POWER, LOVE, AND A SOUND MIND

Many have told me not to look at the news, because it would freak me out. Of course, I like to be prepared and ready for anything and take precautions, so I watched the news anyway.

I now understand what they meant.

Needless to say, the more I watched, the more fear rose. And the more I heard the fear in others’ voices, their worries and their doubts, the more my fears started to rise. But then I remembered that fear is not from God, so any fear that I was feeling was a ploy from the devil to distract me from what God is doing and how He wants me to move. 

Fear can strip me of hope. Fear can strip me of peace. Fear can strip me of wanting to pursue acts of love and kindness. Fear tempts me to stay holed up in my room begging God for health and protection for me and my family, instead of doing anything for anyone else.

I had to realize that this diminishing of hope, peace, and love were the consequences of fear and not the results of a warning from God. 

There is an argument out there that God brought this pandemic as a call to repentance. But, after much reflection and consideration to this argument, I realized there is a key thing missing in that idea: the character of God; the God who is only good and who showed His loving grace by sending His Son to forgive us our sins.

Though God may be using this to bring people closer to Him and to open the eyes of the blind (praise Jesus!), the Bible says He is good. So He can only work out of that goodness, a goodness that is filled with power, love, and a sound mind, not fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) 

2 TIMOTHY 1: 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7 was the focus of a message I was listening to yesterday, stating that the way to get out of fear is by acknowledging the power God gives us through His Spirit, by acting out of love, and by maintaining a sound mind.

We can access the power of God through our intercession in prayer, praying for others, receiving revelation and prophecies. We can use the authority He gave us, as His children, to demand the spirit of fear to leave and tor heal and to pursue and ensue.

We can act out of love by caring for those beyond ourselves, whether through encouragement online, preparing and delivering food to those who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus, or ny financially assisting those who have lost the income to take care of themselves.

And we can have a sound mind by using wisdom to take precaution and use medicine when suggested and provided, as well as by releasing our anxieties to God and trusting that He has heard us. 

Though I believe this pandemic wasn’t from God, I know that He’s used it to show me just how much I need Him.

He’s shown me how much I need His Holy Spirit so that fear does not consume me.  Let us listen to His voice instead of the voice of fear.

- COTY MILLER, WORSHIP DIRECTOR