Love, Power, Sound Mind
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Have you been to a haunted house and frightened almost out of your mind? Have you ever been two seconds away from a car accident? Have you ever had the experience of waiting for a doctor’s report? What about the two or three weeks spent waiting for the results of a HIV test? Can you remember the sickening feeling after you found out your spouse was creating? Fear is at the root of all these things.
Fear as defined by dictionary.com is “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.” Fear is such an unfathomable emotion that our society has taken to creating game shows as a coping mechanism, to teach us that fear is not that bad at all. It is often said that fear not appears over 300 times in the Bible.
Fear can be debilitating, controlling and full of torment. Think of all the things that we fail to do because of fear. Many of us fail to get college degrees because of fear. Many of us fail to take a cruise because of our fear of ” all of that water.” Many of us will never venture to travel overseas because of some fear of being on foreign soil. Some of us will never attend a professional sporting event because of our fear of crowds. It’s sad when we allow fear to rule, dictate and determine what we will do with our lives.
How many of you realize that Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. God has given us three powerful tools to eliminate the fear in our lives.
(1) Power: ability to act or produce an effect
(2) Love: unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as the fatherly concern of God for humankind, brotherly concern for others
(3) Sound mind: sound judgment, self-control, and self-discipline.
When utilized together these three things make us unstoppable. God has granted us the power to act as agents of change. Not only do we have the power to help facilitate change in the lives of others, but more impactful in our own lives. Secondly when we function in the arena of love we demonstrate that love and kindness to others encouraging them to be strong in the power of His might. Lastly sound judgment, self-control and self-discipline allows us to be really, really unstoppable. Imagine the things we could all accomplish if we exercised a little more self-disciple and self-control. We have to use the tools that God has given us in order to defeat the enemy’s influence in our lives.
Prayer of thanks: Lord thank you for the ability to see through the tricks and traps of the enemy. I refuse to allow fear, doubt and unbelief to reign in my life. I know that through you I have power, love and a sound mind. I will exercise sound judgment, self control and self discipline beginning today. In Jesus name. Amen!
Thought for today: Love, Power & Sound mind. I have it and I can use it.
Copyright © 2014 by Cassandra Baker Durham
http://www.cassandradurham.net
