God gives us a Spirit of Power, Love and Self-control

"For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

Just prior to reading this verse, I began to ask myself several questions about my inner fears, their reality-base and to see where the questions would take me.

Here are some of the many questions I wrote in my journal:

• What would I be like (thoughts, reactions, emotions) if I were unafraid in the very situation I was in at the time (I named the thing or situation every time)?
• Who would I be (in character or personality, thoughts, reactions, emotions, lifestyle) if I was unafraid of Life?
• How would I live (including my lifestyle) if I was unafraid?

Some of the results of these questions

1. Learning to let go of my fears - one by one
2. I took some unexpected "risky" - out of the ordinary - and refreshing actions
3. I felt excited
4. I realised most, if not all these fearful thoughts were ungrounded in reality and mainly fantacy fueling my fears
5. Repeating this exercise over several days began to shift my "timidity" and melt fears
6. When I stopped this practice I relapsed back into fears again - not totally though, as my mind and heart and body had shifted.

Conclusions

1. I need regular daily practice
2. I need to depend on the self-control (self-discipline) of the Spirit of God - and stop depending on myself