Good morning, Five Minute Families. It is great to be with you today. We are Jim and Kim Nestle with Clear View Retreat. This ministry hosts family camps, marriage retreats, grief retreats, and more in beautiful East Tennessee. Please check out our website at clearviewretreat.org. On these five-minute family moments, we want to bring God’s encouraging word into real life application for families. Let us know your thoughts, or a topic you’d like us to explore.

Today, let’s explore 2 Timothy 1:7. The CSB reads, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” And the NASB states it this way, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

We are not to allow a spirit of fear to pervade our lives and become what we hear, how we interpret, and how we respond to the world. A spirit of fear says the world is so scary and so many bad things could happen that we have to cling to the blanket of control we think we have, controlling our actions and our thoughts. The spirit of fear keeps us focused on worry, concern, the things we lack, the people who have hurt us or let us down, and more.

I have lived in Tennessee most of my life. Once when I was in Alaska, I went cold camping in below freezing temps. Now at that point, I had never even owned true cold weather clothing designed to hold body heat in. In fact, in this recent snow-storm, someone shared a picture of socks as gloves for playing in the snow. That’s how I grew up, socks as gloves and plastic bags wrapped around my feet. It was cold and fun until it was cold and miserable! So, when I went camping, my friends loaned me a pair of thermals and a subzero sleeping bag along with other necessary items. They told me, when you get inside your one-person tent, take off everything except the thermals, and get into the sleeping bag with nothing else on and you’ll be warm. I didn’t believe them. I left some of my extra layers on, especially my socks. I awoke at 2am freezing and miserable. The friend in the tent be-side me asked, “Did you do what we told you to do?” You see, I wasn’t using the subzero sleeping bag the way it was designed because I didn’t understand. I was afraid of being cold and miserable because I didn’t trust the power of the fabrics that had been shared with me.

Like Kim not trusting in the power of the fabrics, when we give in to fear, we are not trusting the power God has given us. God sent the Holy Spirit to live within us believers. The spirit of God brings us power. And, believers need to understand the Holy Spirit. We encourage you to do a deeper dive, but here are five scriptures to meditate on:

Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness

Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kind-ness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

Acts 1:8 – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you

2 Corinthians 3:17 – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Isaiah 11:2 – And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

The spirit of God brings us love. God’s love knows no bounds. God is with His people. He loves us. We are to love others, AND we are to love ourselves. Continually holding onto fear isn’t loving. Those of us who have experienced a spirit of fear would never want that for any of our family members or friends.

The spirit of God brings discipline. When we are disciplined, not led by our changing emotions, then we can make sound and rational judgment calls. There may be times when we listen to the Holy Spirit and we do not do something because it wouldn’t be good for us or for those around us, but that is not anywhere along the same lines as being afraid of failure and not moving forward.

To enrich our lives with God’s power, love, and discipline, we must start and stay in Scripture. We need to surround ourselves with other believers, we need to read or listen to His word daily. Bible study and prayer are musts to conquer the spirit of fear.

And, we have to believe God’s word. You’ve heard us speak often about getting to the root of our own false beliefs so that God’s truth can overtake and replace that lies that we tell ourselves. A spirit of fear can become comfortable and might even keep you somewhat falsely warm as you move around and stay distracted, but what happens at 2am when the false warmth of fear can no longer actually keep you warm?

Trust God’s spirit of power, love, and discipline. He will guide you through the sin-ful, fallen world. No matter what happens around you, there is abundant living and His heavenly eternity awaits you. Thank you for joining us this morning. Be blessed!