Fan the Flame of Faith

Fan the Flame of Faith
2 Timothy 1:1-6
July 5, 2026

II Timothy is the last letter to have come from Paul’s pen. He is under arrest in Rome. At this point in history, Nero is the emperor and is an enemy of the church of Jesus Christ.

You might remember that when Rome burned in 64 AD, Nero blamed the Christians saying, “They always talked about being the light of the world, but they’re nothing but arsonist and cannibals.” (a reference to communion.) However, many believe that it was Nero himself that had Rome burned because he wanted to rebuild it and be acclaimed as the “supreme architect.” It was this same Nero who had Paul beheaded.

It was while waiting for his appearance before Nero that Paul wrote this last letter sent to Timothy.

What should have been a fearful, anxious time of feeling defeated in the natural world, Paul uses as a time to comfort, exhort, and encourage Timothy. Paul has an attitude of victory in the face of what looks like defeat in the natural.

How is this possible? The secret is that there is a treasure, a power within that cannot be quenched or suppressed.

This is so relevant for every believer. God has given us the gift of  His Spirit, but the world always wants to distract us, shifting our focus.

This has the potential to make us ineffective and focused on the wrong things. So, Paul encourages, Timothy, but also us, to “Rekindle afresh the gift of God which is in you.” In other words, fan the flame.

I. Be Secure in His Promise of Life

• We know that Paul was writing this letter as he was awaiting execution. He was literally staring death in the face. How would you and I respond to this?

• Yet, in his opening statement he is not focused on death and hopelessness, but he makes the proclamation that he knows that he is called as the apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

• In the face of death, Paul is still secure in His calling, and he focuses on life. How is this possible? We see in verse 1 that Paul has taken hold of the promise of life in Christ Jesus. He was not focused on the temporary life of the world.

• He was focused on the fact that Jesus said, ‘He that believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’ Before we even go on to the rest of the section this is so important.

A. Know in whom you believe

• We must be grounded in the promise of life in Christ Jesus. This becomes the foundation of a core inner strength that cannot be shaken. It’s from this foundational truth that we can declare,

1 Corinthians 15:55-57, O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Remember that we spoke about this when studying 1 Timothy. Paul said, ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain’.
• He must become more, I must become less. Paul has grown in faith to such a degree that he has been consumed by the absolute conviction off the power and goodness of God.
• It is from this foundation that he declares the following:

Verse 12 – For this reason, I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

• This speaks not of just a superficial acknowledgement of the fact. This “know” speaks of a deep understanding and being acquainted with whom I have believed.

B. He guards you

• I am convinced that He is able to guard. Paul has seen how the hand of God moves. He is convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt. And Paul went through some hardships, but God was working mightily even through the hard times.
• Jesus is guarding you in the now. He gives His angels charge over you.

Psalm 91:11, For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.

• These are not soft, puggy baby cupid lookalikes. These are might, powerful beings. One was able to slay 185, 000 Assyrians in one night.

Psalm 103:20-21, Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will.

• Sidenote, we don’t worship angels. We don’t control angels. God directs the angels. We worship Him. We ask of Him, and He sends His angels to ultimately do His will.
• Many people are so demon focused. There are two times more angels than there are demons, and they are directed and empowered by God almighty. Stop fearing demons. Start trusting God to perform His purpose.
• God as able to keep you in the now. We even see this in the life of Jesus. Many times, the Jewish leader wanted to stone Him or kill him, but the word says they could not because His time had not yet come. God is able to keep you.
• You have to trust Him, but always from a context of God’s will, purpose, and kingdom. His ways are far above our ways. That is why, even I we go through hard times, which Jesus said we will, we can hold on to the knowing that God is in control.
• Yet Paul now knew the end was near. His anchor held in the fact that he knew he could trust God for the now, but also to keep His soul unto eternity.
• What I have entrusted. He came to the realization that he cannot do it. ‘I need to trust Him for the now. Also, I cannot get to heaven on my own. I cannot be good enough. I cannot be perfect. I cannot be holy on my own. I am entrusting it to Jesus.’

Illus – Kids drive away. I cannot be there. I am entrusting them to Jesus.

• One day when you die, you entrust everything – your kids, grandkids, great grandkids to Jesus. You cannot change anything from the others side of the grave. Only Jesus can, because He is alive.
• If you must do it then, why don’t you do it now?
• Even more than this, He is able to keep your soul, your future, and your eternal future.
• Here is a profound thought: your life is not your life. Bon Jovi sings: ‘It’s my life!’ People make the statement: It is my life. I will do what I want with it.
• Is it really your life? Can you create life? Can you, when you die, decide to rise again? Did you choose when you were born?
• The stark truth is that your life does not belong to you. Through our sinful nature, it either belongs to Satan resulting in eternal death, or Jesus, resulting in life. You only have the CHOICE where you want to end up with who you follow.
• We have no power to affect back and forth between death and life, and life and death.
• Only He can. Entrust your now, and your eternity to Him.

