Taking The Initiative

In summary of 2 Timothy 1:6-7 it says, "You are to fan into flames and keep ablaze the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid hands on you.  God doesn’t want us to be shy, fearful or timid with his gifts or people but instead he wants us to be wise, strong, sensible and loving."

Bottom Line:
Take the spiritual gifts God has given you and fan them into flames, keep them ablaze.  God doesn’t want you to be shy, fearful/timid with his gifts or in dealing with people.  Instead he want you to be wise, strong, sensible and loving.

What this means to me:
God has given me gifts to use, I need to do what I can to use and build them them up (keeping them alive, not wasting them.)  God doesn’t want me to be shy with the use of them, instead I am to move in confident wisdom, be strong, be sensible and loving in how I deal with people, this especially relates to dealing with conflict.  I need to learn to take courage from God’s Spirit in my life.  The Holy Spirit (God’s gift to me) doesn’t want me to be afraid of people but to be wise and strong (courageous) and to love / enjoy being with them.  So my starting point should be to pause and pray “God, help me to take the first step.”