In his first Book to young Timothy, Paul begins giving instructions on doctrine, on theology – he is reproving him for the sake of the ministry so that Timothy “might be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” But in 2 Timothy, Paul begins to exhort young Timothy, he begins to encourage him, to admonish him, so beginning in verse 1:
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; 4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; 5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. 6 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.”
As Paul is admonishing, encouraging, and motivating young Timothy, he says in verse 6 to “Stir up.” Now this is the only place in the New Testament where this is used in such a manner. In the Greek, this gives a picture of a fire that once burned brightly, that once gave warmth, and heat, and light and illumination. But, for whatever reason, the fire has now burned down and you can no longer see the flame, and all that remains are the ashes.
Now this word “Stir Up” makes reference to taking a stick, or something that can be driven down into the ashes, something that can push down deep in the ashes until you’ve reached the live coals underneath, and then you begin to stir and stir until you have moved the live coal’s to a place where you can once again ignite the fire that once burned there.
Now this is what Paul is speaking of when he is speaking to young Timothy when he said, “Stir up the gift of God that is within thee.” It has reference to a burning fire.
Now, when I’m talking about the fire, I want you to understand what I’m talking about.
I believe, that as a young 6 year old boy, sitting in a Sunday School class at 4th Street Baptist Church nearly 50 years ago, when I knelt down and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to be the Lord of my life – I believe instantly 2 things happened:
- I believe Jesus Christ came into my life to stay;
- The Holy Spirit came to live inside of me.
I didn’t have to pray for it more; I didn’t have to beg for it more; I didn’t have to do a list of things to get it. I believe it came with accepting Christ – it was a package deal AMEN! You GET JESUS – YOU GET THE HOLY SPIRIT.
I just believe when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins, the Holy Spirit took up residence inside of me and set my soul on fire! Maybe this is what Isaiah refers to when he says, “It’s a fire shut-up in my bones.”
And can I say, I haven’t always been what God intended me to be all these many years. I have failed God; I have disappointed God, I have gotten out of “THE WAY,” BUT I’m glad thank God He’s never left me nor forsaken me.
- He’s still there;
- And the fires still burning AMEN!
Now, I’m not talking about False Fire – we see enough of that; I’m not talking about something that’s just a show, something that’s “put-on.” I’m not talking about “strange fire,” and I’m not talking about “Wild Fire.”
I’m talking about a Heavenly, Holy, Biblical fire of God that burns inside the child of God because the Holy Spirit dwells there.
My momma and daddy got a divorce when I was 5 years old. My momma originally got custody of me and my brother, however, she really didn’t want us. So, we spent a year going from house to house until my mom’s family convinced her to give custody to my daddy’s mom, my Grandma Moore. So, at 6, we went to stay with Grandma.
Now, in my grandma’s house, she had an old wood-burning stove in the living room. Now, I don’t know if I am that old, or we were just that poor – but we also had a hand water pump in the yard. So, I will never forget that old wood burning stove. This many years later, it is amazing to look back and see the lessons in life I learned from that stove. Things like:
- Fire keeps you warm – good to know God is near Amen.
- Fire Purges – when it’s burning right, it will keep bad things away;
- Fire lights and illuminates – I’m glad the fire burning in me lets me know what God wants me to know.
I have learned that some of the greatest lessons in my life have come from some of the simplest things in my life. And I like things simple AMEN. Now I didn’t say STUPID things, I said SIMPLE things – and there is a big difference.
One of those lessons was this – no matter how good of a fire you started, or even how much wood you put on it, sometimes:
YOU GOTTA STIR THE FIRE
Back in chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says, “I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”
Grandma used to have us boys fetch the wood for the wood-burning stove and to stoke it. So, whenever it was my turn, I would fill that stove full of wood, even to the point I would have to kick it to cram all that wood in there.
But, sometimes I learned that no matter how much wood I put in that stove, sometimes it just didn’t get the house warm. What I discovered, and my grandma taught me this, sometimes, you gotta grab the poker and stick it down in those embers and stir things up a bit to get things settle down to where that fire would catch.
You know what I’ve discovered in my Christian life? Sometimes, I just need a good “stirring up.”
You know, I grew up in a generation where most medications when I was a child came in liquid form. On every one of those bottles they had stamped on them “Shake Well Before Using.” You know why, because the medicines would settle, and in order for it to be used effectively, it needed everything mixed together well. So you’d have to shake things up a bit.
Sometimes, I think God ought to stamp on our foreheads “SHAKE WELL BEFORE USING.” Cause sometimes, even though we started a good fire, and we stoke that fire and spend time in God’s Word, sometimes, we just get settled in:
- We are not excited like we used to be;
- Things aren’t going quite like they used to;
- Somethings wrong, and sometimes we can’t figure out what it is.
Sometimes friends, you just need to get down to the altar and ask God to reach down into the depths of your soul and just “Stir you up.”
What I’m saying folks is that sometimes, we just get so busy, we get so caught up in the things of our lives that we start to lose the fire inside of us. We just need to ask God to “Stir us up.”
I don’t know about you, but I want that fire to burn like it’s supposed to burn amen!
That’s what Paul told Timothy. And by the way, I’m guessing Timothy was probably a pretty spiritual guy.
Father, helps us to “stir up the gift within us. In Jesus name.
Fighting for My Pea Patch 