Paul went on to charge his son in the faith. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Our trials are warfare. God has designed them to bring up hidden dross that would weaken and undermine our faith.

However the enemy of our soul seeks to derail us. He uses temptations to turn us from walking in the Spirit to walking in our flesh. Therein lies the battle for our mind. James 1:3 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”

Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him ~ us. Joy is an irrevocable gift. Don’t let the dirt of grumbling and complaining cover it. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Grace-strength comes as we embrace humility.. The same grace that saved us keeps us.

Paul’s last recorded words are in 2 Timothy. Paul lived under a canopy of God’s sufficient grace. 2 Corinthians 12:9. Each of his epistles ended with a benediction of grace. 2 Timothy 2:1 says, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

As we abide in Him, His grace flows to and through us. We need His grace to endure our trails. Romans 5:3 Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.”

2 Timothy 1:16 says that Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chain. In Romans 1:16 Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation  for everyone who believes…”

Psalm 34:5 says, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”

God’s way was written in 2 Corinthians 3:18. It says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Spending time basking in God’s love for us ~ knowing that our hearts are naked before Him without shame. Here is the first part of a new song called Extravagant Oil Of Joy. 

I lift my unveiled face to gaze into Your face. Face to face I behold You as You behold me. No veil separates us. No fear of being known. We have intimate communion. Our hearts are knit as one.

I stand O Lord in Your presence unashamed. All guilt is washed away. All condemnation is cleansed. Through the blood. Through the shed blood of Jesus.

In 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul explained to Timothy why he was not ashamed. It says, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed until that Day.”

Paul knew Who he believed. He was confident that the Lord would keep him. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 he wrote that the Lord would preserve us blameless at His coming. Ephesians 1:4 says that He chose us before time began to be holy and without blame.

At the end, according to Jude verse 24, He will “…present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”  Therefore shame has nothing to do with how the Lord sees us. Shame comes from self-blame. We castigate ourselves through our thoughts. Self-blame comes from our view of ourselves. We see ourselves through our eyes instead of His.

Ephesians 1 uses IN Christ multiple times. Colossians 2:3 says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” We were placed IN Christ before time began according to His eternal purpose that will not ever be thwarted.

I noticed something in 2 Timothy 1:10. It says, “…our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Eternal death does not exist. Immortality means unending existence. Immortality is an essential truth to bring out in evangelism that I have never used.

I love meditating on Scripture. It takes a while sometimes for it to really sink in. I started meditating in context rather than one verse here and there this summer. Holy Spirit led ~ rich discipline.

1 Corinthians 2:10 Amplified says of the Holy Spirit, “…searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God…”

Job 42:2 says, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” Amazing truth that will never be changed or altered in any way.

2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” 

Romans 8:28 says that He works all things together for our good, “…who are called according to His purpose.” We may falter in our faith, but His purpose for our lives will be fulfilled.

We may have derailed through disobedience. Psalm 37:24 says, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.” Our faith may get wobbly at times, but we are hidden in Him ~ our Steadfast Impenetrable Rock.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” The time has come!

I know of previously dedicated pastors who have veered off the path of truth ~ endorsing and teaching things brought in through man’s ideologies. They have been led astray and are  leading their congregations astray. Beware. Do not turn aside from the patterns set down in Scripture. 

Colossians 2:8 says, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit…” Remember the devil is the father of lies. He cannot speak the truth. He is looking for  believers who are not holding fast to their faith. He will send fiery dart lies to lure them into deception so he can derail them. Peter also warned his readers about the roaring lion seeking whom it may devour. 1 Peter 5:8.

2 Timothy 1:13 really captured my attention as I was meditating on it. It says, “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” Paul set out a pattern of sound words that he instructed Timothy to hold fast to.

Hold fast. Cling to like a barnacle clings to a rock in the midst of a tempestuous storm. We are in a storm of cultural propaganda. It is essential that we hold fast to God’s word. Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

2 Timothy 2:23 says, “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.” Truth is solid and steadfast. Our hope is steadfast and sure. Hebrews 6:19. Be careful what and who you listen to. 

Remember back with me to when God spoke into the darkness. Genesis 1:2 says that darkness was on the face of the deep. Verse 3 says “Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light.”

Psalm 19:6 says of the sun, “Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” I’m grateful when the winter sun comes into my windows to warm up my place.

Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Yet, for those who oppose God, here is a sobering verse. Revelation 16:8-9 says, “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God…”