No one questions that any fire must be started by something or someone. And for those who live a life ablaze for God with the enabling of the Holy Spirit, there was an initial ignition. It starts with God by His Spirit. Jesus gave a compliment of the baptizer of the Jordan, “John was a lamp that burned and gave light” (John 5:35). D. L. Moody was called “a burning bush” because his life was a flame that burned on and never burned out.
If our lives are to be a fire that flames instead of a light that flickers, we must discover the source for maintaining the fire and the sustaining of it continually. This very matter was the concern of William Booth as he challenged people in the Salvation Army to realize “the tendency of fire is to go out.” That is a reminder we all need, both me and you.
Always in Scripture, the flame is an unchallenged symbol of power, light, and warmth. In a person it is the symbol of being used of God because the fire of faith burns bright. Some people are characterized as being ablaze for God. Spurgeon said it is always the need in every age, “We need red-hot, white-hot men, who glow with heat.”
Most of us can name people, and whenever you came near them, you felt a warming of your heart transmitted from their blazing soul. It was evident they had a kind of “shekinah glory,” a unique glow from heaven. It was as if, God had put on them His full approval. It appears that M’Cheyne had that and so did David Brainerd; that’s why we cannot seem to forget them. Brainerd and M’Cheyne lived short lives, but because they were thunderbolts flung from the hand of God, their witness is still alive and lasting. Brainerd prayed often:
“Oh, that I might be a flaming fire
in the service of God.”
In Dundee where M’Cheyne pastored, a simple Scottish woman was asked what she remembered about the brief life that he lived. She said, “He lighted fires in the coldest room.” Study them and you will see that they like all those saintly people seemed to have one thing in common, because of their intimate walk with God the flame of their faith burned bright and radiated as they interacted with other believers. All of them were something of a Christian mystic. They found meditation and spiritual reflection to be their native land. They seemed to be in God’s attention and there was a lingering engagement with the Lord, and the fire burned on from the altar of their lives. This is so true with all of those godly people who were powerful witnesses for the Lord Jesus. One person put it like this, “Heaven seemed to be their tutor and they went to class every day.”
Fire in a car engine produces power to travel and fire in a stove produces heat to cook and fire in a lamp produces light to lighten a room. Today we need all three. Ask the average pastor, “Would you like in your church for there to be more power, more heat, and more light?” and listen to him talk, telling you it would be heaven come down and glory!
The fresh touch of God’s Spirit will make anyone evidently ablaze with God alive in and through them. What a phrase, “ablaze for God.” What comes to your mind hearing that said of someone? You think of a personality saturated with Christ. You think of the hand of God’s anointing on them, and you think of a passion to glorify Christ. You think of a heavenly poise plus a godly authority that rests on them. You think of someone with the seal of God’s approval, so that they are mightily used by Him. Those people with that evidence have become unforgettable.
I am confident God is longing for the piercing heart-cry, “I want that for my life.” It would seem Evan Roberts passionately indicated it as he sobbed and prayed in the Welch language, “Lord, bend me, bend me!” And as a footnote, some close to him thought he was on the verge of a mental breakdown because of his holy desperation! Yet he soon stood before people ablaze with God’s love, His Spirit, and His authority. He had an extra quality, unexplainable but evident; someone called it “a sacred enabling of a very godly man.”
Now, let’s step back and see the big picture. From cover to cover of the Bible God employed the symbol of fire to enable us to picture in our minds how He longs to use us and what He desires to put within us. Until now we have not mentioned that fire purifies and incinerates the undesirable; that is true in our life too! Fire consumes the debris, the filth, the trash—all that is consumed and destroyed in holy flames. We apply it and realize that when the blaze of the Holy Spirit sweeps through someone’s life, it consumes all spiritual apathy, personal animosity, prideful arrogance, annoying adulations, and consumes any spirit of planned ascendency. All of us should desire this fire cleansing for our life. The fire of God searches out the hidden compartment, this done that we might return pure to stand before others with a radiance, authority, and fervency aflame in us for His glory.
