II Timothy 1:7 - "Fear Is A Liar"

I am sorry Doc had to be hurting to make it happen but I was so blessed in teaching the teen group last night. Wow! They made class so interesting with their comments and questions. We had a great discussion about communication with God and heaven. At the end of the evening I was a bit envious of the time he has with them every Tuesday. Seven of the nine in the group last night live within two miles of our home. I will never forget when we looked for our new home. We searched on the internet and were in contact with our realtor Suzanne as we planned to come down for a few days. We narrowed our list down from the internet and was expecting to see six to eight properties. When we got here, we found out two had sold from the time we gave her our list on Sunday night until we met her on Tuesday afternoon. She gave us two more options so it brought our list back up to eight. Between one and five that day we looked at all eight properties. 6 Ogden Court was our first choice from the internet and was also the first one we looked. After going through all eight properties in four hours it continued to be Doc's first choice. I was leaning toward a different one but was so tired I didn't care which one we bought. Long story short we bought this house and have been blessed from that point on in so many ways. One of those ways is our neighborhood. We have great neighbors. We are so grateful the Lord put us here. When I was woke up at 1:15 I prayed for the new DS and his family as they are in SC looking for their new home. I prayed their experience would be like ours with the perfect home falling in their laps today. The Lord woke me at 2:15 with "Fear Is A Liar" going through my mind. I asked Him who to pray for and He said "yourself" which was confusing. I am not fearful of anything right now. Or at least I don't think I am dealing with fear. I thought maybe this song came into my heart because of the prayer requests the teens shared with fears about going back to school. Then I thought that couldn't be because God told me to pray for myself. I fell back asleep and had the most horrific dream...no it was a nightmare filled with things to cause me to have fear. I then began to question God about if He knew I needed that song because of the nightmare why didn't He stop it from happening? Why would He put me through stuff that seemed so real? Did He put the nightmare in my path or did He allow the enemy to? So many questions and the answer He gave me was He does not make us fearful. Instead He empowers us to love with His love and be who He has called us to be. Alrighty then. I guess I need to pray for more of that empowerment so whatever is headed my way will not cause fear. The idea of needing more empowerment against fear could cause fear in itself but I refuse to allow the enemy any open door. My God is greater than anything the enemy puts before me. My God will empower me with His supernatural power so I can stand strong no matter what. Paul was encouraging Timothy to improve on his spiritual gifts in the first book of Second Timothy. His words are encouraging for me as I want to live a life of holiness. Matthew Henry writes of this verse:

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, of courage and resolution, to meet difficulties and dangers; the spirit of love to him, which will carry us through opposition. And the spirit of a sound mind, quietness of mind. The Holy Spirit is not the author of a timid or cowardly disposition, or of slavish fears. We are likely to bear afflictions well, when we have strength and power from God to enable us to bear them. 

There are some people in my little world who are going through some tough days. I pray for them to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to stand strong in their faith. I also pray for the kids going back to school to stand strong in their faith when opposition comes their way. 

Dear Jesus,
Thank You for the reminder of II Timothy 1:7. Thank You for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that enables me to stand strong when opposition comes. Father, cleanse me so You can fill me with more of You. May You shine through my words, actions, and attitude in a great way today. I pray for physical strength for Doc as he tries to work today. May You give Him wisdom on what and what not to do. Father, bless his last three days there and our step of faith we are taking in him leaving there. Thank You Jesus for being The One To Empower Me. Amen.