Our Prayer Companion

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July 04, 2008

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

When I was younger, I had to go door-to-door selling magazine subscriptions for a church charity fund. Hardly anyone had been home. I'd only sold two. "You'll have to go again tomorrow," my mother said. "No way," I exclaimed. "It makes me nervous." "You need to be braver about facing people," Mother advised. "But, Mom, the priest said, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'" I pleaded. "Meek does not mean cowardly," she said. It means that you have strength because you have submitted to God's will and are living under His rules. So if you want to be meek, I suggest you ask God for the courage to do well during tomorrow's rounds." I didn't get over my timidity then and there, but I've learned, as it says in the Bible, that God has not given us the spirit of fear. He wants us to be courageous.

by Edward B. Pitoniak