680 Power Over Fear - 2 Timothy 1:7

How does fear show up in your life? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I'm grateful you're here. So I've been reading through 2nd Timothy 1, and today I want to talk about verse seven. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "For God, gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power ,and love, and self control."

Often when I'm angry, I'm really kind of afraid. I sometimes get angry because things aren't going to work out the way I thought. And anger seems to be the way that my fear shows up when I'm afraid that things won't work out the way I wanted them to, then I get angry. Others of us show fear in other ways. I also think it's interesting that we're not supposed to fear anything, but God, as far as the scripture is concerned. We are to fear God, because of who he is and the power that he has, and the fact that he's in control. When we fear anything else, even angels, they tell us don't be afraid. Every angel shows up on the scene and the first words are fear not.

We're only supposed to be afraid of God, but fear often impacts us and it freezes us. And the reverse of that fear is what Paul is reminding Timothy about here. The opposite of this fear is power and love and self-control. We each have the ability to make a difference. Fear paralyzes us. Fear challenges us to withdraw and to freeze up. The wicked lazy slave in the parable of the talents went and hid the talent in the backyard. He was afraid something would happen to it. Fear causes us to be wicked and lazy, but power and love and self-control are available to us when we denied the fear. The power comes from God. So does the love and the self control should show up in our lives.

I want to challenge us today as followers of Jesus Christ. Let's be people of power and love and self-control. Let's remember that our actions matter. Power means that there's always something we can do. There's another thing that we can do to help God become a little more visible in the world, to the people around us. There's always an action we can take. Always something we can do. Maybe it's simply pray. Love is another thing that's within our control. We can choose to love others. By love, we're not talking about emotional feelings, but rather action. Acting on behalf of another person and helping them improve their situation, do something for the benefit of someone else. That's love.

And then self-control is managing ourselves. Doing such that we are not taking, but rather we're in the environment to be givers. Self-control is one of those areas where I constantly work on myself because I want to give myself a pass all the time. I can be the laziest guy I know. And self-control is my reminder word in scripture. It challenges me to have good judgment and to act according to what I know about our Lord.

Power, love, and self-control are the antidotes to the spirit of fear. They're how we show up in the world and make a difference as you go to your job today, you have the ability to bring power and love and self control, simply because of the gift of God that's living in you. Listen to yesterday's podcast, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

You have the ability to fan the gift of God. To fan that flame so that it shows up in the world as power and love and self-control, and you can make a positive difference in the lives of your friends and your coworkers and your customers. And when you do that, you're walking with Jesus at work. You're a full-time minister. When you consider that ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thanks for living your faith on a daily basis, for taking it with you wherever you go and for living in such a way that you can join Jesus as he saves our world.

Thank you for your ministry to others. It matters. Thanks very much.