Keeping the Fire of the Holy Spirit Burning
True born-again Christians have a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Luke 3:16). But how should Christians keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in their lives? How do Christians stay on fire for the Lord?
Jesus taught His disciples the importance of having the Holy Spirit because it’s through the Holy Spirit that we may become witnesses from our Jerusalem (home base) to the ends of the earth. Before Jesus was taken up to heaven, He commanded His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem but they should wait for the Holy Spirit to baptize them (Acts 1:4-5).
Perhaps you have been on fire for God before, but now you do not seem to remember anymore how that felt like; you are left wondering if that fire that once burnt in you can ever be rekindled.
Planetshakers’ Live Conference in Manila, Philippines
Yesterday, January 13, 2018, I was blessed to have attended the Planetshakers’ Conference in the Philippines, held at the Araneta Coliseum. I’d say the event was a victorious one, glory be to God.
We arrived at the venue just before 7 AM thinking we were early, only to see a very long line of people, mostly youths, waiting to get in. Contrary to what I was expecting, the place was packed with people waiting to jam in worship with the Australian City Church music band and to listen from God.
While in line, I had the opportunity to converse with their senior pastor Russel Evans, who took some time to check out the people waiting to get in, a couple of hours before the event kicked off.
It was also a blessing to have met in person a fellow believer in Christ whom I came to know through our Bible Sharing group on Facebook.
Everybody had a blast during the praise and worship and we felt the Holy Spirit’s awesome presence all over the place. As I looked around the jam-packed coliseum, I saw how everybody was having a great time singing, shouting, jumping, and dancing for the Lord.
But to me, the greatest takeaway was the message delivered by the youth pastor of the Planetshakers City Church during the first session. And it is this message that I will be sharing with you in this blog today.
How to Keep the Fire of the Holy Spirit Burning
Youth pastor Andy Harrison talked about the fire of the Holy Spirit working in the life of every believer. And he mentioned three things Christians can and should do to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in their lives.
A – Fuel the fire of the Holy Spirit by regularly reading the Bible.
Just as fire needs fuel to keep it burning brightly, spiritual passion also needs fueling or refueling to keep it burning brightly. The spiritual fuel is none other than the Word of God – the Bible.
You may notice that people who are no longer on fire for God do not have time for the Scriptures. They have lost their passion for the Word. If you are in this situation, it’s time to replenish your spiritual energy with the Word of God in order for you to get back to normal.
It’s important to fuel your fire by staying with the Word. Feed your fire. Don’t depend solely on your pastor or worship leaders in your church. You got to have a fire-feeding device of your own. Go the extra mile for God by making it a habit to read the Bible every day.
When a Christian does not take in spiritual food by reading the Bible daily, his spiritual fire will grow dim and flickering. You need the Word of God if you want the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn afresh in your heart.
B – Maintain fellowship with other believers.
You’ve got to stay where the fire is. Being in fellowship with believers who love the Lord and are on fire for God will keep you on fire.
You may have heard or read the story of a certain believer who used to be on fire for God. But after some time, he stopped going to church. So, his pastor went to visit him in his house and found him sitting before a roaring fireplace.
The pastor sat next to the man but did not say a word. Suddenly he reached over and pulled a lump of red-hot coal out of the fire and laid it on another side of the fireplace. Within a few minutes, the red-hot coal became a smoldering ember and eventually a cold white ember emitting no heat.
As they both observed what just happened, the man looked at the pastor and said he would be back in church.
It’s evident that when you separate a lump of coal from the rest, it will die.
Church: A Community of Believers
It’s the same thing with Christians. Believers need each other to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in their lives. Some Christians think they do not need to go to church. They think they will do just fine on their own. However, the Word of God warns us against forsaking the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25).
Spiritual growth is never a lonely route and that is why Jesus established the church. The church is a community of believers who worship together, work together, serve together and grow together to lend each other support.
We need other Christians in order to grow. We need regular interaction, fellowship, and mutual support. We are to encourage and edify one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Christians who choose to isolate themselves do not grow, they are seldom strong and effective.
By the way, you should be careful as to who you hang around with. The old saying, “Birds of the same feather flock together” is true. You may think you won’t get influenced by non-Christians but the Bible is very clear in saying, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV).
This is not to say you must stay away from unbelievers. By all means, you should befriend them so you will have the opportunity to share the gospel with them. But you must know where and when to draw the line. If you really want to keep your spiritual fire burning, be with Christians who are on fire for the Lord.
No matter how small or big your church is, as long as they love the Lord and they preach the Word, I encourage you to attend your church and support it faithfully.
C – Be a candle and go light your world.
The Word of God says Christians are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Christians are candles, and as such, we should go out there and light the world. Believers in Christ are commissioned to share the Gospel into all the world (Matthew 28:19-20).
