2 Timothy 1:6

For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you…

We all have the gift of God within us, which is the Holy Spirit. We also have other gifts to enact God’s mission in the world. All of us do.

We do not need any new ingredients, we just need to stir up what is already in us.

Some translations have “stir up” or “fan into flame” for “rekindle”.

God has done His part in giving us His Spirit when we believed on Jesus. It is our part to fan it into flame, to stir it up so that God’s Spirit is an active ingredient in our lives and bodies and not a dormant one.

Remember what we said a few days ago, that grace is not opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning.

Hear what John Chrysostom said of this verse over sixteen hundred years ago:

For it requires much zeal to stir up the gift of God. As fire requires fuel, so grace requires our alacrity, that it may be ever fervent….For it is in our power to kindle or extinguish this grace….For by sloth and carelessness it is quenched, and by watchfulness and diligence it is kept alive. For it is in you indeed, but you must render it more vehement, that is, fill it with confidence, with joy and delight.

2 Timothy 1:7

for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

If you’re living in fear or despair because of the current political climate, then you need to stir it up.

Stir up the Spirit within you.

Because the Holy Spirit is not cowering in fear at what is going on in the world.

God’s Spirit always operates in power, in love, and in self-discipline (or sound judgment).

But as Chrysostom said, we do have the power to kindle or quench the Spirit of God within us.