sharing...

July 26, 2013

2 Timothy 1:8 …but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God

Do we ever put ourselves in a position to even sort of suffer? I’m not talking about being imprisoned for spreading the gospel, and I don’t think that is the only suffering that Paul was speaking about. Not doubt it is part of what he meant because he was in prison while writing this. However, there are many levels of suffering that we, as believers, can go through. The most of course being physical suffering. Yet, do we even make ourselves even remotely uncomfortable? Do we share our faith at all? We, here in America, are able to do this without the threat of physical imprisonment hanging over our heads, but we don’t. We don’t because we are afraid of a little emotional discomfort of fearing what they will say to us. The fear of man is a powerful emotion, but not so powerful that the power of God within us can’t battle and win!

the hardest thing of all...

July 23, 2013

2 Timothy 2:17 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and self-control

Probably the hardest thing for us to control is ourselves, right? Contrary to what “sounds” right we hardly if ever want to control our “self.” I mean really, if it were easy to do so then God wouldn’t have sent us His power to help us, right? We wouldn’t need God’s power to accomplish it. I do. I know that without God’s power of self-control I would have none. It’s hard to deny your “self” something whether it’s eating a doughnut or screaming your head off in frustration. For me either would be impossible without God’s power!

the power of God...

July 22, 2013

2 Timothy 2:17 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power…

We have the power to deal with what is going on in our lives. We have the power to walk through the valleys that define our lives. We have the power, God’s power, to stand above any heartache we encounter. This power doesn’t mean we won’t suffer heartache, doesn’t mean we won’t have tears in our heats, it doesn’t mean that our lives will be sunshine all the time; instead what it does mean is that we persevere in spite of those hardships. It means that we will have peace in the thunderstorms of our lives. 

What God gives...

July 17, 2013

2 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control

What a big verse? Right. There is so much here; these 16 little words are enough to change our lives if we really believe them. “For God gave us…” that in itself tells us that whatever is coming after is mighty. If God gives us something this means it’s His. Whatever we have that’s from Him is great and powerful and able to meet all our needs. Meaning that in our whole lives, in every decision, in every situation; we only need what He gives us to make it through. We also don’t deserve it. We couldn’t earn it. We couldn’t get it on our own. He gives it to us. The question for today is do we accept it? Or do we continue on in our own strength and power.

are we making excuses?

July 16, 2013

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…

We hear a lot about spiritual gifts and how if the church is the body of Christ we should all do our part in it so that the “body” can function at its best potential. We hear it but we often think it doesn’t apply to us. Or we must because we ignore it. We know we do. I’m not talking about those times in our lives when we truly are bogged down with our family lives and must take a break from serving with our church family, note I said serving there is never a good reason to stop associating with them! However, what does you life look like as a whole? Is the majority of it full of using your gift to further God’s work here and to help your church body or is it full of excuses of why you can’t? Only we can really answer these questions truthfully and we can even fool others and ourselves some of the time, but we can’t ever fool God. He knows if we give to Him all that we can or if we don’t. It should convict us to know that.

it's our responsibility too...

July 12, 2013

2 Timothy 1:4-5

V5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well

We don’t really know a whole lot about Timothy’s mom and grandmother. Except for one major thing; they raised Timothy to have an abiding faith in God. They raised him according to the verse in Proverbs that instructs parents to “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it.” They taught him godly principles. Most importantly, I’m sure, they lived godly lives in front of him. I have no idea what happened to either his grandfather or his father. God’s word doesn’t tell us this information. However, what it does remind us as mothers is that we, mothers and grandmothers, have a responsibility to teach our children, grow our children in a way that when they are older they will not depart for it. The world will tell us that God and His word devalues women. Yet, here is a concrete example of that so not being the case, there are many more examples of this actually! Here we have two women who are in charge of shaping and growing this young man who will be greatly used by God. God in His infinite wisdom could have used Timothy’s father and grandfather but He didn’t. They for whatever reason aren’t even mentioned. He left the task of growing and equipping Timothy to his Mom and Grandmother. If we have children, God has given us this same responsibility; regardless of whether we have godly men in our lives or not.