What if you’re the only Christian in your family? It doesn’t matter as long as you keep your light burning because one candle released can fill the whole house. When the fire of the Holy Spirit is burning bright and clear in your life, you’ll be able to help the people in the dark see clearly.
Always keep your fire burning because the more the flame burns, the less wax is produced. The wax symbolizes the sins, filth, and weaknesses in your life. When the fire of the Holy Spirit is burning brightly in your life, you will be walking and living under the will of God.
More than anything else in the world today, we need a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us keep the flames burning and take the fire of God’s Spirit to a lost and dying world.
Conclusion
One of the most noted and greatest events in the history of mankind was the Day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit was poured out; tongues of fire sat upon the disciples and they spoke in other tongues (Acts 2:1-4).
In order to keep the fire burning, we need to constantly be tapping into the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We should not put out or extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
How is the fire of the Holy Spirit in your life? Is it burning bright and strong? Or is it flickering and may die out soon? You may want to examine yourself. Do you feel tired? Have you lost your spiritual appetite? Are you still energetic in serving God and others?
Recommended Resource:
Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives by R. T. Kendall
Greater than your theology, bigger than denominations, beyond all we can imagine, the Holy Spirit is God’s gift to the church and to you.
The debate about the Holy Spirit has been around for a long time. In Holy Fire, best-selling author and respected theologian R. T. Kendall set the record straight about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and in the life of the church.
If you want to increase your knowledge of this most misunderstood member of the Trinity, or if you long to experience His presence in your life in a deeper way than ever before, this book is for you.
Are you charismatic? He is bigger than your signs-and-wonders events. Are you Reformed? He will not be limited by your theology. As Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He blows where He will” (John 3:8).
16 Replies to “Keeping the Fire of the Holy Spirit Burning”
Blessed be He, who loves us before we love Him.
I was deeply wounded and as a self-preservation mechanism, I retrieved from my ministry and was growing colder. The Lord gave time because healing was needed. To avoid the pain I also avoid anything related to community, outreach, or church.
But thank God for His relentless pursuit, He reached out and once again touched my heart and sparked the Holy fire in me again.
Thank you for your obedience and for posting about this topic that not many people want to talk about. Communication is indeed a relation, we really need to stay connected to the source, to the vine. Once He calls you, no one can revoke that.
That irrevocable call was a beautiful reminder of my Shepherd to go and share the Good News and to make disciples out of nations. I can do all things in Christ, but what a joy it is to do with my sweet Holy Spirit!
Thank you for the needed encouragement as this message is timeless and necessary.
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you, always.
Shinning for Christ,
Aida
Hi Aida,
Thank you so much for sharing your story.
It’s such a blessing to know that fellow believers in Jesus like you are being blessed with the topics posted on this website.
God is good. He never lets His sheep be lost. Our Good Shepherd will go out of His way to pursue us and get us back on track, praise His holy name.
May we always make ourselves available for the Lord and allow Him to work in us and through us. Let us always desire to be filled by the Holy Spirit for it is only through His working power that we are able to do His will.
Shalom!
Alice, am pastor Lucy from Kenya in Africa. May I take this opportunity to thank you for the message on keeping the fire of the Holy Spirit burning. May the Lord bless you a lot.
Be blessed.
Hello Pastor Lucy,
The pleasure is mine; thank you for stopping by. I’m glad you took the time to read this post. May the Lord continually bless you, your family, and your ministry.
Shalom!
I feel my fire went out and I didn’t know to do any of this … not sure what to do, I feel attacked badly. Not myself or how I was playing with sins …. foolish TV distractions or something like that … I feel so cut off. Perhaps nobody tell you these things … spiritual hurts, wounds over worked.
Now I want to feel Him but felt He left due to anger. That is not even relevant anymore. I feel like broken fragments. Just way off flesh.
Hello Tricia,
I’m glad you stopped by. I do get exactly where you’re coming from.
Let me guess, when you just came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and was a new believer, you must have been so on-fire that you were not only confident that the Holy Spirit was always by your side, you felt His awesome presence all the time.
Then as time went by, you started feeling like the Holy Spirit is not working anymore in your life, you feel totally disconnected and you’re not sure exactly why. I assure you, that’s very normal. You pray but then it feels like God is so far away and out of reach.
You worship and you do not feel His presence the same way you used to, when you found yourself crying and worshiping in the spirit.
I suggest you go to God in prayer, spend time reading the Bible and just cry out to God. Confess any sins you might have done. He will hear you; He hears even the silent cries of His children.
Being in company with people who are so on-fire in the Lord will surely help as well.
Praying for you Tricia …
The word has touched me as well, it’s a powerful message, sometimes I fail to read the Bible, not knowing that by doing that am shutting down my spirit from burning. Thank you so much for these powerful words.
