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"God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline" (2Ti.1:7). Paul wrote this as a personal letter to Timothy, which was accepted afterwards as a part of the Bible. Timothy was a young man who was Paul's closest and most trusted coworker who did not seek his own gain (Php.2:19,20). But it appears that he had not overcome his timidity yet, and so Paul tells him not to continue to live on with timidity because God's provision for us is to walk with power, love and discipline.

Some people read this verse and claim that according to this they already have power, while in reality they are still struggling with timidity. Some affirm that they have a sound mind (KJV) when they should be dealing with a mental disorder. But in choosing to affirm Bible verses and override reality, they show they have misunderstood it.

There are many things like this in the Bible where God describes the kind of experience we ought to have, and what provisions He has made for us. If we do not recognise such words as the provision of God and deny what we are actually going through, we move into a world of imagination in our mind. Some of these people claim that they are accepting this by faith, even though all can see easily that this is not true in their life. Some misquote the verse that says, "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." When people claim that they are fully healthy when in fact they are seriously sick, matters become very critical.

God never wants us to tell lies or pretend. If we are timid, He does not want us to claim we have power. If we have a mental disorder, He does not like it if we say we have a sound mind. If we are sick we must be honest enough to admit it and look for healing – if God does not heal us through prayer, He may heal us through doctors. Pretending that things are different from reality because we think we have faith shows a misunderstanding of faith. If we have faith that God will heal, our confession can be that God will heal us, rather than that He has healed us.

Even when we believe that the Bible is the word God has given to us by inspiring the authors through the Holy Spirit, we must know that we need to understand it correctly. All words in the Bible cannot be taken as truths simply because they are in the Bible! When the Bible says there is no God, we must see that it is what fools say and that the Bible is only making a statement about what fools say. In the same way, when the Bible describes what all God has done for us people in general and what provisions He has made, we must be able to understand them as such, and not start declaring them as if they are true in our life. God loves honesty. If we go to Him and tell Him, "Lord, You tell me in Your word that I should not have a spirit of timidity but power, love and discipline. But I don't see it in my life. What shall I do?" That is when He will help us. He will be dishonoured if we pretend.

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