Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

Sitting in a lonely jail, damp and cold, Paul writes to his beloved son, Timothy, in Christ Jesus, a gentle reminder……

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

                Many summers I have watched as each of my children boldly walked the tall staircase to the high dive staring down at the water, uncaring about the line of fearless divers behind them or the encouraging chants of, Jump, Jump, Jump, from below. Sometimes they would go for it and other times they would walk back down the steps, defeated by fear. Now, only my freckled-faced boy remains and the high dive no longer looms over him in fear. He jumps like its natural using his gift of swimming to overcome the fear, his power in knowledge that this dive is exhilarating to overcome fear, and the love of the thrill it gives him to, yes, overcome fear. 

                Is this not the way we are in life as a new adventure conquers fear of the unknown? Like walking into a new office as eyes advert or packing up everything and starting new. Fear in the form of anxiety can keep you awake at night but more upsetting, it can stop you from trusting our God and Father and doing what He has gifted you to do. Fear tells you to google the likeliness that you will achieve your dream but God says, even if an ocean full of it-can’t-be-done gets in the way, I will part it for you. Fear says the work is too big for one person and God says my strength will knock down the giant amount of work with faith the size of a small stone.  

Paul, in second Timothy, goes on to say in the next scriptures to not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of him, but share with him in the sufferings for the gospel. Think of this, Paul is in a prison because of his teachings of Christ. It’s cold, damp, disgusting, and rat ridden. Yet Paul is still encouraging others. He knows that there are those that will use his imprisonment to further their agenda to dispel the Good News, yet he tells Timothy to carry on without fear and in love.

                Webster defines fear as, anxiety caused by real or possible danger. Does the thought of going out into the world and using the gift God has given you, cause anxiety? Now if you answered that, listen to what Webster defines power as….ability to do or act. The ability to do or act….. Does God give us the ability with our gift to do or to act? Yes, He does. Now how does Webster define Love? Strong affection or liking for someone or something. Do you have a strong passion when it comes to the gift that God has entrusted you with?  Now to define sound mind, let’s look at the word sound. Webster defines sound as, free from defect, damage or decay.

Paul is in prison and he is encouraging Timothy to continue using the gift God has given him. One must wonder if fear was seeping into Timothy’s thoughts as his mentor was now imprisoned.  What then is it that keeps you, my friend, from using the gift God has given you? Me? Well for me it’s a lack of confidence. I fear that I will put sentences together wrong or misspell a word? Maybe I use too many commas or don’t put enough, O’s in the word too....

The enemy will use your greatest fear to side rail your greatest accomplishments. That, my friend, should empower you. When the enemy comes at you hard, when you can’t breathe from anxiety, when sleep alludes you, when others call you crazy but you can’t hear anything over the resounding words of the Savior that is when your power is the strongest. That is when you have the ability to do or act upon your great accomplishment.  When the enemy tells you how hard it will be remind him who your Father is. The same God that parted the Red sea is the same God that gave you a gift. Do you really believe he gave you this gift just to see you fail?

So what is the enemy using against you? Finances? A family that depends on you? Your sinful past? Fear of speaking in public? Your appearance? Past failures? Your friends? Lack of education?

Let me ask you this….are you happy? Do you have joy in what you do? Do you want it? Do you want to wake up every morning knowing that you are living the dream God gave you? Then do it my friend. Trust completely in the Savior and write that novel, sign up for that class, start saving for that mission trip, agree to teach that Sunday School class, sign up for foster care classes, adopt that child, knock on your neighbors door, take that first step, leave a mark on society, break free from the tradition that binds you, go forward in power, love and with a sound mind. Because the truth is we are all in our own prison when we are too afraid to use the gift God gave us.