FAN

With summer quickly approaching the temperatures are rising. When that happens, it’s time to turn on a fan to get the air moving so we can be comfortable. We tend to function better when the air isn’t stagnant.

Paul tells Timothy to “turn on the fan” in his second letter to him:

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. ⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:6 - 7 (NLT)

Fan into flames, in other words, there is a glow, a spark so to speak, but you need to kick it in to high gear so that you are more effective for God. Most fans have different speeds; the higher the speed the more rapidly the air is moved. In reference to the flame, the more air we introduce to a spark, the bigger the flame will become.

God gives each one of us a spiritual gift.

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10 (NASB)

As you can see from Peter’s words, God intends us to use that gift to serve other brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, how do we turn up the fan? Notice in the passage in first Timothy, in verse seven: “God has not given us a spirit of fear.” The Greek word for spirit here is pneuma, which literally means a current of air. God’s “air” is not stagnant. It is not based on fear, which will keep us from utilizing God’s gift. But, it is based on power (God’s kind of miraculous, life-changing power), and love (God’s love, agape, self-less, others-centered love, and self-discipline or a sound mind.

Notice in Galatians 5:22-23,

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control.”

The only way we can operate with God’s power and God’s kind of love with self-control is to be in tune with His Holy Spirit. Do you want to fan your spark into a flame? Then talk to Him, read His Word, listen for His voice and put Him first in your life. After all, He not only created you, but He redeemed your life, He purchased your soul with the very life of Jesus…

For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NASB)

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

HOPE

Psalms 36:1 - 4 (NLT)

¹ Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.

They have no fear of God at all.

² In their blind conceit,

they cannot see how wicked they really are.

³ Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.

They refuse to act wisely or do good.

⁴ They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.

Their actions are never good.

They make no attempt to turn from evil.

… you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. John 10:26 (NLT)

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Matthew 19:26 (NLT)

⁹If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. Romans 10:9 - 10 (NLT)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (NLT)

Psalms 36:5 - 7 (NLT)

⁵ Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your justice like the ocean depths.

You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.

⁷ How precious is your unfailing love, O God!

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 1 Peter 1:23 (NLT)

Jesus said,

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, ²⁹for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. ³⁰The Father and I are one.” John 10:28 - 30 (NLT)

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

CHRISTIAN
How will a person who does not know Christ, understand what a Christian is, or is supposed to be? Speaking to His disciples Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8). So, when the unbelievers look at you and me, will they recognize Christ?

Philippians 2:5 - 8 (NKJV) 5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5 - 8 (NLT)

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
(…if you call yourself a Christian.)

6 Though he was God,
(We were made in His image.)

he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
(Often, we want to be the “boss” and do it our way instead of being subservient to our Creator)

7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
(I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NKJV))

he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
(For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV))

When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
(Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:8 - 11 (NKJV))

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD