One of my friends runs a Christian retreat center. The High Braes Refuge is a beautiful hunting and fishing lodge built in the late 1800s on 350 acres in Upstate New York. It’s a beautiful location, and the Lord has spoken to many people in that spot, providing salvation and calling into Christian ministry.

The Tug Hill region, where it is located directly east of Lake Ontario, is infamous for its snowfall. It also has very cold winter temperatures, so the lodge requires a great deal of wood to heat it during the winter months.

A few years ago, they built an open-walled shed that can hold about 80 cords of wood. A cord of wood is about 2 full pickup trucks of split and ready firewood. That means the shed can hold approximately 160 loads of wood!

For more than a decade, a group from our Men’s Ministry traveled to the High Braes for a week during the summer. We cut trees from the forest, chainsawed those logs into chunks, split those chunks, filled a truck with firewood, and drove it to the shed to be stacked. Once the wood was stacked in the shed, it needed to dry out, or season, for over a year before it was ready to burn for heat.

But all that firewood didn’t put itself in the stove once it was dried out.

Part of the team was responsible for taking seasoned firewood to the lodge. They had to load the truck from the shed and get it into the basement of the lodge. In the basement, a crew of 3 or 4 people received that wood, carted it to the piles, and carefully stacked it so it was ready for the winter.

Then, when winter arrived, my friend would take this wood and fill the wood stove every morning and night, so it could heat the lodge.

What’s my point? If you’ve ever tended a stove like this, there are times when you open that stove in the morning, and there are just a few embers left. You know it takes some coaxing, small kindling, patience, and usually a few puffs of air to get that ember to burst into flame again.

A fire that is sufficient to heat the lodge takes a lot of work. It doesn’t happen easily or automatically.

The Apostle Paul wrote this to his spiritual son, Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 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, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:5-7 ESV).

Why would Paul need to tell Timothy to “fan into flame” something that was a gift from God?

From Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we know that he charged Timothy with significant responsibility. Timothy was to stay in Ephesus to confront the false teachers who caused arguments, maintain the character qualifications for church leadership, teach God’s word, and make sure that justice issues were attended to in the church. Oh yeah… and he was to do all this as a young pastor serving those older than himself.

We don’t know how much time passed between Paul’s first and second letters to Timothy. But it wouldn’t take long in an environment like Ephesus for Timothy’s energy and enthusiasm to wane. I can imagine he was tired, discouraged, and maybe even ready to give up.

Timothy’s faith had a long history behind it. He had learned the Scriptures from his mother and grandmother, resulting in his own sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5). God had gifted him with spiritual gifts and, more importantly, the Holy Spirit for strength and wisdom in leadership.

But it was Timothy’s responsibility to keep that flame ablaze.

Had Timothy’s faith and passion burned down to an ember? Was he discouraged and tired? We don’t know the details. But Paul charged him to fan that gift back into a flame. That doesn’t usually happen overnight… especially when the fire has been burning down for quite a while.

Dear Saints, are you engaged in the spiritual disciplines that provide the fuel for your fire? Scripture reading, memorization, and study are vital so that you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Prayerful conversation with God is essential to receiving His wisdom and power. Fellowship with the saints is critical to encouraging one another to stand firm in these days. Serving others helps keep us thankful and humble. And each of us needs to be seasoned in these things.

It is our responsibility to set the stage for the Spirit to burn brightly in us and through us. No one else can provide the wood for your fire. Keep ablaze the gift you have been given.

Fan the Flame