“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.
1Timothy1:7
Paul exhorts Timothy ,his spiritual son ,saying” share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God”. (1Timothy 1:8).
We need power that comes from God. So we have to “ fan into flame the gift of God”(1Timothy 1:6).We have to kindle the divine gift by constant prayer and persistent communion with the God. 1Timothy 1:7 explains why we must kindle and not neglect this gifts.
Here we can see four qualities of the fruit of the Spirit works in our lives : fearlessness,power,love and self control. Power flows to us from the Father God, Love flows to us from Jesus and self control from Holy Spirit.
These qualities of the triune God gives us internal, external and eternal victory.
When Adam and Eve sinned and fell short of the glory or greatness of God in which they were created the spirit of fear entered in them and they hid from the sight of God. It is this spirit of fear haunts man through the generations— manifesting as fear of success, failure, death , rejection,dangers, enemies, Ill health and afflictions, scarcity, curses etc. The spirit of fear is a bondage. We have to cast it out.
Fear must be replaced by Faith. Faith gives us access to the power of God. We get the power to cast out evil spirits and can command healing and deliverance. We will get the Resurrection power of Jesus 1Corinthians 15:21 says that, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead”. So we can now revive the dead areas of our lives. Faith enhances the capacity to forgive, teach us not to contend with others and to live in peace with all. It teaches us to be humble .Fear holds us back from sharing the love of God with others. We have to be perfected our love for the Lord— the perfect love cast out all fear” (1 John4:18)
Jesus regained acceptance by God for us by His death on the cross. And we are set free from fear to Love (Jesus).When Jesus comes inside of us,we have the ability to make right choices.We have no need to fear anything or anyone.
Faith fills us with power of Jesus as we are now the children of God. We have the power to tread upon the power of the enemies.(Psalms44:5) and have the power to command the darkness to depart.
We also receive the power of self control in order to grow the fruit of the spirit of love,Joy,peace,patience,faithfulness, kindness, goodness, gentleness and humility to overcome the seeds sown in the flesh ,for example, pride, lust,anger,anxiety, hatred etc. We need to discipline ourselves our appetites,attitudes and habits. Lord will give us the grace to do so.
The spirit of Love, power, and self control equip us to face and handle all situations. This should operate in our lives always as we are found by Lord to be effective, fruitful, and faithful servants.
Prayer
Father God, give us the grace to operate love, power and self control in our lives always. Help us to have a fearless life, with faith in you.
Amen
Sol. Gigi Jacob