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.

Are You Tired?

Are you tired? If the answer is yes, then it’s from one of two things: 1. pushing real hard, or; 2. inactivity.

If you are feeling wore out (I’m talking spiritually here, of course) and it’s from inactivity, then the answer for you is simple: go do something. Get off the couch, get off of Facebook, and quit drowning yourself with distractions. Remove yourself, even if for only an hour, from your circumstances and situations. Get somewhere that you can free your mind, heart, soul, body, and spirit, and seek after the Lord; I promise you that you will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). If your thing is service, then make time to do something for God and other people. A little time in His presence and/or serving Him will start to transform your life.

If you have been pursuing after the Lord in whatever manner it is He has called you to and you are just feeling fatigued, then I’m talking to you today.

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I was sitting on the couch last night after taking a run in the heat. I was all sprawled out sweating on everything, breathing hard, feeling tired. I didn’t really want to even get up to eat supper b/c just chilling on the couch sounded better at the time.

As I was sitting there, I got to thinking about how tired I felt. I can remember sitting on the couch months ago and feeling just as tired. I can remember how much running just one mile used to suck…but I had just run farther and harder than I had in a long time.

Then, the spiritual application of what I had been doing hit me: every single time I feel tired from running myself to death, I am making myself ready for an even harder run next time.

Yes, during the middle of the run I almost always think, “Ugh, how much longer?” or “It would be so much easier to just walk the rest of the way.” But the fatigue I feel is only temporary. Over the next few days, my body always feels better because I am conditioning it. I feel more invigorated, I have more energy, and I sleep better at night.

The parallels hold true in my spiritual conditioning—every single time I run after God, I get myself ready for a deeper run. Feeling tired, at times, is part of it. But the exhaustion doesn’t last if I am conditioning the right way; I recover with even more energy, drive, revelation, and conviction than before.

* * * * *

This is just an encouragement to those of you who are feeling a little tired from running hard after the Lord. I implore you to keep pushing and pushing and pushing… He might be preparing you for something bigger than you can wrap your head around right now. Be assured that your journey will never be more than you can handle through Jesus Christ, and that He will definitely make provision for you along the way.