Maintaining the fire

It’s a natural law that fires go out . . . I mean, have your ever made a fire and then watched it go out because it wasn’t fed?

The same can apply to our spiritual fires.

So, how do we address it and keep the fire of passion and life alive for God?

Here’s some key fire stokers and fire feeders:

• Contend for your faith!

  • Jude 3-4 notes that we are to contend (fight for, hold onto, actively pursue) for our faith. As noted above, fires go out so let’s make sure that we are up for the fight of keeping the fire of our faith fed. I mean, it takes mahi to get firewood but it is sooooooooooo worth it!

• Surround yourself with God-fearing people!

  • We have a big fireplace at home - my wife loves a warm home so I shall oblige! If the firewood burns out overnight, I can easily restart the fire simply by heaping the coals together in a pile and putting a big piece on the heap. Why is that? The embers and ash, when heaped together, generate a greater heat…and anything that comes near to them is likely to end up the same! When I was in my early teens, I hung around with a crew whose language wasn’t so . . . nice or clean. Within weeks, my mouth ended up paru as, swearing and the like simply because I was handing around them . . . you become like those you hang with (Proverbs). If you want to keep the stoke and fire of your faith, ensure that you are hanging with those who have the same fire and stoke! It’s not rocket-science but sometimes we need reminding. Hebrews 10:23-25 is super clear about this. Find those you want to become like and STAY CLOSE.

  • Allow me to drop some truth here - many people completely lose their faith because they drift away from church. It begins by them drifting away from church (good fire-stoking company) because of offence or hurt or misunderstanding or other easily-validated reasons . . . and then find themselves actually absent from the Lord. Don’t get me wrong - they didn’t want to stop their relationship with the Lord but the moving away from fire-stoking people led to that . . . and this is what Paul warns against. I’ve seen it a million times. Please be warned - do not let this be you. Contend for your faith, do what you can and need to do to maintain Godly relationships even if it means initiating forgiveness yourself. It and you are worth it.

• Be filled with the Spirit of God!

  • Jesus left and gave us His Spirit. To continue this stoke and fire in a practical sense, continue to stoke your fire by speaking in tongues. As you do, you are ministering to the Lord in your spirit and communicating directly to Him in a language and means that only your spirit can.

  • It was our absolute privilege to pray for people on Sunday to be filled and baptised in the Holy Spirit and fire. AWESOME! Continue to stir up your faith by continuing to do the same on a daily basis!

ACTION POINT

• Be filled and baptised with the Holy Spirit

• Speak in tongues every day all day!