Do you have a gift from God that you are letting get cold?

Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 with an urgent charge: “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.” The word picture is so vivid, like fanning dying embers around the campfire back into flame.

Timothy had a real, God-given gift, but gifts left untended fade. Fear smothers them.

That’s why Paul immediately adds, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Notice Paul points to fear first because that’s exactly what Timothy was wrestling with. Maybe he was intimidated by his young age. Maybe he was scared of suffering. Maybe he was just more comfortable staying quiet.

Does that sound familiar? Do you struggle with those things?

Listen, beloved, God didn’t gift you to only have you shrink back. If He placed something in you—a gift, a calling, an assignment—He expects you to stoke it, not smother it under caution. No, step into the courage found in the love of God. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever have fear. It just means you step forward anyway because you know God’s got you.

Don’t let your gift go cold. Fan it into flame for the glory of God and the good purpose for which He gave it to you.

Change begins in you!