Spreading Fire

Spreading Fire

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 us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

When we follow the prompting of God, yielding to the plan of God, we also experience the presence and power of God.  Faithfulness is being committed to God while loving and serving others.  Paul admonished Timothy to be faithful to the call of God. In fact, Timothy is encouraged to walk in the power, love and discipline infused by the gospel. And like Timothy, sometimes God calls us out, move us around and stir us up for His name sake. I experienced an illustration of this while grilling on a windy day.

With a few match light charcoal and a brand new bag of regular charcoal it became clear how the body of Christ spreads the gospel. The right side of the grill became very hot while the left side was slowly warming.  I waited to see if the left side would respond to what was happening on the right side.  When there was little change, I chose to do something different.   To my inconvenience, I took all the racks off the grill and moved the hot coals around so that the fire would spread. As I moved the red hot coals around they begin to light up as well as warm the other coals. Instantly the temperature of the grill steadily increased. And sometimes God allows us to experience change and transition because He is spreading fire.

There are times in the life of a believer that you may called out of a job, city or even a church so that you can be His instrument in a new place. God begins to add what’s lacking to your faith as well as add your faith to the new place. Our human inclination is to count faithful to God by years of service in a particular place but the true test of faithfulness is our willingness to follow God.  Even at the expense of being misunderstood, ridiculed, and even insulted. Whenever God moves a man or woman wholeheartedly devoted to Him, He rekindles and spreads fire. 
 

The revival the American church so desperately needs starts with personal revival.  Church revival begins when individuals fan into the flame the gift of God.  Sometimes God moves us to strengthen, add to, and share our faith.  By His grace, He uses us and uses others to equip us at the same time. 

The gospel of grace is a consuming fire.  The prophet Jeremiah explains it to us in chapter 20 verse 9, but if I say, “I will not mention His word or speak anymore in His name, ”His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” True revival occurs when we are fanning into the flame and spreading fire.