A new spirit!

2 Timothy 1:7‘

God did not give [you] a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline’

This verse is like a spiritual spur to me.

My fleshly character is one of stark shyness and a shunning of confrontation.

Shyness was a huge obstacle to me growing up - I dreaded being asked to read out loud at school - or to be asked to answer a question by a teacher.

Often I would say: "I don't know", just to deflect attention onto someone else, so I didn't have to speak!

I also remember the time when the Holy Spirit exploded the gates of shyness and replaced it with boldness to speak up for Jesus.

It was a personal revolution - like going from night to day.

The love of Jesus had been gathering intensity in my heart for a long time.

I just wanted to praise Him and express that love, but I was hampered by shyness.

Like the bursting of a dam wall, the Holy Spirit set me free and unleashed a deluge of zealous love for the Lord.

The silhouette of shyness does still from time to time try to cast a shadow over my redeemed new nature.

That's why I need God's Word to remind me of the new spirit that God has given me...

A spirit of love, power and a sound mind, as it says in another translation.

How each of us needs the Holy Spirit's "invasion" on a daily basis to live out the abundant life that Jesus came to give us:

John 10:10 AMPC

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).