II Timothy 1:7

II Timothy 1:7 But God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a disciplined mind. These intended gifts are of the essence of God. The declared purpose of God is to make man in Their image. God imparts His attributes into us as we are prepared to receive them. This is not blasphemous presumption on our part. God seeks this fruit in us and failure on our part to develop the characteristics of His nature and demonstrate the result of close following of Jesus to do as He bids us, will result in our being rejected. When Jesus cursed the fig tree He was looking for the promise of figs that would naturally appear in the season of figs. Something had caused the tree to fail to produce this promise. It had been created to fulfill the promise.

What has caused the church in general to fail to produce the promise of sonship in the likeness of Jesus? It is God's purpose, and His power to produce this in us is not in question. What has happened that we have become a tree without promise to produce what God expects in the proper season?

Fear has become the common mode of operation in our realm. It is how we are governed from childhood through the rest of our lives. Fear of failure, of poverty, hunger, illness, danger and death keep us in a mold of our own making. Fear of being fanatical, or "being out of order" keep many from stepping out to respond to God's expectation. The scheme of Satan to produce a religion that satisfies but does not produce what God expects is easier to follow than to follow Jesus all the way into God's expectation. I want to explore this first gift of power and see what it will produce in us. We have seen the result of living in fear but what will be the result of living with the awareness of the power that God longs to give us.

First let us look at the power of God. Our earliest "experience" of this power is the creation. There have been many theories concerning creation when mankind has chosen to disregard God's Word. But the proof is lacking and to accept man's theory takes more faith than trusting God. To believe in God Who balances universes and galaxies and makes a man out of dust with every organ and nerve working throughout a lifetime with a spirit and soul that will live on into eternity, is actually easier than believing it all just happened.

But the power exerted in creation was to prepare a place for man to develop and choose to allow God to exert the power to bring that dust creature into the likeness of God and stand with Jesus as a finished project. The desire to be like Him looses that power into your life. Many want power for power's sake but are not desiring it to accomplish God's desire. I think of the example of Samson. God put that power in Samson's life and made it available to him through the anointing. But Samson did not focus on God's purpose in giving him this power, but let his own desires become the guide of his steps. It was only when he lost everything that he came to the realization of what was truly important. Then he sought God to use that power to do God's will. Jesus gave power to his 12 disciples and they marveled at the miracles they were able to do and that even the demons were subject to them. Jesus showed them their focus needed to be on what God had provided for them rather than on what they could do.

God gives us the power but we give Him the covenant response of being an instrument in His hand to do His will and fulfill His desire. The power of God in the hand of a totally yielded vessel intent on becoming like Jesus, is what God can use in this time of the shaking of all things that can be shaken.