Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

STOKE

December 20, 2010

In this high-tech era in which we find ourselves, I wonder if we (unless a Boy Scout) know the art of making a fire.

For this I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
                                                             - 2 Timothy 1:6 TNIV

To make a fire: rub two sticks together (I never made that work).  It helps to have a bellows to "fan into flame."  It also requires some wind or oxygen. And sometimes, it needs to be stirred up, stoked. My earliest memories include my grandfather going into the basement to stoke the coal-fired furnace first thing in the morning to bring heat into the chilly house. Fire-making and fire-maintaining require attentiveness.

You have the fire of the Holy Spirit in you if you are a Christian. Like any fire, Paul teaches his disciple Timothy, it requires attention, needs to be stoked, and must be fanned. We do this through prayer, Bible reading/study, and fellowship with other burning coals - believers. Get on with it; stoke it now.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson