2 Timothy 1:7Plain English VersionGod’s spirit in us doesn’t make us frightened, but he helps us be strong so that we do great things, and he helps us love people, and he helps us control ourselves. See the chapter |
Then God gave Jesus the Holy Spirit, and he gave him power to do his special work. Jesus was from a town called Nazareth, and he went everywhere doing good things. Some people were sick, and the devil, the boss over the bad spirits, was giving them big trouble. But Jesus made them all better. You see, God was with him.
But I will keep going to Jerusalem anyway. I want to finish the work that our leader Jesus told me to do. I have to tell people the good news, that God is good to us, and that he saves us. I really don’t care about myself, I don’t even care if they kill me, so long as I can tell them that good news.
But Saul told those people about Jesus. The Jewish people in Damascus argued with him, but he showed them that Jesus really is the man that God promised to send to save us, the man that is called the Christ. Saul got better and better at showing them he was right, and they couldn’t show that he was wrong. And they didn’t like it.
God didn’t give you his Holy Spirit to make you frightened of him. No, he gave you his spirit to make you his kids. You are not like a prisoner that has to work for a cheeky boss, and that boss makes him frightened all the time. No way. You have God’s spirit in you, so you can talk to God and say, “Dad, you are my own good father.”
But if God’s spirit controls people, he gets them to do good things. You know that a good fruit tree always gets good fruit on it. Well, like that, a person with God’s spirit does good things. If you let God’s spirit lead you, he will get you to love God and to love other people. And you will be happy. And you will feel good and quiet inside yourself so that you will not fight with other people. God’s spirit inside you will help you be good to people and not get angry, even if they give you trouble. And he will get you to be friendly to other people, and he will get you to do good things. He will make you the sort of person that other people can trust.