God Gave Us a Spirit ...

Hello! I am returning with my stack of favorite verses, verses that have carried me through the ups and downs of life. Today I want to tell you about my newest addition. It is a verse that I have avoided since I was a child.

​For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7) ​

Naomi White

I remember watching a horror movie for the first time at a sleepover and discovering that I did NOT like it! I had nightmares for months and slept with a barrier of pillows all around me, my back to the wall, my lamps on, facing the room so nothing could surprise me. During this time, I also remember my mom sharing this verse. It was one of her favorite “fear verses” and she hoped it would comfort me.

Unfortunately, I read this verse and found no comfort. I saw a command to not be afraid. A command to be powerful and loving and rational. A standard that all believers should live up to if they truly had a “born again spirit”. And I felt like a failure. I was afraid and I wasn’t powerful. I probably also wasn’t loving or rational either. I began to dread the encouragement and the verse that so many other people seemed to love.

I recently started a Bible Study about fear and anxiety, and this verse came up in my lesson. With only a tiny bit of sighing, I went through the verse as instructed — prayerfully reading it through a few times, marking transition words, underlining repetition and key phrases, and noting comparisons and contrasts. And because the Word of God is a living word, and because our God is faithful to teach and restore, I saw the verse in a totally new light.
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“For God gave us a spirit…”

​Rather than calling me to have a powerful, loving, self-disciplined heart, this verse is a reassurance that I have been given a source of power, and love, and self-control. That source is not me but the Holy Spirit! Perhaps this has been quite obvious to you, but it was a revelation to me. I read the verse again and again, marveling at how much it had transformed me. Rather than feeling shame or guilt for my failure to live up to a standard of fearlessness, I felt incredible freedom and comfort. Again, I am reminded that nothing is asked of me except to rest in the presence of God and lean on Him. When I am afraid, I don’t need to do anything except run to God, and I don’t need to run far, because the Holy Spirit is always there inside me.

I think it’s interesting that so much of adulthood is unraveling false beliefs that formed in childhood and reweaving them with truth. Sometimes those lies come from people in our life, or impactful experiences, or even just a childlike understanding that gets things all twisted. Little Naomi really had a way with twisting things into confusing shapes and clinging to them as gospel truth!

I’m so grateful that we have a God who is faithful to teach me. I’m excited to see what other lies will be unraveled and rewoven as I go through this journey. And I am glad that my stack of verses will only continue to grow.

In His Name,
Naomi