Freshly aflame people are challenging to others without speaking harsh words of rebuke or a message of chastisement. They are inspiring to people for they stir faith and fortitude. And it’s from God, a life aflame.
When this fire burned in the heart of Charles Wesley, these hymn verses came flowing out spontaneously:
“There let it for Thy glory burn with inextinguishable blaze, and trembling to its source return in humble prayer and fervent praise. Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire to work, and speak, and think for Thee; still let me guard the holy fire, and still stir up Thy gift in me.”
We started with the words a fire has to be lit, it must be started. But, how for you and me is that possible? John the Baptist tells us, “… someone else is coming, far greater than I am, so great that I am not worthy to carry his shoes! He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11, Living Bible) Baptize with fire!
We see so often that Holy Spirit and fire are together bonded, we could say that God’s Spirit is the spark to set us ablaze. It is the Holy Spirit, He reignites the holy flame in our hearts. We recall how Peter, at Pentecost referred to Joel; the first display of this prophesy came to be visibly expressed with the descent of a holy flame on human tongues. It was a day of His power—the Day of Pentecost.
If Pentecost will never be repeated, like the crucifixion or the resurrection, it is to be perpetuated, that is, the Holy Spirit’s fire should always be found among God’s people unmistakably ablaze in them. The English Methodist evangelist Arthur Skevington Wood helps us to understand, “In one sense Pentecost can never happen again. In another sense, it may always be happening, since we live in the age of the Spirit.”
Without falling into a pit of theology controversy about this important subject, the fiery effect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God’s people is that—an active part of their life is seen as the evidence of the holy flame of the Spirit. They had a passion for fulfilling the full purpose of God for their life, it was a fire that was unquenchable. This will be evident with “grace gifts” which come by the Spirit that enable us to be the person God had in mind for us. These grace gifts are mentioned in several places in the New Testament, for example, Ephesians 4:11. Paul told Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you …” (II Timothy 1:6, NIV) All of us must cooperate with God, we must constantly fan into full flame and then kindle afresh “the gift of God, which is in you.”
Those who knew the Scottish revivalist Duncan Campbell said that even as he aged, the fire never went out. On any occasions when he spoke of the Lord—the fire was there, to his final breath.
Wesley Duewel spoke of the elemental meaning of the word enthusiastic and commented, “When God gets His flaming Spirit into our personalities, He naturally burns within us with holy dynamic … Fire attracts. Fire motivates. Fire kindles fire; it is the nature of fire to set ablaze.” We become enthusiastic for the things of God.
The priests in the temple were told to never let the fire go out. That is, they must constantly stoke up and maintain it; all of us should see this as God’s desire for each of us. (read Leviticus 9:24 and II Chronicles 7:1) And let’s add a brief but vital word. Originally the fire had been sent by God from heaven—so it was God’s fire. The point being, God sent the fire, but God’s people were to keep it ablaze. This seems to be so important, God tells them five times—yes, five times—not to let the fire go out! That’s His word to us, each of us must understand our obligation.
God is the God of the second birth and the second chance! So, it can be said with confidence that anyone whose life has been a faint flickering flame that appeared at times to be almost extinguished can be brought back in a roaring fire again. This renewal is a new beginning from the presence of the Lord. Going back to basics, let us call to our minds that God made us to be, spiritually combustible; that is, we are made of flammable material. The Spirit of God is waiting to set us ablaze again. The holy flame can burn bright; invite God’s Spirit to do just that for you, even now!
At one time when people used fireplaces for warmth, at the side were bellows. These bellows were made of wood with handles and leather. These bellows could be used to “fan into flame” (again Paul’s words from II Timothy 1:6). The smoldering ashes were caused to flame up as they were blown upon. For this to happen in us, it involves a heart searching and a committed request for His Spirit to do this wonderful work for us. God has provided His Spirit to come and take the flickering flame which has died out and cause it to blaze up and give evidence that His holy fire is again alive in us. Let that fire burn on and on!
On the altar of our hearts may the blaze rise high! Let’s all pray that prayer with deep, holy passion. May we keep the fire ablaze.
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