Fuel the Fire

I was chatting to a friend recently and she said that at a church she had visited she was approached by a member who asked “how’s your fire?” What a question! I’ve been around a few churches in my time but never once have I been asked that – and yet the more I have thought about it, the more it has grown in significance. It speaks of the fire of the Holy Spirit that burns within believers, and the implication that if we do not tend to it, that fire can go out.

In certain church circles there is a focus on praying for the “fire of God”. When the Holy Spirit moves among us in powerful signs and wonders, it’s exciting and dynamic. We’ve prayed for God’s fire here, many times, and the passion and drive that lead us to call out to God for fire can feel very real. But all too often it seems to fizzle out, leading to frustration (which in turn usually leads to blame) and discouragement.

Leaders point to examples like Elijah calling down fire on the altar that has been drenched in water in 1 Kings 18 – if we are feeling dry or flat we just need to call on God for His fire… and that is true: without the fire of His Spirit we can do very little. But God highlighted something to me from that book this morning that made me pause to think.

In 1 Kings 19 – the chapter after the mighty demonstration of power, we find Elijah hiding in a cave, fearing for his life. This is the same man who just before had called down fire from Heaven and defeated all the leaders in idolatry. But now he was running on empty. This doesn’t make him bad or weak – just human. But what comes next is just so encouraging. In 1 Kings 19:11&12 God sent an angel to tell Elijah to eat (let us never get so ‘hyper-spiritual’ that we neglect our physical well-being), and then told him to go and stand in the presence of the Lord. Then followed the well known earthquake, wind and fire, but the Lord was not in any of those. He was found in the whisper.

Elijah needed to hear God in the whisper. The great man of God with fire in His belly so strong that he was able to call it down from Heaven and rout the enemy, was rendered utterly powerless until he connected with God in the secret place where God was close enough to be able to speak to him in a whisper. It all comes back to personal relationship with God, that draws close enough to hear His whisper, and that fuels the fiery demonstrations of power in ministry.

Like Jesus who regularly withdrew to spend time alone with God in prayer, enabling Him to continue His powerful ministry. If we want signs and wonders to follow us, we MUST develop our own ‘secret place’ time with God, listening to the whispers of His heart, and fuelling the fire of the Holy Spirit within us

When we can get so desperate for the mighty demonstrations of God’s power and presence we can either become discouraged and flat, or we can attempt to whip up a storm, confessing words of power over ourselves and charging ourselves to great faith. Those can be really valuable things: positive confession is really important, as is ‘stirring ourselves up in our most holy faith’ (Jude 1:20). But if we neglect our relationship with God in the secret place – if we fail to tend to His whisper that can only be heard by drawing close to Him – that fire will quickly run out of fuel and turn only to ashes – the sign of a ministry that was once on fire.

Leviticus 6:12-13 says, “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out”

As priests over our own lives we are responsible for keeping the fire burning on our insides. Every morning we need to add the firewood of time engaging in relationship with Him, that keeps the fire burning – and every morning we need to arrange the burnt offering of our lives offered in sacrifice to Him. In this way we will continue to fuel the fire within.

If you feel your fire is burning low today, I encourage you to draw near to Him (in worship, prayer and His Word), as He promises that He will always draw near to us in response (James 4:8) and it is His whispers to our hearts that will ignite the fire of His Spirit to burn again.