Stir Yourself Up

While leading worship last night at the Diamond Conference in Madisonville, KY (which you should’ve been at if you missed it…Heidi Baker spoke, Angela Greenig was there, too—it was awesome!), I urged people to “stir themselves up”. I also stated that the Bible said to stir yourself up.

Well, a friend of mine asked me today where that was in the Bible b/c she had a friend who wanted to stand on that verse of Scripture in their life. So I had to go look it up :) I was kind of nervous because since I couldn’t remember that exact wording being mentioned in Scripture, I was scared I had told a lie to that entire gathering last night.

To my relief, I found what I was looking for in one of Paul letter’s to Timothy. The specific verse is 2 Timothy 1:6 which reads in the NIV, “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.” Even though there is not an exact wording in this particular translation that says “stir yourself up”, I do think that it is reasonable to say that this is what Paul could have meant in this instruction.

Some of Timothy’s gifts were teaching, preaching, and pastoring. Paul, as Timothy’s spiritual father and mentor, was writing Timothy to encourage him in developing and pursuing these gifts. When he wrote “fan into flame”, it seems as though he was saying to “develop it”, “work at it”, or “let God work in you and make you even better”. There is a gifting there, but Timothy needed to somehow engage on his end as well to make sure that the gift grew.

Even if you are naturally talented at something you still have to put effort into things to make them grow and mature. In Timothy’s case, I’m sure he didn’t always feel like preaching; I’m sure he didn’t enjoy correcting people he pastored; I’m sure it was hard being bold amongst those who looked down on him because he was young. But to see his gifts grow, he had to make a conscious decision to fan his gifts into flame—he had to make a choice to push himself…or, put another way, stir himself up.

There are not always going to be people around to encourage you in every moment you feel down or tired. You need to learn to lean on the words God has given you and be able to stir up things within yourself when nobody else is around. It’s easy to be on fire when everything is going great and you’re around people who share you passion, but there will be times in your walk with God when you won’t have anybody around to get you stirred up but yourself.

So learn how to stir it up! Whatever it takes for you, do it….praying, reading the Bible, listening to worship music, singing out of your spirit, serving people around you, giving a huge offering, reading back over words you’ve received, giving something away, fasting, etc. Make the choice to push yourself and fan into flame the gifts God has put in you. And if you are not sure of your gifts yet, then just push into God, read the Bible, get around people who are on fire for the Lord, and follow what your heart is already passionate about—God will reveal things to you as you pursue after Him, I promise :)

In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's Amazing, Unending, and Unfathomable Love,

adam

2^nd Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 6:

NIV: 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.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.