Timid

P3385 Don’t let fear knock you out of the ring.

/ DVH

“So we can confidently say,“The Lord is my Helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6. That’s one of those rhetorical questions nobody likes. That’s probably because most of us could give quite a list of stuff man can do to us. But I wonder if we know, just as thoroughly, how much God has done for us, right here, right now? Time for revision. 

This verse tells us, He didn’t just save us, He also enables us. “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8. Notice the predominant word “all.” Now let’s look at 1 John 4:18 it says: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.” 

Begin by revising how much God’s perfect love has given you, personally. Yes, He saved you, and yes, He has helped you – thank you Lord! But there’s more … read the bible. Go through your journals. A journal can help you revise what He has already done for you spiritually, physically, and mentally. After all that revision – go and find someone who needs His love and love on them. The action of loving others uses faith, which releases more faith. Faith fights fear, so use yours. Go and spread the love He has already given you around. Start SINGING!! “Sing for joy to God our strength …“

Moving on to Psalm 55:22 MSG bible: “Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders, He’ll carry your load, He’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin. But you, God, will throw the others into a muddy bog, Cut the lifespan of assassins and traitors in half.” And we think video games are blood thirsty! The point is, God’s always with us even though we may not feel it. The bible says it, we believe it, and that settles it.

Actually, it is far more accurate to say: We’re with Him!  Don’t look at the size of the things coming against you, look at the  power of our God to get you through. Read and reread the book! Sometimes we are viewing this life through the wrong lenses. Let’s not borrow someone else’s glasses, let’s ask the Lord for HIS. His eyes see the things we don’t. (Ephesians 1:18)

2 Timothy 1:7 “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” What a way to identify the Holy Spirit!! Anything short of this verse means we are messing about in the wrong spirit. Never forget we are all in a battle, we live in enemy territory, and we don’t belong here.

Now let’s recap what our truth is: God is with us, and He will help us. We do not need to be afraid of someone else’s face. When I was little, and I did something my parent didn’t like, I would see ‘the unhappy face!’ However, our Father’s face always says: “I love you so much, and I am here for you. Let’s do this thing together.” He’s not just sending you out – He’s going with you!  The same God Who helped Abraham and the Lord Jesus is going with us.

We were not designed to carry burdens in this new life Jesus gave us. Part of that new life is freedom. Freedom means I can refuse to accept the weight of whatever is going on. I still get to fix whatever He tells me to do, but I am obedient, under His instructions, and the weight of what the Lord says I need to do, will not drown me.  I can stand still and see God Himself work on my behalf – I just have to learn to leave my clock behind. Our God doesn’t do timetables, and He does not fit in with ours. Instead, He does PERFECT TIMING. There’s a difference. 

If Father God did not give me a spirit of fear then what the heck am I doing with it? Why am I entertaining these thoughts? Jesus was teaching His disciples God’s Ways, in Luke 11:10, 11.“If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask Him?” 

Jesus is using these illustrations to demonstrate the fact that God is wa-a-y more loving than we are. Because our Father is like that, we can, and should, always expect loving help from Him, not trickery. Good outcomes. Trickery comes from the other guy. We will have to fight our feelings; they can come at you roaring, or even in insidious whispers, telling you God has left you and He doesn’t care.  Fear is a shadow on the wall of the reality of Christ IN us.

Let’s fight for what matters – it’s OUR peace, and Jesus paid dearly for us to have it. It’s called ‘renewing your mind.’ We have the Word of God to remind ourselves our side already won! We may live in a war zone – but Jesus already won this war. Don’t let the enemy knock you out of the ring. Bye 👋.                                                                             ”Dear Lord, I thank you that I can come to You always for any reason. I’m grateful that when I pray to You, You answer me. Help me to come to You at the beginning of my fears and anxieties instead of waiting until I can’t stand them anymore. The quicker I come to You the better. You want to free me from ALL my fears. Help me look to You for help all the time so that I can be radiant with Your joy. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

P 2736 Do something different.

