Be Strong in the Lord and Become a Spiritual Father

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And the things that you have heard from me amongst many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:1-3

Main Points

1. The most significant relationships in the development of God’s work are like father/son or parent/child relationships. That is the kind of relationship Paul had with Timothy.

Not everyone can have this kind of relationship with a spiritual parent, but if you have the opportunity and God chooses you for this, it is a very good thing. It will take you further. Timothy was chosen many years before because of his character and reputation in the local church.

It is wonderful if you can progress to the place of spiritual maturity where you become a spiritual parent in the Lord. John talked about three levels – “little children”, “young men” and “fathers” in his first letter to the Christians.

2. We are to “be strong”, but not in ourselves. Not by gritting our teeth and pushing on when we are spiritually empty. This could lead to a burnout, anxiety, depression and more.

We are to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.

We must draw deeply on God’s enabling power  and energy to accomplish His purpose through us.

We need to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Without His power and gracious working we will fail.

By depending on Him, waiting on Him, praying in the Spirit, yielding to His promptings, we will be fruitful Christians.

Grace takes different forms “manifold grace” in 1 Peter 4:10 refers to the fact that it expresses in different ways and operations through different individuals.

When you are strong in grace, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and when you are filled with divine love, your gift will work much better.

We also need to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10) which is the same thing, so that we can do spiritual warfare and repel the various invasions of Satan and his demons into our thought lives.

Only by being strong in the Lord can we really do the next part.

3. Seek to be a spiritual parent, by finding faithful people and teaching them – training them.

There are 4 generations of disciples mentioned in verse 2, Paul, Timothy, the faithful men Timothy will find, and the “others” they will teach in turn.

We can only produce what we are, and what we have really learned.

Give out what you have.

Examples of me with healing and evangelism in the Philippines or Romania.

Faithful men are hard to find. Do not be surprised if you have to start with many people who are not exactly faithful before you strike gold. Many give up. Paul could have given up. He was just talking in  2 Timothy chapter 1 about the people who had deserted him. Paul had plenty of co-workers who deserted him.

4. Grace prepares us to endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

Without grace we could not endure.

A soldier is one who obeys instructions to engage to destroy the power of an enemy that seeks to destroy him. That is who we are if we are serving the Lord.

Endurance is a very important quality.

God is faithful. God gives strength and power to the weak.

Application

If you have been weakened and wounded, the first thing is to take time aside with the Lord.

Get strong in the Lord. It can take months sometimes. Pray in the Spirit. Meditate on the Word. Stay in fellowship even if some people annoy you or seem to misunderstand you.

You are always permitted to reach out, but when you do it in God’s power, expect that some will reject, some will respond well initially but give up, but a few will become highly faithful and productive people – and these are the ones you should concentrate on.

There will be setbacks, and occasional trials from Satan. Delve into God, into His grace, to find strength to endure. Your endurance will qualify for a great role in eternity. “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him”.