Of course, I am referencing 1 Timothy 1:7. From the NAS it reads: “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” The word “discipline” can also be rendered “sound judgment” or some translations have “a sound mind.” Let’s think together what this verse means. Many who are reading this at this site are struggling with fear and anxiety. Those of you may see an immediate contradiction between what this verse says and your empirical daily experience of how things are. The paradox is clear: “I am a Christian with terrible anxiety, but this verse says that anxiety should not be my experience because God did not give me a spirit of fear. This verse says that I should be experiencing a sound mind, so what does this verse mean? How does it relate to me?”
Just to be clear, I the writer am writing this retrospectively because I have claimed complete healing from my anxiety and panic attacks some months ago. I had suffered with a severe terrible panic attack complex for over 20 years. I did not think that I would ever get healed. I have always seen the paradox with this verse and similar verses (i.e. Romans 8:15, and 1 John 4:18) and my situation. They just did not seem to correlate with the dread I experienced daily. Though I have declared my miracle, lately I noticed some residual fear gradually trying to creep up within me. But later this verse popped into my mind along with a fuller understanding of it. And this deeper revelation of the meaning of this verse put my residual fear to rest.
So what does it mean? Like most verses, it has several layered meanings. First of all it alludes to the Holy Spirit that all believers receive the moment they are saved (Romans 8:9), and are seal with until the Day of Redemption (Ephesians 4:30). It tells of what we were not given (fear) and alludes to what we was given, the Spirit, which includes power, love, and self-control or a sound mind. This raises the question: “So if God did not give it to me, who did? And why do I have it?” I am not going to go into the why here, but if it did not come from God then the only other source is demonic. It may sound terrible that it is demonic, but it is actually good news for 2 reasons: 1.) You know the source and root cause, and knowing is a big part of getting to the solution; 2.) God in Christ defeated all demonic powers through the cross and has all things under His feet, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly places and are sitting in a position of conquering power over this.
Before I give you the great revelation I received about this verse that did away with my residual fear, I have to introduce what I am about to say by stating one of the things that really helped me conquer fear initially. God revealed to me why I was having panic attacks and I think that the same trigger applies to many of your situations. I found that I was bowing down in fear to others, empowering them with power that God did not give them. I realized that if God did not give them power that I was attributing to them, then surely the power I was giving them (unintentionally) was illegitimate and unnecessary. So I consciously tell myself, “To whom of these should I bow down in fear to? To whom of these did God give power over me that I should fear them? They have NO POWER over me because God did not give it to them.” I think that many of you with panic attacks can relate and find the same root cause. I believe that if you really analyze your situation, you too will find that you have acquiesced power to other people to have superiority over you that makes you unconsciously, uncontrollably bow down before them in fear, but this is power that God did not even give them. When you really realize that God did not give them such power that brings everyone else down to your level and allows you to rise up to their level so that you will find that you now stand on equal ground with them with no fear at all.
Just as God did not give people power over me: the revelation I received about 1 Timothy 1:7 is that God did not give fear itself to have power over me or His saints who are living for Him. God did not only not give it, He also did not sanction it. God gave no power to fear which means that it is rendered powerless in Christ Jesus. And Ephesians 1 says that Jesus is seated in authority at the right hand side of the Father with all things under His feet. And Ephesians 2 says that we are seated with Jesus who has all things (including our fear) under His feet. Fear’s only power it has over the faithful believer is its deception: it wants to make the believer think it has power, but it doesn’t have any. Because of our position in Christ, we do not have to bow down to fear any longer. So now I can render my same quote about people that helped me overcome fear in the first place to include fear too: “To what fear did God give power over me that I should bow down to it instead of the Father and His Son alone? To what situation has more power over me that can overcome the One inside of me? God gave NO POWER to fear itself therefore I can stand with confidence in every situation trusting Jesus alone to provide me with all the conquering peace I need each day.”
Home 
