Thurs., 10/29/15 Devotion (2 Tim. 1:7)

Today's encouragement comes from 2 Timothy 1:7, which says this:

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

Ministers have to be pretty stout souls—and Paul knew that Timothy's natural disposition was anything but "Type A." Still, the apostle reminded the young pastor that God's provisions in his (Timothy's) ordination included courage, sweetness, and firm resolve.

The world around us *can* at times be a pretty foreboding (fearful) place; but the Lord has given each of His Christian churchmen—clergy *and* laity—a Spirit—not of cowardice, but one of true skill in living, charity, and solid, spirit-ual reason. Let all God's believing children rise up today, and shed every-where the light of Christ's grace. Let us take our rightful places as the royalty of heaven (here on earth).

[Puritan quote of the day: "He who has God to be his God is so well content-ed with his condition that he does not much care whether he has anything else.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Art of Divine Contentment"]