Chapter 1

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20timothy%201&version=ESV

STUDY

• Who is this letter written to?

• What kind of spirit did God not give us?

• What kind of spirit did God give us?

• What did Jesus abolish?

APPLICATION

• Pray verse 7 back to God. What does He say to you concerning this verse?

• Paul and Timothy were called to be ministers of the gospel. What is your holy calling?

• As followers of Jesus, we are entrusted with the gospel to share with unbelievers around us.  How do you "guard the good deposit entrusted to you"?

PRUNING ME

        So many of us fear.  Me included.  Fear does not come from God- and if it doesn't come from Him, it comes from the evil one.  The evil one wants us to fear, because when we do, we don't have the Spirit of power and love and self-control at work in us.  Fear is crippling, and the evil one uses it to cripple us, spiritually.  When we fear, we aren't putting trust in God.  When we fear, we don't trust that God will provide and take care of us and our circumstances.  When we fear, we doubt God.  And that is exactly what Satan wants.  Instead, let us allow the Spirit of power, love and self-control to work in and through us.  Power- the same power that raised Christ from the dead.  Love- the same love that God IS. For God is love.  Self-control- the same self-control that Jesus showed by not sinning through anger in the market when He overturned tables, or the self-control He showed when Satan was tempting Him in the desert in Matthew 4.  Why do we fear when we have a God who is beyond everything we can imagine with our human minds?  He is a God who loves, provides, forgives, comforts, rescues, answers... and yet we still allow fear to creep in.  Let us allow the Spirit of love, power and self-control be evident in our lives.  Imagine how God can use us if we allow the Spirit to be at work! Amen?

• Leanne