Power, Love, and a Sound Mind
Second Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” He takes away one thing -- fear -- and in its place, He gives us three things -- power, love, and a sound mind. We often spend so much of our spiritual energy fighting the devil to get rid of one negative factor that we overlook our need to receive from God the fullness of His provision -- provisions which bring us more and more into the full image of our Lord Jesus. I want to share some simple truths about our warfare against Satan and relate them to some meatier truths about our relationship to God.
We are in a spiritual warfare. “ For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Daniel 10:12 14 tells about Daniel’s twenty-one day waiting period while there was a spiritual battle going on between the angels of God and the demons of hell. Luke 11:18 23 tells us about the encounter of the kingdom of Beelzebub and the kingdom of heaven and describes it as a great spiritual struggle or scrimmage. Jesus says that there is a strong man who is armed and guarding his palace when a stronger one God comes in to overcome him, take away the strong man's armor, and divide the spoil. Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (verse 23) There is a spiritual struggle that is going on, and we are part of it. We are either on the winning side and building or we are on the side that is scattering and destroying. John 10:10 tells us that there are two sides. One is the thief who wants to kill, steal, and destroy; the other is Jesus who wants to give us life and life more abundantly.
We have to have two prongs of action when we move into spiritual warfare. The first is that we have to fight the devil. James 4:7 tells us that we have to resist the devil so that he will flee. But this verse is not an isolated phrase. If we look at it, we will notice that there are conditions that come right before it and right after it. The verse before it says to submit ourselves unto God. The verse after it says to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. We need to note that the battle with the enemy is sandwiched between two commitments to God our betrothal to the Lord. “For the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” (Isaiah 52:12b) Isaiah 58:8b says that “and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.” When we are walking with the Lord, we are sandwiched between Him. We have God walking in front and God walking behind. We have to come into that relationship with God. We have to draw nigh to the Lord and let Him draw nigh to us. Spiritual warfare has to be seen as sandwiched between our relationship with God. First, we have to submit to God; second, we have to draw near to Him. It is only between those two close relationships with God that we are able to resist the devil. It is not enough to fight the devil and to get him out, the Bible says we also have to fill ourselves with the Lord.
In Luke 11:24 26, Jesus tells a parable about a man who was demon possessed. After the demon was cast out of the man, it came back again and found the man's house, or his soulical man, swept and garnished. When the devil returned, he brought seven more evil spirits with him. These new intruders were even more evil than the original one, and that the end of that man was worse than before. He did not know how to protect himself from being repossessed. We must submit to God and draw nigh to God. It is between these two relationships with God that we are able to resist the devil. But then when we resist the devil and push him out, we have to then put God in that place. In other words, we must have God in the front, God behind, and God in the middle.
Scripture says that the demon came back and found the man swept and garnished. Garnish actually has no functional value to a structure except that it makes it look pretty. Restaurants usually put some little pretty things on the plates to dress them up. The garnish may not be edible, and it may have no functional value to the meal prepared for us, but it is put on the plate just to make it look good. In this parable, the man kicked the devil out and he placed things in his life to make it look good, but they weren't of functional value. The man's problem was that he had nice religious decorations, but they had no function. Paul commands us not to do things for show as men pleasers or as eye service, but to do things out of true heart that serves God. (Colossians 3:22, Ephesians 6:6) First Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” Man will look on the outside to see how garnished we are, but God looks on the inside and sees how we are functioning. First Corinthians 13:1 3 demonstrates that even though we may have the outward garnish of the gifts of the Spirit, without the inward stability of the fruit of the Spirit, we are nothing. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
We may have a lot of garnish -- a lot of spiritual looking stuff on the outside -- but it is the Word of God and our stability on the inside that makes the difference. If we draw nigh to God, submit ourselves to God while resisting the devil, and fill the void with God, then we will have victory.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:7)
What is that fear? We have to recognize the fear, remove it, and in its place put the godly qualities of love, power, and a sound mind. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Many times, people are affected more by fear of what may happen than they are of the actual event. Fear can paralyze us worse than an actual occurrence. Some people live in a fear of death. All their lifelong, they are afraid that they are going to die. Death may only take an instant, but the fear can rob them of years of enjoyment. Many people live in a fear of getting sick and worry themselves sick in the meantime for fear they are going to get sick. Many people fear things that will never happen and thus they waste their lives and all of their energies. Usually fear of an event is worse than the event itself. We all remember going to the dentist as a child -- or even as an adult. We sit in the waiting room nervously. Our palms sweat. When we see the dentist, the actual treatment in the chair is not nearly as bad as sitting in the waiting room waiting for our turn to get in.
The Apostle John was certainly correct when he told us in I John 4:18 that fear has torment. Did we know that it hurts you more to take a shot when you are afraid of the needle than it does when you are not? You tense up your muscles, making it harder for the needle to go in. Pushing that needle into the tense arm of a fearful person does more damage and hurts more than if the person were able to relax.
Fear, I think, is what we might call faith in the devil. A fearful person believes that evil things are going to happen. A person full of faith believes that good things are going to happen.
The nature of faith is defined in Hebrews chapter eleven. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (verse 1) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (verse 6) The nature of fear is definable by looking at the reverse to these same verses. We can define fear with the same phrases as we do faith just by looking at the reverse side of them, “Now, fear is the substance of things dreaded and the evidence of things unknown. But without fear, it is impossible to please the devil, for he that runs from the devil must believe that he is powerful and that he is the destroyer of them that get caught by him.”
