spirit to enable
you to overcome that fear. Who are you
afraid of? Instead of you on your own
facing that person, think of the power of God facing that person. Story after story of Christians facing
persecution and death with unwavering courage substantiate the truth that these
Christians were filled with the Spirit of God who removed all their fears and
replaced those fears with power and love and discipline. He will do the same for anyone who asks Him
for help in facing whatever causes you fear, whatever makes you timid, whoever
threatens to make you a coward.
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