Friday, February 24, 2017

"Fan into Flame" -- (Caitlin -- AUS)

Devotion//Caitlin Bawden

 “Fan into Flame”


Good morning!  My name is Caitlin, I’m from Australia and this morning I want to tell you a little bit about the country that I come from.  I’m going to tell you about fire, so hopefully, it makes us a feel a little warmer here in Austria!

The weather back in Australia during the Christmas time hit temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius.  It’s summer there at the moment, while we are here enjoying winter. Summer is such a great time for me back home.  I love going to the beach, surfing, having BBQ’s and just enjoying the time outside, but it is also a scary time for Australian’s because of the danger and high risk of fires.  The summer of 2015/2016 was a particularly bad year for bush fires with the country losing 408 houses, 500 other buildings and 9 lives due to wildfires. Just in this past month just out side the city of Adelaide, where I come from, there was a fire that took almost 200 volunteer fire fighters to control, along with 3 water bomber planes.  This is why summer although it can be great, is a very hard time for my family and the rest of our country.

Now before European people came and invaded Australia, the Original Custodians (owners) of the land, the Aboriginal Peoples would use fire as a way of clearing the land so that new things could grow.  There are certain plant seeds that need fire to open and give them the ability to grow.  Hence, fire can also be a really great thing.

In the Bible, in 2 Timothy 1:6, the writer, Paul, tells us this; “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”  If we think now about fire.  If there is anything remotely close, it can catch alight.  Back home, every time summer comes around, we, as a family have to clear around our whole house to make sure that if a fire were to come through the valley, our house wouldn’t have more risk of catching on fire and burning down.

So like how the Aboriginal Peoples would use fire to encourage new growth, I think that sometimes things in our life need to be cleared to allow for our own growth in life.  Also, if we are, like Paul said, fanning into flame the gifts that God has given us, then others may catch our flame and be encouraged to use their gifts also for God’s glory.

It says also in 1 Corinthians 12: 17-20; “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If there were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”  This shows us that God has created us all unique for a unique purpose.  No one else can be a better me than I can be and no one can be a better you than you can be.  He wants us to use our gifts and fan them into flame so that others may catch God’s light and love and be encouraged to do the same.

I want to read again from 2 Timothy 1:6, which says this; “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”.


Let’s pray!  Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us all uniquely and for giving us each a unique purpose and set of gifts to use for your glory while we are here on this earth.  I pray that each person can be encouraged to “fan into flame” the gifts that you have given them and that their light catches others too.  I thank you for every person here, and we pray all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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