2 Tim.1:7 – Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Not to get too far off in the weeds but Paul uses an interesting word for ‘stir up’ that includes a phrase we are all familiar with, pyro. Basically Paul is telling Timothy to stir up the fire of God in his belly that he received when Paul laid his hands upon him. He was telling Timothy if he was to start spiritual fires in Ephesus he had to stir up the fire in his belly first, in other words become a spiritual pyromaniac. I looked pyromaniac in Wikipedia and this is what it had to say.

“Pyromania is a type of impulse control disorder that is characterized by being unable to resist starting fires. People with pyromania know that setting fires is harmful. But setting fires is the only way they can relieve their built-up tension, anxiety, or arousal.”

So in the natural world pyromaniac is a huge problem, but we don’t live our lives in the natural. As usual, the spiritual world is upside down, in other words it is good to be a spiritual pyromaniac. Everywhere you go the ultimate goal is to set someone on fire. Here is what Matthew Henry said about this verse.

“He exhorts him (Paul exhorts Timothy) to stir up the gift of God that was in him. Stir it up as fire under the embers. It is meant of all the gifts and graces the God had given him, to qualify him for the work of an evangelist, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the extraordinary gifts that were conferred by the imposition of the apostle’s hands. These he must stir up; he must exercise them and so increase them: use gifts and have gifts. To him that hath shall be given. He must take all opportunities to use these gifts, and so stir them up, for that is the best way of increasing them. Whether the gift of God in Timothy was ordinary or extraordinary (though I incline to the latter), he must stir it up, otherwise it would decay.”

So we have two things here that we can take away. First stir the fire up in you. Pray in the Spirit, read the Word of God, pursue spiritual gifts. Second, look for a place to use your gifts, find a place to start a fire. The Lord is sending out a challenge to His sons and daughters, its time to find a way to impact your world.