Power Up! That's What The Holy Spirit Is About, Right?

Power Up! That's What the Holy Spirit Is About, Right?

A Look at 2 Timothy 1:6-7

You've heard the words before: "God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power!"

When the Spirit first came upon the Disciples at Pentecost they were filled with the Spirit and spoke with boldness. When Jesus left to go battle temptation with the Devil Himself, He was full of the Spirit. The Spirit ... the same spirit ... inside of us as Christians is the Spirit that is boldness. We don't need to be afraid of the gospel. We don't need to be ashamed of sharing what Jesus is doing in our lives and what He has done for all of us because we have a boldness that comes from having God Himself inside us ... that's pretty fantastic. And for a long time, I'm pretty sure I thought that's where 2 Timothy 1:6-7 ends, "not of fear, but of power!" I mean, in every cultural reference of the Spirit, that's what's always pointed out, isn't it? The unabashed boldness of the spirit? But in actuality, the Scripture doesn't end there. 

The full thought reads like this: 

"I am reminded of your sincere faith [Timothy], a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.  6 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,  7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

--2 Timothy 1:5-7  

Fan into flame the gift of God ... because God gave you a spirit ... of power and love and self control. 

That's the uninhibited exhortation. Use your gifts Timothy, and don't be afraid, because the Holy Spirit within you is one of power and love and self-control.

How I Apply This To My Life

• POWER/BOLDNESS - The Spirit within me encourages me to preach with the power that comes from God, to be inhibited in calling out sin, in preaching truth when it hurts, in telling non-Christians about Jesus no matter how I might be treated because of it.
• LOVE - The same Spirit within me encourages me to love those same people, to go beyond talking at them and move towards serving them, to sharing life with them
• SELF-CONTROL - The same Spirit within me calls me to not overstep my bounds, to use discernment and restraint, to listening quickly and speaking slowly, to not quarrel with others needlessly.

What it means to "fan into the flame of God," and use the spiritual gifts God has given me through faith, is not to hoard them over people because God's given me a spirit of "power," but to not be afraid to use them. And to love others while doing it. And to watch what I say. 

Power comes with a price: responsibility. That's why Paul adds "love and self-control" to the Spirit of power. Because I have heard people abuse this Scripture verse and have it mean that God has given us a Spirit of unabashed boldness that has a regard to Christ alone and not others. But the Scripture points to something different.

The Scripture points to exercising our gifts with an empowered boldness matched with love and self-control for others. 

Anything less is from us and not God.