Fear is believing that the devil is going to get us. The Greek word for “fear” used in II Timothy 1:7 means “fearful or timid in terms of faithless.” God has not given a spirit of faithlessness. With proper understanding of what fear is, it is easy to see that it is not related to God at all. However, many Christians often walk in fear and live in worry. This happens because they have simply garnished their lives or they have only resisted the devil and never submitted their lives to God or drawn near to Him. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (I John 4:18) What does John mean by not being made perfect in love? He tells us that God is love and we can dwell in Him; therefore, we can dwell in love. We dwell in God, and God dwells in us. Here, again, he is sandwiching us in between the love of God. Notice that the little teaching he gives on fear is sandwiched between a longer teaching on love and the Godward relationships. It is important for us to understand that we have to be drawn into love and that perfect love will drive out all fear.
Instead of fear, God has given us a spirit of power to replace the void that is left when fear goes out. We usually associate the power of God with the Holy Spirit and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13)
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. (I Corinthians 2:4)
Power without love and a sound mind is dangerous. Just think of the times we have seen power demonstrated but didn't have love or a sound mind with it; for instance, Adolf Hitler. He certainly did not have a sound mind, and for sure he didn't have love. What he did have was power; but without love or a sound mind, it was destructive power.
God has given us a spirit of love as well to fill the void that is left behind when fear goes out. Love is associated with the nature of God. First John 4:16 says that God is love. First Corinthians 13:4 6 and Galatians 5:22 23 describe love. But love without power and a sound mind is sympathy. We feel sorry for someone but do not know what to do to help him. We find ourselves lacking a sound mind and we have no ability. We feel sorry that the man is hurting, but we don't know what to do for him. If we see a man lying on the side of the road with a broken arm, all our sympathy will not accomplish one thing in the man’s life unless it is accompanied by knowledge to put on a splint and ability to act. We have loved him; but we don't know how to fix him, and we cannot meet his need. Or, maybe we know how to fix him, but we don't have the necessary equipment to put a splint on him. Just loving him does not accomplish much. It is when we have love, power, and a sound mind all three of them working together that we can minister to him.
God has given us the spirit of the sound mind to replace the void of fear. A sound mind is the mind of Christ.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5)
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:16)
A sound mind is a renewed mind.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Ephesians 4:23)
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)
The Greek word for “a sound mind” means “rational as in the knowledge of knowing rather than the knowledge of any specific thing.” It implies wisdom. The sound mind is not one which specializes in one topic, but one with a rational understanding about all of knowledge. It implies wisdom and direction with the result of knowing how to move forward. Jesus called for this kind of rational mind from His disciples in Luke 14:28 -32.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
A sound mind can only be obtained when the spirit is in control.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6- 8)
However, a sound mind without love and power can be useless. We can know what to do, but have neither the means nor power to do it or the motivation (the love) to do it. James 2:15 16 gives an example of seeing someone else in need of food and clothing. The believer immediately analyzes the problem and figures out the solution, but he isn't motivated nor is he able to help. He has the sound mind. He sees someone who is hungry, and he reasons in his logical mind, “This man is hungry, he needs food.” He tells the man, “Be blessed. Be warmed and fed,” but he doesn't have the motivation and the love to really do something for the man nor does he have the power and the ability to actually provide anything for him. When he walks away, what good has he done?
Power and love without a sound mind is foolishness. One zealous young man I knew gave away all his clothes except for one pair of jeans because he was motivated by love, he had the power to do it, but he didn't have a sound mind. He was a musician, and he was supposed to play the next night at an important meeting, but all he had to wear was a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. He was supposed to represent Jesus to a room full of businessmen, but he walked in wearing a dirty pair of jeans. They hadn't been washed because he didn't have anything else to put on so he could take them to the laundromat. He had the power to give away his clothes. He had the love to give away his clothes, but he didn't have a sound mind. Power and love without a sound mind is foolishness. It brought ridicule to his stand of faith, and he knew it by the way the businessmen looked at him. Power and a sound mind is nothing, as we have seen in I Corinthians 13. Love and a sound mind without power is failure. We can love a person who is sick, and we can have the sound mind to know that man needs healing but if we don't have power to lay hands on him, we accomplish nothing. We end up saying to that person, “I'm so sorry that you are sick, and I know that you need to be healed; but unfortunately, I don't have anything to give you.” So the guy walks away still sick and may even die of that sickness.
We can have power without love and a sound mind, and it is useless. We can have love and not have a sound mind and no power, and it is useless. We can have a sound mind and not have power and love, and it is useless. When we are coming to the place where we have protected ourselves, where we are no longer being painted into a corner, where we are renewed and we are casting out fear, where we are drawing nigh to God and submitting to God, where we are getting the devil out of the way and we are filling ourselves with God God says that there are three things with which we must be filled power, love and a sound mind. When we are renewing ourselves in our mind with a sound mind, it has to be accompanied with power the Holy Ghost power. It has to be accompanied with love God's nature in us. God has given us all three, not just one or two.
Until we have all three of these divine characteristics operative in our lives, we will not reach our full measure of the stature of Christ.
This month's meditation is an excerpt from Delron's book, Maturing into the Full Stature of Jesus Christ through Developing a New Mentality. To obtain your copy, make your online donation today.