Today’s Bible Verse
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
Power, Love and a Sound Mind
Fear is a spirit, and it’s not from God. It comes from the enemy who has no authority over you.
It’s been said, “Fear tolerated is faith contaminated.” Fear stops you from obeying God. Fear is waiting outside our comfort zone. Fear will rob you of your faith and breakthrough.
Mark 5:34 says, “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Daughter, because you dared to believe, your faith has healed you. Go with peace in your heart and be free from your suffering!’”
Fear will stop you from living “Daringly.” Jesus said, “Because you dared to believe, your faith has healed you. To dare is to have the necessary courage or boldness for something, to be bold enough. Helen Keller once said, “Life’s either a daring adventure or nothing.”
This woman in Mark 5 took a risk of faith. She could have been stoned to death because she was mixing with the crowds and was unclean! She had to conquer her fear. Privately, she said to herself, in her meditation, I must get to Jesus and touch His robe before anyone notices me. Once I do, I will be healed! I believe she rehearsed or meditated on that for many days. When’s the last time you tried something for the first time?
I have found in my walk with God that He didn’t call me to live a safe life, but a courageous life. He spoke to my heart one time and said, “You’re playing it too safe. Take a risk of faith!” I asked Him, “What do you mean by that?” He said, “If you’re going to please Me, you must walk by faith, not by your senses or rely on your own abilities.”
Without faith, no one can please God. Faith is simply trusting God. He reminded me that when I was in the world, I took risks. When I was mining underground, I would take risks to accomplish my goal even though I could have been injured. John F. Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”
One of the giants I needed to conquer in my life was the fear of failure. Dr. Ed Cole once said, “Every failure is simply the opportunity to learn to trust God.” God is committed to your success and won’t give up on you, ever. He went on to say, “God never fails; God never quits; God never ends anything on a negative because God is faithful.”
To me, failure is never trying. Pastor Art shared a word with us in one of our meetings from Joshua 14:12-13:
Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said. Caleb said in the latter part of the verse, “It may be that the Lord will be with me.” That’s taking a risk of faith! He had the promise, but he still had to take a risk to conquer the giants!
(Pastor Henry Acevedo)
Change My Story
What changed my story, is what can change yours too—power, love, and a sound mind.
Power
In the command comes the power to obey. He gave us the command to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). That will take conquering some giants. When I started my Life Group, I had to believe that God’s Word was greater than people’s problems.
Love
Faith works by love. Love never fails because love never gives up: “Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up” (1 Corinthians 13:7 TPT).
Sound Mind
This is the ability to have the right thinking patterns: “Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes” (Romans 12:2 TPT).
Today’s Declaration
God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, fear cannot control me. I will not yield to it. I will live a fearless life in You. I trust You and Your Word.
Today’s Bible Reading
- Old Testament: Isaiah 27-28; Proverbs 23:1-18
- New Testament: Luke 22:39-46; Hebrews 6:13-20
