We guard what we treasure
2 Tim 1:3-14 Guard the treasure!
14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you… GUARD YOUR FAITH
In seasons of spiritual warfare, the first thing the enemy assaults is our faith. We must respond with a spirit which says, “I have fought too hard to give up the ground that God has given to me.”
In order to draw life from our roots of faith, we must contend to:
- hear the voice of God,
- Respond to His love with action
· believe that God is FOR us
6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God GUARD YOUR GIFT
Isolation and inactivity are tools the enemy uses to press us into spiritual depression. When we least feel like extending love is often the time we need to express it the most!
7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. GUARD YOUR HEART
Discernment of spirits 101:
If our motive is fear-based, it is not the Spirit of God. If our motive is a rational trust in God’s ability to do what we cannot as we express love, then it’s likely God.
8 join with me in suffering GUARD YOUR SUFFERING (by knowing the purpose of it)
An invitation to suffer along with Jesus is an invitation to join in His inheritance. Our willingness to endure hardships for something is the clearest demonstration of our love for it.
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling GUARD YOUR CALLING
We must regard everything we do as being holy. There is no such thing as a “secular” calling. If God called us to do it, it is Holy, and we are stewards of a portion of God’s work in the earth.
12I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Ultimately, we must trust the Lord to guard the treasure on our behalf, knowing that without His supernatural help, we can lose it all. There is never a time when we are not utterly dependent on Him