Baking was always a part of my upbringing. And I love to bake, especially a peach cobbler! One day, a Christmas present I received as a child came to my remembrance. It was the "Easy-Bake Oven." As I reflect back on growing up, the memories of my Mother making cakes and pies came to me and a smile came on my face.
During my junior high and high school years, she started a business that consisted of baking and beautifully decorating cakes for birthdays, weddings and all kinds of events, even for some very well-known people. I will never forget the birthday cake she made for boxer George Foreman with the crown that sat on top of the cake. The other day, I made a pound cake. After putting all of the ingredients into my large mixing bowl, it then had to be stirred up. In order for this cake to be baked and come into its formation, it had to be stirred up first. We have stand up bowls and hand held mixers that work with electric power to mix it together and stir it all up.
Just like the cake ingredients in a mixing bowl, the gift that God has given and placed down within us has to be stirred up too. We won't fully function or operate strong in the power of the Lord if we don't ask Him on a continuous basis to, "Touch me Lord, stir up the gift. I need the boldness that can come only from You. Never should I be afraid or ashamed of doing what You've called me to do!”
For most of us, boldness doesn't come naturally. The Apostle Paul encouraged one of his spiritual sons in the faith, young Timothy, to be bold through the power of God. He reminded him to "stir up the gift" that God had given him when he had been assigned for the work of God. The gift that was in Timothy had gotten to a tiny flame. It needed to be fanned into a large flame!
Has your gift gotten to a tiny flame? Does it need to be stirred up? We too can receive this same boldness from God that Paul talked about – boldness to serve Him and carry out the work that He's called us to do. God sent His Holy Spirit to comfort, strengthen and encourage us. Let's praise and worship Him for the boldness and confidence that's ours through His spirit. Stir It Up!
Scripture Of The Day: "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame (stir up) the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NIV).
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