2 Timothy 1:7 English Standard Version (ESV) for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Over the years it has been seen that some believe they possess a power that sets them above others, an entitlement. Let it be known, no one is entitled except He who sits on the throne.

I would have preferred 2 Timothy 1:7 to have read “of power to love and self control”, but I don’t get to rewrite the bible, only to understand what the Word does in me.

Apart from God my mortal flesh cannot love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. With God’s helper assisting me, I can choose to obey by faith, that He has the power to allow His love to flow through me, not so much that I actually do the loving, but that Christ can love through me.

It is something akin to fruits of the spirit. They are produced in us by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us because of who He is, not because of who we are apart from Him.

We were compared to trees early in scripture, “man is like a tree planted” we are rooted and grounded in love. The life of the tree constantly cycles from root to leaf and back to the root again. Without the love nutrient flowing through the limbs no fruit can be produced. Cut off the root and the branch dies, then the tree withers, and fails.

The lie of the enemy says that we have the power to produce fruit.

Apart from God, nothing we do has value to God.

We tend to be proud of our accomplishments but that is not true glory. Glory is the person and presence of Christ in us and if we want to have the light shine on us, we become thieves.

John 10:10 tells us who the real thief is and we should not want to be his tool.