God bless you more in Jesus’ name amen.
Glad to hear that, Brian.
We all fail at times to keep the Spirit’s fire burning in our lives. But this should not discourage us. Instead, we need to desire it and do something about it.
Blessings indeed!
I agree that reading the Bible. along with, talking to God in prayer is one of the first component of maintaining the fire of the Holy Spirit burning.
The one thing I miss a lot though, is having a closer fellowship with other believers. I work night shift and it’s hard for me to attend reunions and even to socialize before and after them.
Working night shift makes it a little harder for me to schedule anything. I feel something like I’ve living in marge of everybody else.
But I do mainting my relation with God through Bible study, praying, and doing my best to follow what that Word of God tell me to do in my daily life, at work and with everyone else.
I like those big reunions that you mentioned. I wish there were some where I live.
Guy,
Yes, Bible reading and constant communion with God are very important if we want to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in our lives. I will never forget what our pastor said when I was newly ushered in, that communication is relation. Once the communication is cut off, the relationship will eventually die. And this is exactly the same thing with our passion for the Holy Spirit’s presence and work in our lives as believers.
I know exactly what it feels like to not be able to fellowship with other believers due to work schedule restrictions. It’s pretty hard being in this position because there is a tendency for you to easily get discouraged when faced with difficult circumstances and to lose your fire for God. Having a Church family to support, encourage, edify and strengthen us is really great because this is also how we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.
However, I do believe that God sees the desires of your heart to be able to attend worship services and be with other Christians. I know that God will direct you to a spiritual family where you will not only enjoy the company of other believers while listening to the Word but also for you to serve God with the talents He has given you.
Keep on reading and meditating God’s word to keep you in tune with the Holy Spirit and keep that fire burning. God bless!
Amen, powerful information.
I have a 366 daily devotional reading tablet that keeps me connected to my faith in Christ our Savior. I read it then, I go to my bible app (You Version) and it always keeps me on track. It is so much evil in the world that its temptations will overwhelm you if you lose your faith and focus and love for God and what He does for us.
Keep on spreading inspiration and God Bless You.
Shalom Ronnie,
It’s really a good thing that there are so many apps available to keep us always connected with God, because “Apart from Him (God) we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Although technology is often used in a worldly way, Christians can use it for God’s glory.
Reading God’s word and maintaining daily devotion is very important in keeping the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in our lives.
Thanks for stopping by, God bless you!
Interesting article, I gave my heart to Jesus in 1996, lol it seems so long ago. I’ve had my fair share of battles over the years, but have tried hard to keep my fire brightly lit.
2013 the Holy Spirit said to me while cleaning ‘I’m going to really bless you, I asked why what’s so special about me, the Holy Spirit said ‘because you were always faithful and never denied me during your hard times’.
2017 I now own a massive business. The Lord recently told me it’s going global. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). Many are called few are chosen (Matthew 22:14).
I feel soooo blessed beyond belief.
Hello Sharon,
God is good indeed, and faithful. As He promised, He will bless the work of your hands for as long as you remain faithful to Him and trust in His promises.
We need the fire of the Holy Spirit if we are to succeed not only in our spiritual battles but also in what we want to achieve for ourselves and our loved ones. It’s the Holy Spirit who will guide us, strengthen us, comfort us in our sorrows and reminds us of the faithfulness of God.
Thanks for sharing your testimony on how God has blessed you and your business beyond measure. May you be a blessing also to others. Use your business to reach out to others, be a candle and go light your world.
May the good Lord bless you more, shalom!
The fire of the Holy Spirit wow, what an amazing topic, as our Lord Jesus even needed the Holy Spirit before He started His ministry. Surely the baptism of the Holy Spirit did not end after the Pentecost, as I am a personal witness to that after receiving it with the evidence of speaking in tongue just after salvation at 50 years old. When you receive it you understand it.
The direct link to the Lord and other gifts such as a godly vision right afterward followed. When I was new in the church I saw senior believers who, yes, lost their fire perhaps thru their trials and tribulations, as time went by, It became apparent that many times they had lost their praise, worship, and engagement in the word.
When we approach the Lord daily, following these principles, yes, a lot of praise, surely our purpose will be revealed, to reflect Christ on the broken world.
It was a pleasure to read and comment on this post, as this post is very inspirational and direct as it needs to be.
Jack
Hello brother Jack,
I’m with you in believing that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still operational in churches today, because like you, I also experienced it myself. I have also seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested during crusades where many people got baptized with the Holy Spirit and started prophesying and speaking in tongues.
Sadly, many churches are teaching that these gifts have already ceased.
It is very important to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in our hearts and lives because it’s what keeps us effective witnesses for Christ. We should never quench the Holy Spirit no matter how much trials we are going through.
God bless!