Fan the Flames

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.

I Timothy 1:6

Anyone who has ever built a campfire will tell you they have to be tended or they die down. Fires need attention. You have to stir them up, add fresh wood, blow on the flames every now and then to keep them burning at their hottest. In this passage the Apostle Paul tells us that our spiritual gifts are the same. 

God has gifted every believer with the gifts she needs to accomplish the purpose for which God made her. God has a purpose, a destiny even, for each believer (Eph 2:10). He not only calls us to fulfill our purpose but He equips us to do it with the gifts of the Spirit. But we ought not let these gifts lay dormant. Just like a campfire our spiritual lives must be tended or they will grow cold after a while. We have to fan the flames of our passion for God. We should stir up the embers by trying new ways of using our gifts, and add fresh fuel to our fires by regularly engaging in Bible study and prayer. 

Take your spiritual temperature today. How hot is your passion for winning the lost? Are you talking to people about Jesus? How hot is your passion for prayer, for spending time with the Lord, for teaching your children about Jesus. Maybe your passion has grown cold. Paul would say "Fan the flames!" Rekindle that fire. Stoke up your passion.

Here the believer finds encouragement because anyone who has been around fires will also tell you that often when it looks like a fire is completely dead it isn't. There is still some heat down in those dying embers, there’s still life in it. Tragically, unattended campfires are the cause of so many of our forest fires. Someone thinks their fire has died down and they leave it. Then a fresh wind blows and stokes it up, a spark leaves the fire pit and finds some fresh fuel and the fire is off and running. As a cause of forest fires this is a tragedy, but as a spiritual metaphor this gives us hope. No matter how dead you feel spiritually, just a little movement on the Spirit's part can ignite your flame again. If the Spirit blew but a small breeze across your heart, it could kindle a spiritual flame that would change your city 

Never forget I John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." So don't shrink back from the attacks of this world. Don't allow yourself to be silenced. Instead stoke up the flames of your spiritual passion. Nurture and grow your love for the Lord. Look for new ways to engage in serving Him. (Mix it up! Try something new.) And pray that God's powerful Spirit would blow a fresh wind into your life today like He did on the day of Pentecost. Who knows what God might do through you!