“but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
a.
With Power
i.
God has all power
We have a powerful God. He
is able to overcome any fear that we have.
Psalm 147:5, “Great is
our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”
Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah
Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power
and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”
ii.
The One who has all power is with us
Matthew 28:18, 20 “And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth…and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Hebrews 13:5, “Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye
have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
iii.
He gives us power
God has given us
the power to the weary to help them through their trials.
Isaiah 40:29-31, “He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But
they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
and not faint.”
We must rely on God’s power not
our own, as the disciples failed to do.
II Corinthians 4:7, “But we
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God, and not of us.”
b.
With Love
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the love
Christ has for us. It is just so far beyond our comprehension.
Recently, I was reading the story of the rich young
ruler and one of the verses jumped out at me.
Mark 10:17, “And when he was
gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked
him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus
said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is,
God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not
steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my
youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing
thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great
possessions.”
Jesus knew that the young man
would not be willing to sacrifice his possessions to follow Him. The one thing
the young man lacked, was loving God with all his heart. Jesus knowing this
still chose to love him.
Jesus also chose to love Judas
knowing that he would one day betray Him. I could not imagine this kind of
love. If I knew someone was going to betray me, the last thing I would think of
doing would be to love him.
I have also been pondering a great
deal on the Crucifixion. I think we make this so much lesser than it really
was. When you see pictures of Jesus after His resurrection, you see red marks
on His hands from the nails. Jesus had large spikes driven through His hands. Those holes will be in His hands for all of eternity. I think that they will
serve as a continually reminder of what Christ did for us.
How does love tie in with fear?
I John 4:18 answers this question,
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear
hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
We can find peace and security in
the great love that Christ has for us. Just as a child finds security in the
arms of their parent, we can find security be resting in the arms of Christ.
c.
With Sound Mind
“Sound mind” here is referring to moderation and
self-control. How does self-control tie
in with fear?
I think that many times fear
starts out with our mind. We start doubting and worrying, instead of turning to
God in faith. By bringing every thought captive into the obedience of Christ, we
can conquer our fears with the Lord’s strength.
II Corinthians 10:3, “For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge
all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
By meditating on God’s Word, our thoughts will be
turned to the Lord instead of our fears and worries. If you are struggling with
fear, I would suggest to you to find some verses to memorize and meditate on.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The
worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If
we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our
present sorrows.
“If we want the
Word of God to have authority in our life, there is only one way - obey it. If
we want the Holy Spirit to have authority in our life, there is only one way -
Obey Him. If we always obey impulses of fear or doubt or resentment, what will
have authority over our minds? Fear, and doubt and resentment.” (Tom Marshall)
