Stir Up The Gift Of God

“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;” (2 Timothy 1:6-8). I think sometimes when we hear that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, the lesson that we take from this is that if we feel fear rather than love and power then we are somehow failures or sinners or not living clean enough or pure enough or good enough lives. We either doubt the goodness of God or our own worthiness and we assume that if we were true believers with pure hearts and great faith, then we would be filled only with power and love and a sound mind and there would be no fear in us. But that is not the message. It is not necessarily the case that we have to either be filled with the spirit of power and love and a sound mind, or be filled with the spirit of fear. It is perfectly possible to feel fear and power at the same time. Our challenge is not to ignore or dissociate from or exorcize our fear so that once we’ve purged all of the fear out of us God can finally give us the spirit of power and love and a sound mind. The challenge is to feel both the love and the power and the fear simultaneously and choose to hold onto and to keep the spirit that comes from God. God has given us the power to act with our own agency. He has filled us with the capacity to love. And He has given us a sound mind to make well-reasoned, deliberate choices that will lead us to greater happiness. Many of us allow the spirit of fear to distract us from the power and the love and the sound mind that God has given us. If we let it, the spirit of fear will freeze our power, smother our love, and darken our sound mind. Fear seems powerful because the fear is inside of us, and it is using the power that is inside of us. Fear seems to be looking out for us, because it uses the love that is inside of us. Fear seems to make sense, because it is using our sound mind. Fear would have the fiery spirit inside of us smolder and dwindle into cold, lifeless ash. But all it takes is one act of will to stir up the gift of God which is in us. At first, we may feel only the tiniest sparks of power and of love and of a sound mind. But as long as we keep stirring up that gift, the fire will reignite and blaze forth and fill us with light and warmth and chase away all of the fears of darkness. The fear won’t ever fully go away, just like the darkness around a fire won’t ever fully go away. If we have been fooled into believing that we have somehow lost or been disqualified from having the gift of God that is in us, if our fire seems to be nothing but dying embers, if the spirit of fear is howling through us like a whirlwind, we should not be ashamed. God did not make us to be weak or miserable or crazy. If there is fear in us, there is power also. We can have light and darkness inside of us and choose the light and yet have the darkness remain. We can be partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. I know that the spirit of fear is real and it is not always possible to be filled with that perfect love that casteth fear out. But we can hold fast to the spirit of a sound mind, and of power and of a love that might not be perfect but nevertheless is a gift from God.