Fighting the Flesh #12: Fear

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”—2 Timothy 1:6-7

In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, during his first inaugural address Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Fear can paralyze even the strongest of men. We all fear something—it may be the loss of health, family, career, job, or status. Our lives are pregnant with fear as we continually wrestle with what the future may hold.

Timothy also wrestled with fear. He was young, associated with Paul’s ministry, questioned because of his youth and association with Paul. His leadership was under examination, false teachers abounded, and it seemed that wherever he turned there was another fire to extinguish. To make matters worse, Paul, his mentor and father in the faith was leaving him. Paul new his time was short and writes to Timothy with great affection to encourage and exhort him on in the faith. These are Paul’s last words to Timothy and this letter is filled with tenderness and love.

Their history was long and sweet. Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, had been converted under Paul’s ministry in their home city, Lystra (Acts 16:1). She, in turn, communicated her faith to her daughter, Eunice, who taught it to Timothy. Timothy, like so many today, grew up in a home where the mother and father were unequally yoked, his mom being a believer, while his father was not (cf. Acts 16:1). Nevertheless, Paul took young Timothy under his wing, training him in the faith, teaching him what it meant to serve Christ and live a life devoted to Him. No wonder then that Paul was encouraging him to fan into flame the gift of God in him and live in the reality and strength that God’s spirit was in him empowering him to press on in the face of great adversity! He needed encouragement to press on. Encouragement and power to stand for what is right as people around him were questioning his qualifications, leadership ability, and a host of other problems. He needed to be reminded of the truth that “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”—1 John 4:4.

The only cure to fear is being fired up in faith by the Spirit of God. We must be kept on target by remembering who we are in Christ,  

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”—Galatians 2:20.

Are you fanning into flame the gift that God has given you? Or is your life being dictated by fear? Don’t let the enemy intimidate you! Stand firm in faith or you will not be firm at all (cf. Isaiah 7:9), but will continually live a joyless life, void of God’s blessing, afraid of every trial that comes. Stand firm, know who you are in Christ and that there is nothing that God is going to give you that He will not give you the grace to bear up under! Amen.