One of my favorites, and most often quoted verses is 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”

There is so much that can be said about the spiritual presence of fear everywhere you look nowadays—and there are many ways the enemy packages it. For instance, “caution” that ignores scripture, wisdom (from the world’s perspective), manipulation, withdrawal, anger, and self-righteousness to name just a few. If you think through the many responses you’ve seen on social media about the current pandemic, you might recognize some of the disguises fear takes.

Here is what Godly wisdom looks like:

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.” (James 3:17)

God’s Spirit is different than the spirits of this world—His presence in our lives is manifested through power, love (as God defines it), and sound judgment, which runs contrary to the prevailing reasoning of this world, political agendas, and government agencies.

The apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatian church spelled it out for them quite well when he wrote, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25). And one of the best ways I know of doing that is to be battle ready: “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace [people are desperate for peace right now!]. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:14-17)

Such familiar words, but we must not become complacent or indifferent to them because if there ever was a time to take up the shield of faith, it is now! There is a barrage of flaming arrows coming at us from every direction and it is crucial for us to be exceedingly careful about who we trust—the Word of God is our sure foundation.

I couldn’t bypass this verse without saying something. Fear is rampant and we must recognize the demonic forces behind it.

But that wasn’t the verse immediately on my mind when I started writing this. Instead, it is 2 Timothy 1:6:

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

I’ve always shuffled this verse off into the “Timothy” file—relevant to him but not considering that it could be personal for me.

Paul didn’t lay his hands on me, praying that I would receive a gift from God.

But I am a believer in Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit—and it is the Holy Spirt who imparts gifts, not Paul, not an apostle.

“Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware…. Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God produces each gift in each person. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good…. (1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7)

The reason this has become so significant to me is that I moved recently, and my life has become incredibly unsettled—we finally received our household belongings after three weeks; however, we moved from a large house to a small apartment and getting settled is an immense challenge—though we sorted through and got rid of much before we packed up, we are still making trips to donation sites, to dumpsters, and to storage. …and stirring up the gift of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life has ranked pretty low on my “to do” list.

Until I read that verse in 2 Timothy and was reminded that I needed to do some stirring.

For me, it was picking up a pen and writing in a journal. I hadn’t stopped having morning quiet times; I just quit writing. Stirring the pot is no doubt as different for each one of us as our individual gifts; yet the faithful Holy Spirit will let you know how to stir up the gift(s) He placed in your life.

If you don’t know how God wants to use you (and He does, it’s the enemy who insinuates that you have nothing worth doing or giving), ask Him! Wisdom is a good beginning:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

Not everyone recognizes the abilities and gifts that grace our lives are useful for God’s kingdom. What others think about you or consider insignificant, or not relevant for “ministry”, are aspects of who you are that can uniquely minister to others in ways that nothing or no one else in their life can. I sensed in my heart as a young child (6 years old) a prompting and a desire to write. But I was told that I was only mediocre and would never be great—and a sense of futility was instilled in me early on. But God’s calling on our lives is never to greatness; instead, we are called to be light in this world, drawing others to Jesus—even if it is only one person. Because the Good Shepherd was not willing to let even one wanderer be lost.

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:11-12)

Now is not the time to be complacent or distracted from our relationship with God. There is too much going on in the world, too many people living in fear and darkness to be less than the people God has created us to be! It is time to stir up His gifts within us.