Fan the Flame

2 Timothy 1:3-12

 

You may have heard the story of a minister visiting a parishioner who hadn’t been to church in a while. The parishioner happened to have a fire in the fireplace. The minister didn’t say a thing. Instead, he separated one ember from the main part of the fire. Eventually, that lone ember died out. The parishioner got the message.

 

How do you fan the flame of your faith to keep it going? Paul wrote this to Timothy.

 

⁴ I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again. ⁵ I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.      NLT

 

Paul is writing to Timothy from prison. Not the nice rented house he had in Rome, but the one for common criminals where he was chained. Paul knew that he was nearing the end of his life, and he wanted to encourage Timothy in his faith.

 

Sometimes I think of Paul as this Type A personality who had little thought for others; only thinking of what he wanted to accomplish; of what his self-driven goals were. But the above words to Timothy focused on the love between them and towards the origins of Timothy’s faith.

 

⁹ For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus... ¹¹ And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.       NLT

 

God had a plan for Paul and for Timothy. That plan included their lives crossing paths to the point where Paul referred to Timothy as his “true son in the faith”. Paul was encouraging Timothy to speak into the hearts of those that God had brought into his life.

 

⁶ 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.       NIV

 

How do you fan the flame of your faith to keep it going?

 

Paul encouraged Timothy to look at the beginnings of his faith. He pointed out how God had a plan for Timothy’s life. Finally, he told Timothy that he had been called by God to spread the Gospel.

 

Over the centuries, Paul is writing the same message to us. Fan the flame of your faith to keep it burning brightly.

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you, or touched your heart through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

 

A Safe Place

Luke 22:14-20

 

¹¹ “Eat it with your shoes on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. And you must eat it in a hurry. It is the time the Lord will pass over. ¹² For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night. And I will kill all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood will mark for you the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And no trouble will come upon you to destroy you when I punish the land of Egypt.                     Ex 12:11-13 NLV

 

Can you imagine what that first Passover must have felt like? The Israelites were eating quickly as they listened to the wailing of their neighbors. Their emotions must have been all over the place; from fear to guilt to relief and back to fear again. The lamb’s blood on their doorpost is all that separated them from life and freedom, and the painful loss of their first born. The blood made their home a “safe place”.

 

¹⁵ He said to them, “I have wanted very much to eat this special supper with you

to remember how the Jews left Egypt. I have wanted to eat this with you before I suffer.             Lk 22:15 NLV

 

As Jesus served his disciples the Passover meal, he knew what was going to happen to him that night; He knew that all hell was about to break loose. But for his followers - his life blood, his body would provide the same protection that the Israelites experienced in Egypt. He was the sacrificial Passover lamb. This was indeed a safe place.

 

Of course, the body and blood of Jesus provided much more than a safe place. He changed things forever. With his death, and ultimately his resurrection, he made it possible for all our sins to be forgiven; he made it possible for us to know God personally; he made it possible for us to go to the ultimate safe place of Heaven.

 

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would come downstairs on a cold winter morning and crawl behind the couch and lay there for several minutes. I was snuggled between the couch and the heat vents in the wall. It felt very secure. It was a safe place for me to start my day.

 

Each one of us needs to find, or create our own safe place. A safe place where we can be refreshed; where we can draw strength to “fight the good fight”; where we can “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles; where we can begin to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith”; where we can “approach the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.

 

Nobody said it any better than David.

 

God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.            Psalm 46:1-3 NLV

 

 

Like the little boy hiding behind the couch, getting ready for the day;

let us create our own safe place with the LORD throughout our day.

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you, or touched your heart through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

Lincoln Logs and Little Men

Hebrews 12:3-17

 

Growing up in the 50’s, my favorite past time was playing cowboys and Indians. I used to take all my “little men” and create a story around them including the Lincoln Log homes that I would build. The problem was, I would get so involved in my playing that I would rather play than obey.

 

On one occasion, my Mom called me to the dinner table several times, and although I heard her, I didn’t come. I was too busy playing with my “little men”. Finally, my Dad came out, and with one swift kick, completely wiped out my toys. I was crushed.

 

¹¹ All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those

who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.          NASB

 

The “peaceful fruit of righteousness” sounds like such a pleasant, desirable thing, but apparently the process of acquiring such fruit can be painful at times.

 

For instance, Moses wandered in the desert as a fugitive for forty years. Jesus wandered in the wilderness for forty days while being severely tempted by Satan. Paul struggled with his “thorn in the flesh”, but God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.

 

God uses difficult experiences in our lives to mold and shape us; to make us into the men and women that we are meant to be. In a word, he disciplines us.

 

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.            MSG

 

When my Father disciplined me by destroying my Lincoln Log game, I was crushed. It felt more like he didn’t love me than he was trying to teach me a life lesson.

 

However, our Heavenly Father is always at work in our life with our best interests in

mind. Because of that, it’s important to identify how God is working and to not get in His way. By doing this, God will be the potter and you will be the clay.

 

Here are some questions that might help you to identify His discipline in your life.

• What experiences have you had that have shaped you to be more like Jesus?
• Who has God brought into your life to help you to be more godly?
• What gifts and opportunities has God given you to use?
• How is God disciplining you through your weakness?

 

Answering these questions will help you to answer the most important question:

 

 

Are you ready to grow the “peaceful fruit of righteousness”?

 

 

The god of Our Own Creation

Revelation 1:12-20

 

 

In Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the Buckeye nation, if you are an Ohio State football player, you are idolized; and on Saturdays, you are worshiped. When the Shoe is filled with over 106,000 rabid fans; when TBDBITL forms Script Ohio; when the Buckeyes score their first touchdown; the god of football is in its throne.

 

As humans, we tend to put many things ahead of God in our life; we tend to make idols; to make a god of our own creation. People have made idols since the beginning of time. Isaiah wrote this about carpenters who made idols:

 

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!”         Isaiah 44:16-17 NIV

 

We may not make our idols out of wood or stone or gold or silver; but don’t ever doubt

that we still make idols. It could be football, work, family, church or addictions like drugs, alcohol, gambling and sex. The potential list is endless. The difference between these idols, or gods, and Jesus is that He is the Living One.

 

“Only God can do the impossible and bring life from nonlife. Just as He breathed human life into the dust of the ground in Genesis, so also He conceived life in a virgin’s womb”. (From Today in the Word devotional.)

 

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.            Revelation 1:17-18 NIV

 

What god of our own creation can do this? Only Jesus, the Living One, can reach out and touch our heart to draw us to him; to mold and shape us; to lead and guide us; to give us strength to face our daily challenges. Only Jesus can. Therefore, “Do not be afraid”.