After the apostle Paul reminds Timothy of the sincere faith he had that was passed down to him from his mother and grandmother, he encourages him in 2 Timothy 1:6-7:
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
So how do we “fan into flame the gift of God?”
God gives us the gift of his Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus. How do we let God blow on our faith so we become more passionate, more loving, more like Jesus? I don’t know about you, but I know my faith needs rekindling. It is easy for me to become caught up with all the things of the world. The things that are going on around me, with concerns, emotions, sorrows or just plain busyness and distractions.
So how does one go about fanning the flames? One of the things for me has been to be consistently reading and studying God‘s word. As long as I’ve trusted in Christ you would think that would be an easy thing for me to do. However, I find I can come up with all kinds of excuses and reasons to not do it.
The self-discipline talked about in verse 7 is something that God offers us and I need to take him up on it and become more consistent and disciplined.
He also promises us boldness and power. We don’t need to be timid about our faith because the world is looking for answers. I truly believe that others are more anxious to hear about our faith than we are to tell them.
The second way I can fan the flames of my faith is to share honestly in relationships about my faith as I listen to others share about theirs. We are also encouraged to share our burdens with one another. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other‘s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” God is a relational God and he made us relational as well. He created us to have a relationship with us.
Which is the third way I can fan the flame: spend time talking and listening to my Heavenly Father. Instead of carrying my burdens and struggles around, I picture laying them at Jesus’ feet and giving them to Him. He encourages us to do that in Matthew 11:28:
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
Are you weary and burdened? I think many of us are. It’s been a long ten months. This is God‘s promise if we come to him with our burdens that he will take them and give us rest. Another promise we all need to take Him up on.
– Pat Estes
Photo by Vadim Sadovski on Unsplash