Stir It Up!

Stir up the Gift
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. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:6-7

We live in a scary world. Viruses, wars, natural disasters, and the murder of innocent children seem to be the only news stories we hear about anymore, and it can make us feel scared. Sometimes, it may even make it difficult to operate in faith. Paul also lived in a very scary time. There was the overreaching regime of the Roman Empire that impeded liberty among citizens, especially those who chose to worship Christ during those times. In fact, it was not only the Roman Empire that discouraged Christian worship, there was also the Jewish leadership that made sure any individual found worshipping as a Christian would be imprisoned, tortured, or even killed.

In the scripture leading up to 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Paul is talking about the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother, which he had also seen in Timothy. It is then that Paul tells Timothy to “stir up the gift of God, which is in thee”. I believe the gift he is encouraging Timothy to stir up is the faith he had seen in him.

Sometimes, we may be overwhelmed by negative thoughts or the negative input of others, and we may lose sight of the fact that the gift of faith is already inside of us. Romans 12:3 says, “….to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Every man has been given a measure of faith, so it is already within us, we just have to stir it up.

Paul goes on to encourage Timothy by saying that God did not give him a spirit of fear, “but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. This tells me that fear is the very opposing force of faith and that a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind are the complementary forces of faith. If we live in fear, we will not have a sound mind, but we will live with worry and doubt for the future. If we live in fear, our hearts will not be moved towards love because we will selfishly be thinking only of ourselves when fear overtakes us, as our human nature of survival will always kick in. Living in fear prevents us from operating in the power of God, for fear is the opposite of faith.

In these troublesome times, let us use wisdom, but more than ever let us operate in faith. That means we operate in the power God has given us, while showing love and compassion to our fellow man and fixing our thoughts on God and His word, rather than the rhetoric of the enemy that would cause us to fear. Faith is within us, but we have to stir it up. We have to speak words of faith and have a vision of good things to come.

When we talk about stirring anything up, we are usually referring to cooking. We are talking about adding several different ingredients to a bowl and then we stir those ingredients all together. The same is true of our faith. It takes some ingredients we can only get from God: the assurance of His faithfulness, the encouragement of His promises, the speaking of His word, and the trusting in His timing. Put all those ingredients together with assurance that the final result will be worth your time and effort. Stir it up and leave the final result with God. For, God has not given us a spirit of fear but rather the gift of faith.

With love, Sister Jackie