Stirring up the gift of God

1Ti_4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

2Ti 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

2Ti 1:6 For this reason, I am reminding you to fan into flames the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.

Like me many of you have read and heard many versions of this verse quoted and yes even misquoted. All with the same intentions of stirring up the gift of God. Often, I’ve heard it referred as embers or flames so that’s where my message is leading in this discussion.

As a country girl I grew up on wood burning stoves and a fireplace and let me tell you that starting a fire isn’t always an easy task. There are steps to building and maintaining a fire. First you must have a source of the fire, something easy to ignite like cardboard or paper and something to sustain a fire long enough to add logs to: known as kindling. After your kindling flame is burning and holding a steady flame you can then add wood to your fire starting with smaller pieces and building up to larger piece that will burn longer.

Okay, now you know how to start a fire, now what? Well you have to maintain that fire by continually feeding it and adjusting the damper so that it doesn’t burn too quickly and leave you in the cold. Even with our best intentions and no matter how fully we stock those stoves up we still need to sleep and sometimes we wake up with a stove full of ashes and embers

Now you might think that’s waking up to ashes and embers isn’t a good thing, but embers can be compared to grace or a blessing; especially when you’re having to run all over the house on a cold floor in bare feet looking for something to start a fire. One way to achieve a flame is to, shake some of those ashes down away to keep it from smothering your embers out then“Poke” and stoke the embers. By doing this you’re adding oxygen and fuel (wood in this analogy) to the heat source and we all know that oxygen and fire are BFFs .

*Did you know that the word Gift is found in 52 verses and 59 times in the Bible?

*Did you know that embers are often as hot as the actual fire?

So, what does all this have to do with 2nd Timothy 1:6?

Let’s look at it from the stirring up aspect. I believe that God has called us all for a purpose and He also has given us charge of taking care of the gift that he has given us.

Jas_1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

1Pe_4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

*Below you will find more verses on “gift”

First to stir you need to realize that there’s something left to stir and if you’re a Christian and even if you’re not “feeling it” I assure you that you have something left to stir.

The problem sometimes is not knowing how to stir it or maybe it could even be fear. Fear of failing. When we get to the place where we’re living on embers, we know that something has happened to lead us to this point and therein underlies the fear of it happening again. “What if I can’t maintain it this time? What if I don’t do it right? What if it goes out for good the next time? And so, it goes on and on.

Let me ask you this, what if you don’t do anything? What if you don’t stir up the flame or gift? How long will the embers last before the ashes smoother it completely out?

Are you willing to take that chance?

Hopefully you’ve made the decision to stir up the gift of God and if you have then read on.

Step 1: Acknowledging and knowing the source and that source is God.

Step 2: Offer yourself. (Deu_4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God .

Step 3: Add to it, give him your everything heart, mind, body and soul

Step 4: Maintain it: Read, meditate and study His word. Fellowship, with other believers, Offer up worship and praise. retrain you brain, Stop the stinkin’ thinkin’! ( Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things).

Step 5: Share, don’t be greedy, let your light, your fire enlighten and warm others, don’t be a fire hog. Let your light so shine before men. AKA Don’t be ashamed of the Flame!

I hope this has inspired you in some positive way. Please feel free to comment on it and share ideas or testimonies of how God has rekindled you or is in the process of stirring up the gift in you.

My prayer is that we become the people that God has created us to be: to walk in His word His ways and His love. May God bless you my brothers and sisters in Christ and may you feel the stirring of the Holy Spirit in you this moment. Together we possess the potential to light a great fire for His kingdom. One that the darkness cannot overpower, one that will be a beacon to the lost if we will allow it to live and shine within and throughout us. Praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Act_2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Eph_2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Eph_4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Heb_6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,