"Don't put out the Spirit's fire..." 1Thessalonians 5:19
This is a very short, specific, and targeted encouragement from Paul. Can you receive this teaching today? If not, you may already be quenching the Spirit and the fire that is within you from the point of salvation.
When we accept Christ as Savior, and confess that we are powerless over our sins, and need a Savior to deliver us from our own selves; at that very moment a fire is installed within us. A fire that wants more of Him; a fire that is hungry for the Word of God; a fire that is willing to share our faith, and a fire that believes that the salvation we have just received is the most important thing of all. Do you still burn with a fire that drives you to know Him more? If not, you could very well be in the process of putting out your own God-given fire. That would be so tragic. We all need to be rekindled from time to time. To have that fire stoked in our hearts, to have the embers stirred, and a fresh breath from the Holy Spirit blown across our spirits in order to fan the flames of our original flame. How easy it is to allow the issues of life to quench our fire. How easy to let the last hot coals of our newfound faith smolder and go out. We need fresh wind and fresh fire in our lives. We need something to put us back in touch with the burning desire to tell the whole world about Jesus and how He has changed our lives.
Paul is encouraging believers here not to put out that passionate fire of our faith. The world already tries to quench us; the enemy tries to quench us. We should not put out our own fire. But we do. We do it by allowing the enemy to discourage us. We do it by spending too much time in the world and around the people of the world. We do it by not allowing the Spirit to feed our fire. You were saved 'on fire' for the Lord. What happened? Troubles, worries, temptations, strife, or whatever other issue that has beset you? Use God's Word to rekindle that burning ember of hope inside you. Let the Spirit blow on the embers of your faith, and reignite your faith, and zeal. We should all be encourages by these simple words... Don't put out the Spirit's fire; instead feed it with fellowship, truth and witness. Feed it with the Word, and with Christian Music, and worship, and the things of the Lord.
Let us each and all help and encourage each other to keep our fires burning. Let us rekindle that passionate flame of early zeal in each other. How uplifting this could be if we fed one another's fires and fed our own fires too. I look forward to seeing His flame in you too.
On Fire for Him
Pastor Fred
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Interesting timing as always. I've recently been working on rekindling my own fire for the Lord. I started going through some "quenching" things back in June, and have since been fighting my way back into the fullness of God's presence. It's amazing to me how we even let ourselves be quenched when, by only a few scriptures at a time, we can be passionately swept back up into the arms of God. He is so patient with us, and for that I'm immeasurably grateful. I had a moment not long ago when I was so caught up in Him during one of our times together that I cried in disbelief over ever having allowed that feeling to be quenched. How do we even do that when we know how amazing it feels to be close to Him and on fire for His name?! I was literally astounded by my ability to “forget” at the world’s first tug on my weaknesses. Thank You, Father, for always knowing how to re-capture my heart and attention, and thank you, Pastor Fred, for the reminder to regularly rekindle. I’m feeling feisty and on fire already!
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