Fan the Flame

If you had a friend or family member ask you… “How is your walk with the Lord in this current season?” What would your response be?

Cold?

Lukewarm?

Or Hot? Burning with a fire and zeal for the Lord?

“Fan the flame” in a Spiritual context means to be actively stirring up and reviving your fire for God. The word “Anazopyreo” is a Greek term meaning to stir up or rekindle. Have we as believers rekindled our relationship and fire for the Lord recently? Or have we let distractions of the worldly things take our focus? Often times, I forget to ask myself these questions too.
 
When you are burning wood in your fireplace at home, it usually requires constant attention to keep burning, right? Well, it is the same for our spiritual walk. It requires daily cultivation and daily surrender. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul charges Timothy to keep his Spiritual fire burning bright.

How do we fan the flame?

Well it takes true sacrifice to surrender our flesh daily, and rely on the Lord. To keep the fire burning, we must be willing to sacrifice our time and really dig deep to know God intimately. In order to keep that daily cultivation and surrender, we have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. The distractions of the worldly things can dim our light and our fire, so we have to be consistent in our tent time and studying scripture daily. We have to remember to take every thought captive and lay every distraction at the feet of Jesus so that our fire doesn’t burn out.

“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.” - 2 Timothy 1:6

If our spiritual walk is not burning bright for the Lord, how can we expect to grow and know Him on a deeper level?

Jesus calls us believers to repent and move away from being lukewarm.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” - Revelation 3:15-16

If our hearts are aligned with the Lord, then we should yearn for the zeal and love of our Heavenly Father.

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your Spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:11

Are we carrying the fire of the Lord with us everywhere we go? When we have a fire for God, our light starts to shine brighter. As that light gets brighter, our Faith becomes stronger.