II. Fan Sincere Faith

• Verse 5 – Sincere faith is not me trying to be as sincere as possible and have the greatest faith, never wavering. Remember, it is not about the size of your faith, but WHO you have placed your faith in.
• This sincere faith means leaning of your whole being, whole personality on Him in absolute trust, confidence in HIS power, wisdom and goodness.

A. Kindle afresh the gift

• It seems like Timothy was growing a bit timid. He had a sincere faith, was ordained and received the gift of God’s Spirit when Paul laid hands on him and prayed for him.
• Verse 6 -Paul reminds him to kindle afresh the gift he received. Interestingly, Paul doesn’t say that he prays God will rekindle the fire. He charges Timothy to kindle the fire within!
• To understand how this works, we need to understand the interconnected working of our beings.
• We are spirit, soul, and body. These three are connected and can affect one another.
• Before you came to Christ and He made you alive with Him, your spirit was separated from God.

Ephesians 2:1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

• Death is separation from God , so your spirit was dormant, dead.
• While the spirit was dead, the soul received its input and direction from the flesh, or the body. So, whatever the body perceived, impacted the soul, and influenced its behaviors and responses.

Ephesians 2:2, … in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 

• But the moment you received Christ as your Lord and Savior, because you were cleansed and made holy by the blood of Jesus applied to your life, His Spirit could once again dwell inside you, awakening your spirit unto God. So, you’re spirit man is holy, cleansed, made righteous, sealed off, united with Christ.
• That’s why the Bible says that your body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit.
• When your spirit is made alive to Christ, the spirit can now direct and has influence over the soul. The soul, which is the mind, will, emotions, have a choice which way it wants to lean.
• It can repent (turn around) from the outward input and ways of thinking, and turn towards godly life and input.
• This is what Paul referred to in Colossians 3.

Colossians 3:1-3, Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

• You have the choice in which direction you focus your soul. Either to external stimulus resulting in lies, fear and death, or focus towards the indwelling Spirit resulting in peace, joy, truth and life.
• The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy, and he is the one that uses the world and your external experiences to plant lies and seeds that leads to death. But Jesus came that we might have life, by the indwelling power of the holy spirit.
• You can choose what embers you want to stir.

Illus- It is like when you make two wood fires. The more wood you put on a fire, the hotter it gets and the bigger the flames. But if you take your eye off it, focusing your efforts and resources on the other fire, the first fire will dwindle. It might go down only to embers. The less you fan the flame, the colder it will get around the fire.

• If you walk away from the fire, it will get colder. God doesn’t leave, but your heart towards God grows cold if you focus your heart on in the wrong direction.
• You feel timid, you become fearful, you become focused more on the giants in the world, the mountains you face, instead of being focused on the greatness, faithfulness, power of God.
• God’s power and presence and Spirit is there, but you can choose to walk away, or even put a cover over the fire.
• If you turn back to the fire, start to fan it, put wood on it, it will rekindle and grow in intensity.

B. How do you fan the flame? 

• You fan the flame of your faith by the word of God, by prayer, and through worship. The whole Bible is full of scriptures giving us direction in this.
• Focus on His truth and promises. Fan the flame of faith.

2 Corinthians 1:20, For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

2 Cor 5:7, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

• Are you directed towards the words of the world or the word of God?
• Even in our speaking, what we say reveals what we are aligned to. We need to discipline our minds and our words to be aligned with the word of God, because words have a powerful impact.

Proverbs 18:21, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

• Whatever you speak, good or bad, you will eat the fruit of it.
• What are the words you speak aligned with? Is it with the world’s way of talking; negative, demoralizing, hopeless, degrading, angry, or is it aligned with God’s words of life, hope, uplifting, blessing?
• What are you meditating on? The word and promises of God which is eternal, or the news and negative hopeless messages of the temporal world?
• Next, you fan the flame by praying.
• In prayer, do you pray with the hope of the word as your foundation? Do you speak to God? Do you align your prayer life with His will and promises? Do you make time to pray in the spirit, led by the spirit? Are you communicating with God?
• Then also, worship. Do you spend time in worship? For example, when you driving, are you filling your mind with worship and eternal truths declaring the goodness of God, or are you filling your mind with death?

Ephesians 5:18-19, And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation (wickedness, corruption), but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Illus – I was thinking of this last Sunday when we were singing two songs in succession, ‘Believe for it’, and ‘Silence’…

• What is your heart song? Is it a song of praise glorifying God? Is your heart inclined to worship? If your heart wakes up in the morning full of doom and gloom, start praising and worshipping, declaring the truths of God.
• The natural disposition of man is to be contrary to this, but we are new creations. We are born again. We have the power of God residing in us through His Spirit.
• In the end, we have choice what flame we are fanning in our souls. Fan the flame of the Spirit to the glory of God and you will experience life.