Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Zach Williams singing … Fear Is A Liar … powerfully singing of how fear can become our dragons which keep us from following Christ and leading others to His glory.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2Timothy 1:6-7 [NLT] ... 6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
… Paul helps Timothy (and us) realize that God never provides us with a spirit of fear. He gives us the power of His grace to move forward - ALWAYS!
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2Timothy 1:6-14 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul helping a timid Timothy realize that his fears never come from God’s Spirit and become liars trying to frighten us from follow Christ,
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 41:10 [NLT] … 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
… God’s promise to His believing people is to always be there to lift us up when we need His strength.
Reference Passage : … John 16:33 [NLT] … 33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
… Jesus told His disciples, in a fearful time, that they (and we) would have fearful trials; but that HE had overcome the word’s lies and fears.
Reference Passage : … 1 Corinthians 11:1 [NLT] … 1 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
… Paul confidently told fellow Christians they could imitate him (i.e., follow his ways) because he knew that he was simply following Christ’s ways.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:1 [NLT] … 1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
… Paul begs fellow Christians to live lives worthy of our calling as Christians.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Monica LaRose, uses a map-making illustration to show that we must overcome our “dragons” of fear to follow Christ. … The ODB author wrote: Legend has it that at the edges of medieval maps, marking the boundaries of the world the maps’ creators knew at the time, there’d be inscribed the words “Here be dragons”—often alongside vivid illustrations of the terrifying beasts supposedly lurking there. [see photo]
There’s not much evidence medieval cartographers actually wrote these words, but I like to think they could have. Maybe because “here be dragons” sounds like something I might’ve written at the time—a grim warning that even if I didn’t know exactly what would happen if I ventured into the great unknown, it likely wouldn’t be good!
We all have things or issues in our lives about which those ancient map makers were likely illustrating, … dragons or fears which hold us back from following Christ the way He calls us to (hopefully you know Luke 9:23). And this was what the Apostle Paul was trying to get Timothy, his protege, to realize in the highlight passage. Paul wanted Timothy to see what Zach Williams is singing in the linked song … that our fears are our dragons; and they are Satan’s lies which keep us from being stronger disciples of Christ.
700+ years before Christ came to dispel our fears, the Prophet Isaiah relayed God’s promise to God’s believers (see Is. 41:10) that He would ALWAYS be there to lift them (us) up when they (we) encounter fears. And Paul was so confident in his own discipleship of Christ that he told fellow believers that they should not fear in following Paul, … confidently knowing that he was always following Christ (see 1Cor. 11:1).
So, when we encounter those “dragons” out there, and fears arise, maybe even today, we need to take a heart of faith and move forward to honor God with the calling He has place on our lives … by slaying those dragons and moving ahead to follow Him [see Eph. 4:1].
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being our “Overcomer” of fears … ALWAYS!
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to recognize the lies and ploys of Satan to deter us from our called path … to follow Christ. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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