"A spirit of Power, and Love, and a Sound Mind" Why did Jesus choose those three attributes?

This is one of my foundational verses.  As Christians we know from Scripture that we are made in the image of God.  So why do so many Christians spend so much of their lives living in fear?  This Scripture tells us quite plainly that God didn't give us the spirit of fear.  So doesn't that mean that when we are living in fear we are being controlled by an unholy spirit?  So how are we to live instead?

2 Timothy 1:7(NKJV)

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

The rest of this verse gives us the answer.  God has given us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.  But what does that mean exactly?  Let me take a stab at that.

Power-We are made in the image of God.  Is God powerful?  Yes.  Does that mean we have the powers of God?  No…and yes.  Can we create the universe and everything in it like God?  Of course not.  But can we live secure in the knowledge that with God's help we can plan our own destinies?  Absolutely!  Does that mean everything will always go according to plan?  Nope.  But it does mean that we can confidently plan and attack each day knowing that God has our backs.  We have God's power behind us.

Love-A spirit of love.  God has given us the spirit to love.  I think it is one of the emotions that separate us from the animals.  Love can be a powerful emotion.  Love has motived people throughout history to achieve incredible things!  That love can be harnessed in different ways.  In fact another way to say it is that God has given us the power of passion.

I think most people would associate the power of love with loving people.  While that is certainly one aspect of it I think it goes beyond that.  I think it can also include the love or passion for an ideal or goal.  For example the love and passion for science and research has led to some incredible discoveries over the years. 

Sound mind-Proverbs talks a lot about knowledge, wisdom, and understanding; and how they are keys to life.  We are to always seek them.  That would be kind of hard to do without a sound mind wouldn't it?  Scripture also tells us that we need to be able to discern things.  That would be pretty hard to do without a sound mind wouldn't it? 

For me the message here is don't wait for God to do it all.  Don't wait on God expecting that he is like a leprechaun waiting to magically change your life.  God gave us a brain and he expects us to use it.  It's the sound mind, along with the Holy Spirit, that helps us draw guidance and wisdom from Scripture.  It's the sound mind that reads Scripture and then develops plans to do what we read in Scripture.  For example, reading that we need to seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding is one thing.  Actually going out and doing so is another.  It is our sound mind that evaluates whether we are implementing God's Word in our lives or not. 

Wow, this is pretty cool.  God just laid another interpretation on me.  Check this out.

Giving us the spirits of power, love, and a sound mind are the tools we need to rebuke and defeat the unholy spirit of fear.  It is our choice.  We can live in fear or we can take control and rebuke and defeat the unholy spirit by invoking God's power.  We know from Scripture that when we rebuke Satan in Jesus name that Satan is powerless against us.

It's the power of God's love that gives us confidence that God will always fulfill his promises to us.  That is why we can have total confidence in our victory over unholy spirits when we invoke God's power. 

And it is our sound mind that reads Scripture and finds God's promises…and then remembers them so we can stand on them. 

That you Lord for that bit of revelation wisdom!