1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I have been sent out to tell others about the life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 I am writing to Timothy, my dear son.
May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.
3 Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.
5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. 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.
8 So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. 11 And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.
12 That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. 14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
15 As you know, everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me—even Phygelus and Hermogenes.
16 May the Lord show special kindness to Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and encouraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in chains. 17 When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me. 18 May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ’s return. And you know very well how helpful he was in Ephesus.
2Timothy 1
Okay, so I know I just had you read a WHOLE chapter of 2 Timothy but there wasn't just one or two verses that I could take out. This is a letter from Paul to his dearest friend Timothy. A letter of encouragement to stay faithful to the cause of Christ. I have read this chapter before, but this time something was so different. Maybe it was because I read it in a different translation (NLT) but whatever the reason it compelled me to write about it. I have always looked and thought of the apostles as the warriors for Christ. Preaching the Gospel where ever they went, carefully but without fear. They were brave men, willing to lay their lives down for Christs name sake. But as I read Pauls letter, he mentions so many emotions. He mentions Timothy crying, He mentions him having a genuine faith like his mother and grandmother. He speaks of a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. A spirit of fear and timidity, suffering, being deserted, kindness, never being ashamed. He mentions all these different emotions. Often when we see emotions in a person it makes them feel "human" they feel tangible, because you probably can relate. The whole purpose of Paul writing to Timothy was to encourage him to keep on going because he knew that it isn't easy preaching the truth, it wasn't easy staying faithful to God or even to Paul who was in prison.
Now, go back and read the high lighted verse. "With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life." There are some of us that are going through trials right now. Trials in our spiritual life, trials in our financial life and trials in our marriage. These trails make us want to throw in the towel. Maybe leave the ministry or maybe even leave your spouse. You are done. But just like Paul and Timothy God called us to live a holy life. Paul admits that what he is enduring is hard, almost everyone has deserted him. Almost all of his friends except one has continued to encourage him to stay on the right path. Listen friend, we are at war, and I hate to say it but Satan is winning. He is destroying churches, destroying Christians, destroying families. Yes, he is winning. So i'm writing to you as Paul wrote to Timothy. Don't give up. Don't be afraid to face the challenges! Don't have so much pride that you don't go to God for forgivness because you are afraid of what others might think. Quit casting stones at our sisters and brothers in Christ, but instead encourage them and lift them up in prayer. With your marriage, fight through it. Communicate. Pray. If the Holy Spirit lives in you He will guide you and give you the strength to endure. He did for me. He did for Paul and He did for Timothy. And let me tell you they endured a lot. There was a lot of pain, but the cause was beautiful. It was worth it. My marriage that was almost destroyed, the love nearly extinct is now strong, is now beautiful. The pain, the trials, the heartache was worth it. We lost a lot along the way. Satan won a few rounds. We are no longer in the ministry, but God is still using us. I believe that we are winning the battle, together with God. No matter how hard it is, no matter what the challenges are you can overcome them and win. You just need to trust God with it. You need to believe that whatever you are going through it is for God's glory and His ultimate plan. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. There is beauty beyond the pain.<3
No comments:
Post a Comment