Christian Living
The Holy Spirit Purpose and Grace
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and encouraged him to continue to serve God despite the fact that Paul was awaiting his death (2 Timothy 4:6-8 NKJV). Paul began by sharing how he knows that Timothy has genuine faith in God because his grandmother (Lois) and mother (Eunice) had it (2 Timothy 1:5 NKJV). Paul then challenges Timothy to;
1. Stir up the gift of God, which is in him (2 Timothy 1:6 NKJV)
2. Paul reminded him that God has not given him a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV)
3. We are not to be ashamed of the Testimony of Jesus Christ.
4. Nor are we to be ashamed of God’s servants who are incarcerated for preaching the Gospel.
5. We are to share in their suffering of the Gospel.
6. According to the Power of God (2 Timothy 1:8 NKJV)
7. God had Saved us
8. God had Called us with a holy Calling
9. It was not by our works that we were selected for this Calling
10. But it was according to His own Purpose and Grace which was given to us before the world began (2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Encouraging Facts for Difficult Moments
Hi Faith-writers, I’m going to continue to teach about the Purpose and Grace of God we have in our lives so we may continue to be motivated to do the Will of God on earth. In my last article “According to His Purpose and Grace”, I high-lighted the fact that God has Called us and enabled us to do His Will According to His own Purpose and Grace before the world began. The last article was designed to show us that God had pre-planned things for us and all we have to do is discover His plan for our lives and line-up with His Will so we can be positioned to practically live out God’s Call on our lives.
Again, Timothy was faced with many challenges as a young Pastor, Overseer and 4th Class Apostle. Paul was arrested and awaiting his death sentence. The fact that Paul was no longer in charge and being God’s instrument and leader in bringing forth the Gospel with Power to all the nations that God had led him was very disappointing for the young Pastor. Timothy may have been saying to himself, “Now what am I going to do? Paul is no longer here, I’m here to run this Church at Ephesus and deal with all these issues that Paul normally dealt with”. How am I supposed to do it? How do I do the work that Paul did?
There are false teachers, false teachings, idol worship, persecution, carnal Christians, spiritual Christians and so many people that are looking to me for answers I do not have!
It’s amazing that as human beings we question things with no sense of direction…we say what are we suppose to do when all along we should do what we were trained to do. What do you mean Manuel? When we read what Paul instructed Timothy to do from (2 Timothy 1:3-9 NKJV). We see that Paul reminded Timothy what he should do. Going through this list we see 10 things that we must do to continue to discover what God will do in our lives as we serve Him. And the Gift, the Holy Spirit, the Divine Power to be a living Testimony for Jesus Christ, the Power we have available, the Divine Call and the Purpose and Grace we have in Jesus before the world began are all facts and resources at our disposal to serve God efficiently and effectively.
The Practical Application
Stirring up the Gift of God is--to get fired up again to serve God. We need to get our passion back to serve God. We need to begin praying about every little thing that we are faced with and up-against. We need to pick up the Bible and search the Scriptures carefully about the difficult moments in the life of believer’s in the Old and New Testament when they were faced with a Government financial crisis and what they did to continue to live on despite the problems. We need to (Fast) if we have too, to gain greater insight to what we should do to serve God during this dilemma. For Timothy it was to regain His confidence to be an effective Pastor and Overseer. For us, we may have been laid-off because of the Government Shut-down and we are entering the financial crisis that only God can give us a way out from. If we look to stir-up the Gift of God in us we will then be granted insight to what to do to keep us in a sound state of mind so we may make wise decisions during this financial melt-down.
The Federal Government is not the only game in town. God should be the source of our hope and the Director of our path to success during any difficult moment we are encountering.
No Fear—No Worry
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of Power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Paul explained what kind of Spirit we have in us! The Holy Spirit in our human spirit is not going to motivate us to fear life’s troubles, problems, crisis and difficulties. The Holy Spirit is in us to motivate us to have the Power to move in Faith and confidence that God is on our side despite the challenges we are faced with, this should give us hope in God’s ability no matter what the circumstances are in our lives.
The love we have been given is to move us to do the charitable deeds necessary to assist others in whatever capacity we can, food distribution…looking out for the less fortunate during these financial crisis when we have more money than others and going the extra mile to accommodate others with resources, information, and moral support, even new employment for the time being while they’re laid-off is some of the things God will place in our hearts. In fact, I work in NYC at (commonground.org) my company has 25 buildings and they need housekeepers, engineers, case managers, and residential aides. It may not be as much as you used to make or union wages but it’s a steady job nonetheless.
A sound mind is a well-balanced mindset that disciplines us to remain sane and focused when things are not going well for us. So we may maintain self-control and not go off into the fast life or throw away our lives by doing illegal activities that will eventual lead us into more trouble than what we are currently encountering. It’s not time to be a drug dealer, stripper or call girl or guy. It’s not time to turn to the bottle and drown ourselves with booze to escape the realities of life. It’s not time to do drugs or anything else but continue to serve God.
God doesn’t have a deficit in His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is geared at supplying all our needs in Christ Jesus. God has another job for us. God has a food distribution program we can go to. God will grant us the wisdom to deal with our bills and the bill collectors so we may be grant Favor and an extension to pay-off our debt. There is a way out…there is a solution to the problem we are facing…there is open doors of opportunities available to us to be able to live off the land that God created us to live in. Our Heavenly Father did not bring us this far to let us die. This is a time to understand the Purpose and Grace of God. This is a time to tap into the Gift of God. This is a time to stir up that Gift that is inside of us. So let’s do it, in Jesus’ name amen.
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