Welcome to Abide's sleep meditations.

I'm Tyler Boss, and I'm continually encouraged night after night to remain in my creator,

which in turn has helped me to grow in so many ways, even as I sleep.

And I hope you find that same encouragement as well as you listen.

And you can have full access to all our sleep stories commercial free just text the

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and body as we hear tonight's sleep story hello i'm bonnie thanks for joining me tonight for sleep scriptures

as we hear paul's second letter to timothy in the new international version.

Paul wrote Timothy a final letter while he was imprisoned in Rome.

He asks Timothy to come visit him and to reject any temptation to be ashamed of him or the good news about Jesus.

Paul is in prison for sharing this good news. Paul reminds Timothy that

Jesus' grace is a source of power that Timothy will need because following Jesus is not easy.

It's like becoming a soldier, an athlete, or a farmer, all of which take

commitments to something larger than themselves and require the person to sacrifice to accomplish a

greater goal. Likewise, Jesus was committed to his father and sacrificed everything

and now Paul is suffering persecution hardship and sacrifice are inherent to the

Christian life this is why the resurrection gives us hope in Christ.

Paul goes on to encourage Timothy to appoint faithful people who will teach others about the message

of the scriptures, because the scriptures are useful for teaching challenging correcting

and training in righteousness so that God's people are prepared for doing good the

book of 2 Timothy advises that following Christ is marked by challenges and sacrifice.

But these struggles are not a sign of Jesus' absence.

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