/ DVH

2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” I read this recently and I realised I had not been reading this verse correctly for years!! I missed the bit at the end … “and self-discipline.” In spite of our feelings, the bible says we already have the power to discipline ourselves, we were g-i-v-e-n it the moment we said yes to Him. I strongly suspect that we all like the thought that: “God doesn’t make us timid – He gives us power and love …” bit!  ”But the self-discipline … meh! Not-so-much.

I could spend a week on this subject mainly because very few people seem to be enthusiastic about dying to self. I can count on one hand the number of people I know personally who know how to discipline themselves. Most people I know have an unusual response when they read verses like this. They expect that they would be the exception, because they have legitimate excuses. Good luck with that one! We are dealing with Almighty God – the Person Who knows everything … if that doesn’t make your knees knock together … there’s something wrong somewhere!

People say things to me like: ‘I had a terrible childhood ‘ – We have been  blessed. We do not have to get stuck back there. So forgive, move on! Or they say something like …’you are just being mean, my life is full of difficulties and I’m very vulnerable right now.’  Mature Christians learn to take the rough with the smooth because they understand they are not living for themselves anymore! Let’s remember that Jesus hung on the cross with no clothes on. That’s vulnerable!! Lastly, here’s my all time fav excuse…’It’s too ha-ard, I can’t.’  Whoever said Christianity is easy, should be smacked upside their head every day for a year! Oh my, I think I just found some of that anger I rattled on about yesterday. Moo-ving on … rapidly! Of course we will have to pray to enter into this process of change, otherwise our flesh will rise up and cry ‘uncle’ way too soon.

It is bound to hurt when we stop ourselves from doing and saying things that have become part of the fabric of our old lives. If someone else points this stuff out, it is highly likely that we will probably get snarky at them. I have no clue who said this particular saying but it sure sounds good — they said: “Along with great power comes great responsibility.” If we truly want to be over-comers we will have to seek His help to deal with the stuff in our own personal lives that can take us away from walking with Him. That will not be fun. It isn’t easy either. But it is not impossible – I just need His strength, not mine. I know I will quit far too soon and pronounce the situation untenable rather than deal with it and persevere.

The bible says that the Holy Spirit does not make us timid. And that means if we are think we are timid it’s not HIM! It’s our flesh jumping up and down demanding to be fed or kept hidden. Unless we are planning on joining the undead it’s best not to feed our flesh anything, or hide it anywhere. Just saying …!! Here’s a great tip BTW, it’s a bad plan to feed your old man sympathy and pity – that stuff will turn into self-pity in a heartbeat. Treat these things like a surgeon, cut whatever it is out, cauterise it, put a nice bandage on it and start exercising the new YOU. The more we walk in our new identity, the more it becomes who we are.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this process can feel strange, a bit like you are betraying yourself. Because we’ve spent most of our life giving in to timidity, and calling it shyness – but it is really fear, and God doesn’t give us that! He gave us power, love and a sound mind/self-discipline. I like that it says self-discipline in the Passion Translation, it makes it do-able. A sound mind just sounds like something most people already have – we hope! But self-discipline sounds like work – and it is. 

And yes, I know that Jesus told us that: “His yoke is easy, His burden is light.”  Yeah it is. After we put that yoke ON and pick up that burden. We can’t go with what we can see, because this stuff is never going to LOOK easy. Christianity involves cost. Avoidance goes entirely in the other direction and it creates chaos. That means we are not in-step with the Master. His yoke, is not only easy – it’s REAL. Being yoked together with Him means we fall into step with Him, so we go where He’s going. His strength as our Leader holds us up.

Self-discipline is not just about admitting our own faults, and kind of laughing over it like we care … but we are mostly powerless to change. It is about engaging in His processes and doing something about them. We already have the power to change. We exercise that power when we pray for His help and step out in faith. Let’s do something different! 👋