2 Timothy 1.7-8 records, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.

We often fear men more than God. We were created to please God but we often find ourselves more concerned with pleasing men.

To help us overcome our fears, to strengthen our love for God, to increase our resolve to do His will, God the Son, has sent to us God the Holy Spirit, to live within us. His purpose is to reveal more and more the person of the Lord Jesus to us, in us and through us, using the Scriptures as our guide.

Likewise, He comes to us in power to overcome our fear of identifying with Him before men and to endure the consequences from men as a result of our identification with Jesus the Savior. This is how we Christians are to live before God and men. Spirit enabled, Spirit empowered, for living like Jesus and sharing the work of God in Jesus to men whose response will vary from full acceptance to full opposition.

Those who accept the message we share become brothers and sisters in Christ reaping eternal life. Those who oppose our message will suffer the torment of hell on that day they meet the one true God and find Him to be very real indeed. Those who identify with Jesus will be identified by Jesus upon His return but those who are ashamed of Him, of them, will He be ashamed upon His return.