April 25, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Joshua and 2 Timothy? Here’s today’s reading:
2 Timothy 1 (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.……Continue Reading
It is hard to encourage someone to be strong and courageous from a prison cell! Paul wants to encourage Timothy to continue spreading the gospel but I am sure he realizes what he is asking of him. Here is Paul meeting constant opposition, beatings, and even imprisonment and telling Timothy you should join me and meet the same fate. Not easy but he trusts God and knows it is all temporary and that God is with him through every trial. He wants Timothy to rest assured knowing God will be there for him as well as he continues to be bold. This shows us how important it is that we encourage one another, that we support and pray for each other so we can be bold and stand up for what we know is right like Paul did for Timothy. God is with us and we also have each other to remind us when times get tough.
We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self discipline. I need this self discipline today as I’ve misplaced my cell phone and we have no Internet in the house Ready for butler hospital,,,,,,
2 Timothy 1
2 Timothy 1
2 Timothy 1
Timothy was very dear to Paul and in this passage wants to encourage him and build him up in the work that he had left him to do in Ephesus. Paul points Timothy to the past, the present and the future to do so. Timothy came from a family of faith and that faith was in him and he had been anointed for ministry, a good deposit was placed in Him. So Timothy was to guard that and further it continuing to stand for the truth of the gospel and live in a way commensurate with it. Paul had certainly dedicated himself to that gospel and had paid a price for declaring a work that God declared in the past, but revealed and accomplished through Jesus in their time. That gospel comes with a Spirit that doesn’t cause us to be afraid but empowers us to live godly lives and guard the things that God has placed in us. There is also a confidence in that gospel that we know whom we have believed and He will validate what we have done on this earth for Him. Unfortunately living for that gospel brings enemies but also brings people that support us and refresh us. Mercy should be shown to those that are with us and those who oppose us should be watched for who is being influenced and disciplined if and when that becomes necessary within a church body.
A few points that jumped out to me:
“when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”
The role of women, as mothers and grandmothers, in the lives of children in instilling faith in them.
“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.”
Paul encourages Timothy to “stir up” the gift of God. I think by inference that the spirit is stirred first in the mind. How much power do we forfeit by what we do or do not think or believe.
“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.“
II Timothy 1:5-7, 12 NKJV
Paul endures much suffering. He tells Timothy to join him in this suffering for the gospel and not to be ashamed of his chains, Paul isn’t.
Again, Paul enforces the power of Jesus, who he is persuaded of and believes.
Let us always remember that God is with us, Jesus is our friend and Savior, and the Holy Spirit gives us power, love and self-discipline. With this support, we can do all the amazing things that God purposed us to do. We are saved and called to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. Amen!
2 Timothy 1