Issue 13 - Day 2

2 Timothy 3

2 Timothy 3:12-15
12)  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13)  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14)  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15)  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

When you look at the list of what to expect in the last days it sounds very like these days. To pick our a few, people will be selfish, disobedient to their parents, sexually deviant, lovers of pleasure. All these things you can read about in the news. Then comes a damning statement of the church, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”. Now that cuts close to the bone.

We are happy to continue in the things we have learned. We are happy to study the word of God, or at least to read it on occasion. However, it is all too easy to live lives that match up to scripture in every way except the experience of God’s power. The “power” experience we label as that dodgy stuff in wacky pentecostal churches. Fear of craziness like the “Toronto blessing” creeps in. However these are not the power Paul is speaking of. Experiences on a Sunday morning may well be experiences of God, however his power is not limited in that way. Nowhere in the bible does it say, “experience the power of God with an amazing feeling of his presence on Sunday morning”. People did encounter him and fall to their faces in awe, however in the context of Timothy the power of God is a daily living experience. The whole book is full of encouragement to walk in the power of God, to do his will, to see people saved, to teach sound doctrine and to stand strong against evil. that requires power indeed!