FAN THE FLAME!
Rebecca Lightfoot
In the 1st chapter of 2Timothy,Paul is telling us that it is imperative to “Fan the Flame” of our faith in Christ.Sometimes,if you don’t fan a flame it will begin to cool down,and become what Jesus talks about n Revelation3:15-17->”I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, NOT REALIZING that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”.If we are not Fanning The Flame of our Faith in Christ,we become luke warm->neither hot nor cold!When this begins to happen in our lives,we begin to lose the sense of Jesus’ Spirit in our mind/heart/life,& the sense of His Strength emPOWERING love & self control/discipline in our mind/heart/life(2Tim1:6-7,”fan into flame the gift of God which is in you...for God gave you NOT a spirit of fear,but of power and love and self control.”).Paul then tells us HOW to Fan the Flame of our Faith in Christ->”THEREFORE! DO NOT BE ASHAMED of the testimony about our Lord,nor of me,but share in the suffering for the gospel!(2Peter1:8-9)!He is encouraging us to NOT be ashamed of the TESTIMONY of our Lord/The Entire Word of God! The Bible is The Written/Recorded Testimony of our Lord! This is why the enemies of our Lord have always sought to discredit and/or malign The Bible throughout all history!When we allow this to happen,we are NOT fanning into flame the gift that God has given us!When we “fan a flame” into a fire that we are trying to start,we will shield the burgeoning “spark” from things that deter the “spark”,while we diligently fan the “spark” into a growing flame.Satan is quite OK with “SPARKS”,but he is NOT OK with God’s Flames!Therefore,we have challenges with correctly fanning into flame the gift that God has given us when we allow ourselves to lose our reverence for the entire Word of God!The next thing the devil will atTEMPT on us is a lack of mind/heart/life reverent response to God’s Word,& why the next thing Paul encourages Timothy with is to “FOLLOW THE PATTERN of the sound words that you have heard from me,in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us”->Paul is warning us that unless the pattern of our mind/heart/life does not align with the instructions of God’s Word & Spirt,we are exposing ourselves to another way that our faith in Christ will “cool down”...& The Flame will begin to die down.Then Paul says what may be the strongest part of the lesson in 2Timothy when he says “GUARD the good deposit entrusted to you”.(2Peter1:14b).Once we take as our own the amazing gift of God’s Mercy&Grace through Christ,& Jesus gives us His Spirit to live in our mind/heart/life,we are to GUARD this MOST VALUABLE/PRECIOUS/SIGNIFICANT GIFT...protecting it with the TRUTHS of The Testimony of our Lord,and the mind/heart/life lessons & disciplines HE blesses us with for our personal BEST eternal interests!Dear Lord Jesus,thank You for The Testimony of Who You are;of Your Love;of Your Grace&Mercy that You have miraculously made possible for me to have...& for the Gift of Your Spirit to live within me!I need Your help to persevere in fanning Your Flame in my life and through my life...and Rightly Guarding all of these in all of my mind/heart/life....