The many coaches I played under in my “playing days” attempted to encourage, to push, to drive everyone to a better performance.
Not always did I understand their methods, in some instances I was too young, but I knew they wanted us to be the best we could be individually and corporately.

Some used “any means necessary” to get improved performance.

Challenge
Cursing
Consoling
Comedy

They were trying to move us from our level to a higher one.

I see the same attitude in 2 Timothy where Paul tells the younger Timothy to remember the gift put inside him.

The the older tells the younger…”Stir up the gift of God inside you”.

That was a coach prompting a player.

Stirring him up.

Stirring him to move to a higher level.

Stir yourself up.

You won’t be shaken past what you can handle….if the Gift and Presence of God is stirred up in you.

It’s a constant.

One cannot stir themselves once, like coffee, and be done.

You must be consistently be stirring yourself up.

To the extreme, Ray Lewis used to do a strange dance to “stir” himself up before a football game.

Many lineman hit each other and talk each other up to “stir” their emotion and intensity.

I would implore you to “stir up the gift of God” within you.
If you do not, it will fade in intensity.
It’s not God that fades…it’s our openness to Him and our Desire for Him.

Think on It.
Meditate on It.

How to do it?
Read Scripture.
Think on It.
Stir those words into your daily life…like sugar in a drink.

Live like Christ.
That will stir you and others up.

Love like Christ.
That will stir your family and friends, and all of your relationships.

Stir It up.
Today.

Terry