The Spirit You Have II Tim. 1:7 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

God hasn’t given you the spirit of fear.  Instead, he has given us the spirit of:

Power – this is spiritual power Zech 4:6.  It comes from the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of Jesus in us 1 Cor 2:4-5; Prov 28:1. We have the power to overcome sin [Rom 6:12-14, 8:13]. We have the power to witness [Acts 1:8]. We have the power, with the word of God, to preach [2 Tim 4:2; 1 Thes 1:5].  We have the power to stand in spiritual battles against superior enemies [Eph 6:10-18; see v.12].  We have the power to abound in hope [Rom 15:13] and, therefore, we have peace and joy.

Love – we can love God when we aren’t sure that he loves us [1 Jn 4:19; Rom 8:28].  This is not an emotional love that can be fickle.  This is a spiritual love tat abounds through the Holy Spirit in us [Rom 5:5; Gal 5:22].  We can love the brethren even when we aren’t sure that they love us.  Paul rebuked Peter publicly, which could have embittered Peter.  However, though Peter was greatly used of God and could have cut off fellowship with Paul, Peter loved Paul, instead [2 Pet 3:15].  Paul continued to love his men though none stood with him at the end [2 Tim 4:16].  We can love the words of God even when they cut us [Heb 4:12].  We can love the things above, though we can’t see them and they seem so far off Col 3:1-3; 1 Pet 1:8.

Sound mind – Christ has given us a mind [1 Cor 2:!6] with which we can seek and understand his words [Prov 2:1-5].  We can study and rightly divide the word of truth [2 Tim 2:15].  Don’t be concerned that you don’t understand all things from the beginning.  It takes a lot of time and work to mine out the treasures the are in the Bible.  We have a mind that can discern [Rom 16:18].  We have a mind that can be humble [1 Cor 8:1-2; Phil 2:5].   We have a mind that can think [Phil 4:8] and doesn’t need someone think for you, like a scholar or the press.