June 26

2 Timothy 1:6 (NIV84)
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.

Have we forgotten this wonderful benefit of being a child of God? There is, within the body of Christ, the “laying on of hands”, which has significance in different areas of Christian life. This area, installing a gift of God, is often forgotten and rarely talked about. It is one of our privileges as members of the church! It may be only found in Pentecostal traditions, but evidentially it started long ago. Let’s bring this wonderful gift back into operation! God surely is the giver of gifts as well as the dispenser of them, however it seems clear to me that we AGAIN get to partner with God and through the laying on of hands (and prayer with prophetic invocation) release gifts to people. How cool is that!

There is something else we need to catch here. After we have received a gift from God, we are responsible for fanning it into flame! We are told to “reactivate” the gift. Timothy must have let something slip away into non use and Paul is saying – “start er’ up again”. The gift is IN Timothy! The gifts that God has given us are IN us – they are ours to use! Have you shelved any of your gifts? If so, reactivate it (or them) and let’s use them for His glory!

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV84)
7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.