Stewarding the Fire of God

The power/gifting of the Holy Spirit is always imparted for a purpose. Some people love to get hit by the Holy Spirit because it makes them feel that God loves them/favors them. But that desire for the Spirit is self-centered and can bring a lot more damage than good. God doesn’t pour into us just so that we can feel good about ourselves, but rather for us to be able to love and spread His kingdom in a greater way. Otherwise Jesus would have had no need for coming to the earth, He would have just been content and happy staying in heaven receiving His Father’s love. Also, if a person with such a desire to get touched by the Spirit doesn’t get dramatically touched, then the person can feel as if he isn’t good enough for God or that God doesn’t love him. Inward desires soon either lead to selfishness/pride (if met) or lead to disappointment/insecurity (if not met). But if our desires are pure before the Lord, genuinely desiring to love Him more and love others more (1st and 2nd greatest commandments), then we can rest secure whether we are struck by God’s power or not. We are secure in His love. If we are struck, it’s a clear sign God is giving us more of His heart and power to love and do His work. If we are not struck, then we can rest in assurance that God is pleased with us (first, because God chose us by grace in the first place and second, because our desires are for His kingdom and not our own). He will give us the boosts as we need them and as we continue to ask for them.

Stewarding the fire is more important than receiving the fire. Just like if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach a man to fish then you feed him for a lifetime, far more important than receiving the fire is learning to make and to steward the fire. Every fire will go out unless it is tended to. Here are a couple simple ways to steward the fire of God in your life…

1. Be faithful in seeking the Lord daily. As you do so (whether reading the Word, praying, worshipping, etc.) continue to ask God for His heart and make sure to take time to intercede for the areas you feel your heart burning for. If you feel God’s fire for North Korea, then it is crucial you pray consistently for North Korea. If you feel God’s fire for music or for art, then it is crucial you pray for things related to music or art. If you don’t have any fire for anything then that is a huge sign that God is calling you to go deeper with Him in the place of prayer. His heart burns for so much! And He has designed you for specific purposes. As you pray and ask for God’s heart for people, for your work, for specific ministries, for the nations, you will definitely soon experience your heart burning for specific things. That is a clue God has a purpose for you in that area, even if it is just for a season. It’s important you steward the fire for that area as long as God has called you to it.  Continue to ask for His heart when you pray.

2. Fellowship regularly with people who have a similar heart/fire as you. I personally have a big heart/fire for North Korea. It would be silly for me to hang consistently just with people who have a big heart for the Middle East. Those are different flames. While we can agree to pray for the nations, my fire for NK won’t be particularly stirred praying for a country in the Middle East over and over. But when I find some people who have a similar fire for NK, then often both our hearts are kindled even more as we share how God has stirred us for the nation. I personally make sure to pray for NK once a week with a group of people who all have a fire for the nation. For teachers, engineers, business workers, medical workers, and people in other fields it is important to find people in the same professions who have a heart for God that you can pray with. Otherwise you will find yourself just going through the motions, numb to the needs of the people you are working with/for and numb to how God is wanting to move. Sometimes God’s fire simply starts out as a fire to worship Him and not as a fire for a particular calling or people. With that initial fire too it’s important to find people with a similar desire to worship. Let that fire grow! And if you don’t know anyone with a similar fire, then pray for God to lead you to such people! He is faithful as we ask (Matthew 7:7). 

It’s all about Him, not about us. King Saul in the Old Testament received the power of the Holy Spirit but soon grieved the Spirit by going his own selfish way. The Spirit soon left him and went to David. Selfishness, pride, and judging of the Spirit will all cause the fire of the Spirit to be quenched in your life. But as you keep yourself fully on the altar of God, laying down your selfishness and pride and willing accepting any stigma of the Spirit, then you will burn brighter and brighter.

Psalm 51:17 – The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

We aren’t called to punish ourselves or beat ourselves up “for His glory.” Rather, we are called to lay ourselves fully down before Him. The broken and contrite heart is a person fully humble before the Lord, confessing it’s not by our might or by our power but by His Spirit and that we desperately need Him. The more we stay desperate for Him, unashamed in our worship and prayer, and connecting with the areas God has specifically given us a fire for, the more we will find His presence so thick in our lives.

God loves you so! His love burns for you!

Song of Songs 8:6-7 – Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.