This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.
2 Timothy 1:6 NLT
In the New Testament, the Lord makes it very clear that we are each absolutely responsible for stirring up ourselves and the gifts which the Lord has deposited into our lives. We each have a responsibility to put ourselves in a position where the rich deposits of grace in us can be fully maximized and manifested.
There is a self-edification required from us if we are going to become all that God has created and enabled us to become. Every one of us must take responsibility to activate or stir up the Holy Spirit’s workings within us. We can’t expect someone else to do it for us. We must do it for ourselves.
The Holy Spirit cannot work or function properly in an atmosphere of unreceptivity, nonchalance, lukewarmness, torpidity, lethargy and indifference. This is the reason we are told not to be “lacking in zeal”, but to “keep your spiritual fervour [fervency of the spirit]” and “serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11 NIV).
Fervency of the spirit, that is, zeal and eagerness, is required in our walk with the Lord. Without it, we are sure to miss out on a lot of things.
There are believers who are not fervent for the Lord — not eager for the things of the Spirit. No wonder the Lord Jesus had to rebuke the lethargic attitude of the Laodecean Church in Revelations 3:15-16. We can’t wait for God to stir us up. We must take the responsibility to stir ourselves.
Reverend Kenneth E. Hagin once shared a story of a tired giant lying helplessly on the ground and tormented by some little demons. It happened that each time he tried to rise, the demons would run and take cover for fear. But then, he will fall back down again, and the demons will return and continue to buffet him.
Finally, he stood up and dusted himself, and the little demons ran from him for good and never returned.
God may not stir you up. You have to do it by yourself, otherwise it won’t be done. There are things no one else can do for us and this is one of them. God expects us to do it by ourselves.
This was why the Holy Spirit told us through Apostle Paul, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14). There is a rising that is required from each one of us if we must experience the fullness of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through us.
In our opening text above, Apostle Paul instructs Timothy to “fan into flames (stir up) the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you” (NLT). Even though the gift had been imparted to Timothy when hands were laid on him, yet Paul instructs him to fan the gifts into flames. He was not to simply wait for God or someone else to stir or charge him up. He had to do it himself.
Every one of us has been given the responsibility to determine the degree or extent of the Spirit’s workings in our lives. Even though the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in all of His divine fullness, yet He only manifests or expresses Himself to the degree each believer allows Him. God is only limited by the degree of receptivity and yieldedness of the believers in whom He dwells. This is why the Bible says we must consciously stir up the gift of God in each one of us. This is so that we can provide the right environment for the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.
Quench not the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Is it possible to quench the Spirit? Yes! If it weren’t possible, the Bible wouldn’t have told us not to do it. It is very possible to quench the Spirit and suppress or discourage His workings or activities in and through us. But just as we can quench Him, it is also possible to stir, rekindle His ministry and cause Him to become more active in our lives.
The same way we can quench or discourage the activities of the Holy Spirit in and through us, we can also encourage and enhance His workings in and through us. The Holy Spirit wants to work in and through us and bring us great blessings in return, but He can’t do that unless we allow Him.
The Holy Spirit will never strive or struggle with you, neither will He encroach on your rights to choose or force Himself on you. He will gently nudge and prod you to yield to Him, but will never force Himself on you. The extent to which you yield will determine the extent to which He will work in and through you. This is why He may wait several years until He finds someone who will yield and cooperate fully with Him.
The way to enhance the Spirit’s workings in our lives is by activating our own spirits so that we can become spiritually sharpened and more receptive to the Holy Spirit. In this discourse, we will try to find out by the scripture how we can do this.