Encouragement to Be Faithful

2 Timothy 1:3-12 (New International Version)

Encouragement to Be Faithful

3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,9who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.