Send It Back to Hell
It’s time for this. I can’t tell you how many times in the last week I have said to myself,
Write it down, Nancy Jo.
The Women in the Word meeting this month was incredible. God’s presence was with us (as always), but it was heavy Tuesday night. He had a Word for us, and I’d like to share it with you.
2 Timothy 1:7 (AMPC)
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of a calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
Let’s break this down.
God did not give.
The word give here, from the original Greek, means to cause, to produce, to give from oneself.
God gave us His spirit. He did not give Adam and Eve a spirit of fear. Once they chose to disregard His instructions, their choice connected their spirits to fear himself, Satan.
I have heard Kenneth Copeland explain it like this (and we’ll see later why it’s such a great picture). He said that our spirits were like an umbilical cord. Originally, they were connected to God and everything from Him freely flowed into us. Then, after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, that connection was lost and our spirits became attached to Satan, the master we chose.
Every dark, fowl, disgusting thing that he is began to flow into us.
Our spirit is the influence that governs our soul.
Remember, our soul is made of our mind, will and emotions.
The spirit that God gave us is equivalent to being filled with the same spirit as Christ and by the bond of that spirit to be intimately united to Christ.
Intimately unites us with Christ!!
See the umbilical cord?
If the spirit God gave us of Himself intimately unites us with Christ, then the opposite of that is also true. The spirit not from God intimately unites us with Satan. Let’s take a look at that spirit…
You know I love the way the Amplified Bible text is so….amplified. It brings out such depth of the Word. Most of us know this verse and know it as
God has not given us a spirit of fear.
The Greek word used as fear here is timidity.
Here is how the Amplified Bible breaks down this word:
God has not given us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear)
Lots of definitions coming your way!
Timidity: lacking courage, boldness and determination
Cowardice: lack of courage or firmness of purpose
Craven, cringing and fawning describe the spirit of fear; those who would not fight, defeated
Cringing: to shrink in fear; recoil, flinch, wince; of or befitting a slave position
Fawning: seeking approval or favor
It is very clear that the spirit of fear, from the author of fear himself, Satan, has a very specific purpose…
I think of a hamster running in its wheel; stuck in the same place and exhausted.
Satan’s end game is your complete destruction.
John 10:10 tells us that.
The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy.
The spirit of fear that connects us to Satan does just that. It steals our peace, kills our dreams and if not stopped, will destroy our future. Fear is paralyzing. Do you see any of this at work in your life: cowardice, crave, cringing and fawning fear?
Craven fear is having the attitude or disposition of “It’s not going to happen anyway, why try?” I looked up some synonyms of craven and these were my favorite: chicken, spineless and gutless. We understand those a little better. Nobody wants to be called a chicken. Well, that’s a part of the spirit from Satan.
Cringing fear is a slave mentality. Shrinking back, recoiling, flinching. Satan is a taskmaster, brutal in the treatment of his slaves. He berates, he condemns. He points out failures and weaknesses.
He is so relentless in his assault that he convinces the attacked that they deserve every evil thing he has planned for them; undeserving of freedom.
Fawning fear. Have you ever heard the phrase “fawning all over herself”? It describes one who tries and tries and tries to do more, do better, and excel in order to find approval. This is the fear that fuels over-exhaustion.
BUT
Except, in contrast…
God did not give us a spirit linked to fear.
He gave us- of Himself- a spirit of power, love and a calm, well-balanced mind, discipline and self- control.
Can we stop and say
HALLELUJAH!!
We have been talking about Dynamis power for about three months in Women in the Word. So rich! This is an inner power. Rick Renner describes it like this:
Being infused with an excessive dose of dynamic inner strength and ability.
This is not external. It is explosive, dynamic strength or ability that is deposited into some kind of vessel.
Raise your hand!
We are the vessels God has deposited His Spirit into! Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this dynamis power as the power which the resurrection of Christ has for instructing, reforming, elevating and tranquilizing the soul!
The spirit of love that God has given us of Himself is the spirit of Agape. This is the Father’s love. We have the ability to receive His love for us AND to love others in that same manner.
The King James Version says He has given us a sound mind. Sound is:
Free from injury or disease
Free from flaw, defect or decay
Solid, firm, stable, showing good judgement
The mind that was in me prior to submitting my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ was full of decay. BUT now that I have been born again, I have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and put into God’s Kingdom. I have been changed from death to life. What was decay is being restored by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
NO LONGER do injury, disease, flaw, decay, or instability belong to me!
I have been given a calm mind. One free from agitation, excitement or disturbance.
I will not jump off the deep end! I won’t do it.
My new mind is well-balanced. The parts are properly arranged and it is untroubled.
By the spirit that God has given me I am able to walk in discipline and self- control. Merriam-Webster defines discipline as control gained by enforcing obedience or order and self-control as restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions or desires.
DING DING DING!!!
Let’s look at the definition of spirit again- the influence with governs the soul.
Where Satan would have our mind, will and emotions (our souls) in turmoil, cringing, fawning and afraid to fight, the spirit that God has given us is one of discipline.
We have the ability to take control of our thoughts and emotions. Satan would have you believe otherwise. “You can’t get rid of this fear”
Oh, dear friend, yes you can. The spirit in you has the ability to govern your emotions, if given the chance...
Romans 8:11
The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you.
The one that called Him out of the grave, God gave you that spirit, it is of Him and full of His power.
Fear is a choice. Faith is also a choice.
God made us fearless and then empowered us by His spirit to be fearless!
Satan’s ploy is to make you afraid to believe-
What if He doesn’t do it? What if He doesn’t heal me?
Why would He not? Why would your good, good, Father, Who sent His Son to the cross, not want you healed and whole in every area of your life?
Here’s a little exercise:
Take a piece of paper. Draw a line down the middle to divide it in two columns. On one side, write all the places Satan has told you to prepare for a letdown and to just grin and bear it.
Maybe you need God to manifest healing in your body, your family or your marriage. Maybe it’s financial freedom or peace of mind. Whatever areas of need that Satan taunts you with defeat, write them in one column.
Now in the other column write:
JESUS
Just write it one time, because that’s all it takes.
Philippians 2:9 (KJV)
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
2 Corinthians 1:20 (AMPC)
As many are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His person and by His agency] to the glory of God.
EVERY promise from God is available to you. Old Testament, New Testament. No Word that He ever uttered out of His mouth has passed away.
Jesus is our YES and the authority of His name is higher than Satan’s taunt of “prepare for a let-down”.
It’s time friends. If you are a child of God then it is time to kick out the spirit of craven, cringing and fawning fear that has been clinging to you for dear life. It’s time to take on the spirit that God has given us.
It’s time to recognize the real source of the weight that you have been trying to carry. It’s not God. He offered to be your source of strength, He offered to carry the weight for you (Matthew 11:28).
God has given you the spirit of a calm, well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
If it doesn’t line up with that, then it’s not from God and it’s time to send it back to hell when it came from.