Be bold.

We have been talking in the last few weeks about how we have the mind of Christ, and how we, through Holy Spirit can have access to God’s mind, God’s thoughts about us, and God’s wisdom about our situations.

2 Timothy 1:7 says in the Passion Translation, “For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” What fear is the Bible talking about? Is it talking about the reverential fear of God where we honour Him and obey Him? No. It is talking about fear that cripples us. Fear that stops us from progressing. Fear that stops us from trusting God. Fear that gets us stuck in cycles.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Paralysed with fear”? Fear can paralyse us spiritually if we let it go unchecked. What is important to see from our verse is that fear is a spirit. It is an evil and ugly demonic spirit. Have you ever been walking somewhere, minding your business and suddenly you walk past a certain area and you feel afraid and you cannot rationalise it or understand why? That’s the spirit of fear.

Have you ever had your mind bombarded with negative thoughts so much you felt “paralysed” like you cannot move forward with what you wanted to do or you feel pressured to do it now and do it quickly, or else! That is the spirit of fear. God does not traffic in fear. He will never lead us through fear. Fear is never from God.

Has God asked you to do something, but you have been holding back because you are not sure what it will look like or not sure what people will think? Has God promised you something and you are scared to believe it because deep down you feel you don’t deserve it? That is a spirit of fear. Fear sometimes can be in your face, other times it is hidden behind reasons and explanations and excuses. No matter how you end up sitting at the table with fear, you need to know that it is not from God. Stop entertaining it. It is not your guest, it is an intruder and treat it as such. Resist it, bind it and tell it to leave in the Name of Jesus, James 4:7.

We have been given Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is God. Holy Spirit is bold. Holy Spirit is strong. Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us, so that means 24/7, 365 days a year, we have access to heaven’s resources. It means if we tell fear it is no longer welcome, it needs to obey the Name of Jesus. It means greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world, 1 John 4:4.  You have God living on the inside of you. You should not be bowing to fear. Put feat where it belongs, under your feet. It is your enemy on assignment from hell to stop you from becoming who God wants you to be.

2 Timothy 1:7 in the MSG version says, “God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”  How beautiful is that. Whatever God has put on the inside of you, He wants you to be bold about it. He wants you to walk in love and soundness of mind with it. Not tormented with fear. We cannot release God’s gifts in and of ourselves. That is why we have the wonderful gift of Holy Spirit.

Self control, sound mind or sensibility as it is described in our verse means, we don’t let fear control us. Galatians 5:1 says, “At last we have freedom, for Christ has set us free! We must always cherish this truth and firmly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.” We have been given victory in Jesus Name but we have to enforce it. Speak God’s word over yourself. Resist the devil and watch him flee.

If we are letting fear dictate what we do and do not do, it is because we are forgetting just how big and mighty our God is. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is choosing to do it anyway in spite of the fear. It is choosing to trust the voice of God saying, “I’ve got you” instead of the voice of fear saying “You are going to fail”. Courage is recognising that where I am weak, I am strong because I have Holy Spirit with me, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.

You don’t have to be stuck. You can choose to step over your fears and into the fulness of all that God has for you.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.