Paul encourages Timothy1From Paul, whom God has made an apostle because this was His will, and because I live in the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.2To Timothy, my dear son in the faith. May grace, mercy and peace be imparted to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.3I thank God for, like my forefathers, I serve Him with a clear conscience and pray for you unceasingly by day and night.4I remember your tears and long to see you so that I might be filled with joy.5I recall your strong faith. It is like the faith that was obvious in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and that I now realise is in you also.6So I remind you to fan the flame of God's gift that is in you, that was imparted to you when I laid my hands on you.7For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice but a Spirit of power and love that enables us to exercise self-discipline and right thinking.8-9Therefore do not be ashamed to testify about the Lord nor of me his prisoner; rather be prepared to suffer for the gospel. For by God's power He has saved us and has given us a holy calling that cannot be outworked through our own works, but only by being one with His purpose, through His grace and divine enabling that He chose before the beginning of time to give us in Christ Jesus.10-11That purpose and grace have been revealed when our Lord Jesus Christ came. He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, this same gospel for which I was appointed by God to be a herald, an apostle and a teacher.12This is why I suffer as I do! But I am not ashamed, for I know the One in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what He has entrusted to me until that great Day when He comes again.13Follow the pattern of sound teaching which you received from me, in the faith and love you have in Christ Jesus.14Through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, guard the deposit of truth entrusted to you.Paul rejected in Asia15You know that in the province of Asia everyone has rejected me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.16May the Lord give mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he has often encouraged me and is not ashamed of my chains.17When he arrived in Rome he searched for me with great determination until he found me, and you know well the way he served me in Ephesus.18May the Lord grant that we will receive His mercy on that Day when He comes again.
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)