MOVE — Week 1
Before a single verse was opened this week, something needed straightening out. When people hear “gifts of the Spirit,” a lot of them brace for chaos — something flighty, unpredictable, one verse away from disorder. But Jesus gave the Holy Spirit a specific name: the Comforter. In the Greek, parakletos — one called alongside to help. Not the disrupter. Whatever these gifts are meant to do in your life, they were never meant to unsettle you.
This week opened a new series called MOVE, and it began not with a command to go find something new, but with a reminder of something already given. Paul opens his letter to the Corinthians — a church with no shortage of problems — by thanking God for how much grace was already moving among them:
“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 1:4-7 (NKJV)
Of all the churches Paul planted, Corinth had the longest list of problems — division, lawsuits, a congregation proud of the wrong things. And yet, “you come short in no gift.” The gifts were never a merit badge for the mature. They were, and are, evidence of grace resting on ordinary people who said yes to be used.
So if the gift is already there, why does it ever go quiet? Paul answers that when he writes to a young pastor named Timothy:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NKJV)
Notice the word remind. Paul isn’t handing Timothy new information — he’s stirring up something Timothy already has but has quietly stopped using. The Greek word for “stir up” is anazopyreo, a fire word. It means to rekindle embers that are still glowing but have stopped producing visible flame. And the thing that most often buries that fire under ash isn’t laziness first. It’s fear — fear of getting it wrong, fear of what people will think, fear of stepping out and having it not look the way you imagined.
If you’ve spent years assuming a gift went away, it likely didn’t go away. It went to embers. And embers can always be stirred.
That doesn’t mean everyone’s fire looks the same, or should. Paul is careful to separate what varies from what never does:
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” — 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NKJV)
Gifts differ. Ministries differ. Operations differ. The Spirit, the Lord, and God do not. What lights one person up may do nothing for the person next to them, and that’s not a flaw — it’s the body of Christ working exactly as designed. Gifts are also not the same thing as fruit. Fruit — love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest — is character every believer is called to grow in, all the time. Gifts are different; they’re what you’re equipped to do, distributed as the Spirit wills, not a uniform set everyone carries the same way.
The invitation this week wasn’t to go find something you don’t have. It was to stir what’s already there — to name it, pray over it, and put it to use before the week is out.
Reflection
What gift has God already placed in you that’s gone quiet — not gone, just unused? What fear has kept it buried under the ash? Ask God today for the courage to stir it, and pick one specific way to put it to use this week.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the gift You’ve already placed in me. I’m not asking You for something new today — I’m asking for the courage to stir what’s already there. Take the fear that’s kept the ash piled high and burn it away. Let what’s been embers become flame again, for Your glory and for the good of those around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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