Hearts on Fire

A.W. Tozer said this, “Any Christian who desires to, may experience a radical spiritual revival, and this can be altogether independent of the attitude of his fellow Christians.”

Too many Christians are looking to others for revival, renewal or refreshment. But when your own heart is on fire no one else’s attitude (or view) will matter. In fact you’ll probably find that many people will be drawn to you. There is nothing more attractive than a Christian who’s on fire for God!

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour (passion), serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). "Being on fire" is an expression used to describe a ‘sold out’, committed believer. These verses tell us how we ought to be. The underlying Greek word for “fervent” means, “to be hot.” It’s used to describe the preaching of Apollos in Acts 18:25 who “spoke with great passion.”

One of the greatest challenges in your spiritual life is to “keep your spiritual zeal.” Most of us will find a tendency to wane so we need to regularly heed Paul’s words to Timothy, “This is why I must remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you.” (2 Timothy 1:6). We also need to heed that short word of warning expressed in the second verse of scripture and “not put out the Spirit’s fire.”

Many of you are familiar with the way the King James Version words this phrase, “Quench not the Spirit.” The word for “quench” literally means “extinguish” and although I am thankful for fire extinguishers, as well as the quenching affect of lots of water after eating a hot curry, I’m very mindful that I do not extinguish the Holy Spirit’s fire!

2 Chronicles 15:12 “They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul.” There is a book out by Becky Tirabassi called “A Burning Heart Contract.” Becky says, “…In this contract you are saying, ‘Lord, You are worthy of my total devotion and I will live a life that honours You and displays Your faithfulness for others to see. I commit to this adventure with You for the rest of my life.’ It reflects a life that is driven, compelled, and consumed with being available and usable for God’s work.” The greatest motivation of those with burning hearts is to glorify God and to be completely usable by Him. But for many, being ‘used of God’ feels a bit out of reach. So the first thing you must do is commit. 1 Peter 4:19 says that whenever you are struggling, you should commit yourself to your “faithful Creator and continue to do good.” I am convinced that this is a good start.

Then, we should all ‘enter into a contract’ to seek the Lord with great fervour – passion! The big question now is, “How do I ignite my passion?” Well, here are twelve suggestions that anyone of you can follow, and which; I am convinced will result in a greatly improved spiritual life. So are you ready to set your heart on fire?

1. Get thoroughly dissatisfied with where you are spiritually. Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is a stagnant soul. When speaking of earthly goods, Paul could say, “ I have learned … to be content” (Philippians 4:11); but when referring to his spiritual life, he testified, “I press toward the mark” (Philippians 3:14). Stir up - fan into flames – the spiritual gift of God that is in you.

2. Set your face like a flint toward significant change – a sweeping transformation of your life. Timid or half-hearted experimenters are tagged for failure before they start. You must throw your whole soul into your desire for God. And you need to become antagonistic toward your enemy the devil. The Kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). Passion can produce violence (the Book of Acts illustrates this), so direct your passion where it can be most effective.

3. Put yourself in the way of the blessing. When God is on the move, you must be on the move also. It is a mistake to look for grace to visit you as a kind of benign magic, or to expect God’s help to come as a windfall apart from conditions known and met. A life of faith is a life of great expectancy and bold determination. There are plainly marked paths that lead straight to the green pastures and prosperity; so seek them out and learn to walk in them. To desire revival, for instance, and at the same time to neglect prayer, devotion and worship is to wish one way and walk another.

4. Do a thorough job of repenting. Do not hurry to get it over with. Hasty repentance means a shallow spiritual experience and a lack of certainty down the road. Let godly sorrow do her healing work. Because, until you allow the consciousness of sin to wound you, you will never develop a fear of evil. It is your disgraceful habit of tolerating sin that keeps you in your apathetic condition.

5. Make restitution wherever possible. This is about integrity. If you owe a debt, pay it, or at least have a candid understanding with your creditor about your intentions to pay, so that your honesty will be above question. If you have quarrelled with anyone, go as far as you can in an effort to achieve reconciliation. As fully and often as possible make the crooked things straight. Remembering always that God is merciful to those who have shown mercy.

6. Bring your life into line with God’s infallible word. The Sermon on the Mount and such other New Testament Scriptures are designed to instruct you in the way of righteousness. An honest man with an open Bible and a pad and pencil is sure to find out what is wrong with him very quickly. I recommend that the self-examination be made in prayer, rising to obey God’s commandments as they are revealed to you from the Word. There is nothing romantic or colourful about this plain downright way of dealing with yourself, but it gets the job done. Isaac’s workmen did not look like heroic figures as they dug in the valley, but they got the wells open, and that was exactly what they had set out to do.

7. Become serious-minded. You can probably well afford to see fewer shows on TV. Unless you can break away from this habit, every spiritual impression will continue to be lost to your heart, and that happens right in your own living room. Many of you used to go to the movies to escape serious thinking about life, God and religion. Now you can participate in this form of escape in your own home.

The devils ideals, moral standards, and mental attitudes are being accepted by you without you knowing it. And then you wonder why you can make no progress in your spiritual life. This interior climate is not favourable to the growth of spiritual graces. There must be a radical change in your habits or there will not be any permanent improvement in your interior life. A heart on fire is about what is going on inside of you!

8. Deliberately narrow your interests. The Jack-of-all-trades is the master of none. Being a follower of Christ requires that you be specialist. Too many aimless or misdirected activities use up time and energy without bringing you nearer to God. If you will narrow your interests, God will enlarge your heart. “Jesus only” is the way into a life infinitely wider and richer than anything you have ever known before. Christ is the essence of all wisdom, beauty and virtue. To know Him in growing intimacy is to increase in appreciation of all things good and beautiful. The mansions of the heart will become larger when their doors are thrown open to Christ and closed against the world system. Try it!

9.  Begin to serve. Find something you can do for God and your fellow man. Make yourself available to your church leadership and do anything you are asked to do. Do not insist upon a place of leadership or profile. Just learn to obey. Take the low place until such time as God sees fit to set you in a higher one. He will promote you when you are ready! Back your good intentions with your money and your gifts - according to what you have and what’s in your heart.

10. Overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6,7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” When your heart overflows with thankfulness toward God it’s fire will keep burning bright. What’s more, a thankful heart is a heart that’s open to receive inspiration from God’s Spirit.

11. Be different. You can never truly be on fire when marching to someone else’s drumbeat. So if you want to get ablaze for God, Be Different! I was reading about ‘ermine’. Ermine are animals that are covered with beautiful, snow white fur and they are prized for the coats they wear. When hunters go after these ermine, they will find their dens and put filth and mud all around the opening. When the hunters turn their dogs on the ermine, the animals will run for their dens, but when they find the dirt and filth, they will refuse to enter and as a consequence, they are more easily caught.

These animals are different because they refuse to get dirty. God's people need that same level of commitment (in their walk with God). Find out your ‘uniqueness’ in Christ and then never compromise - not matter how much the devil may try to intimidate you!

12. Have faith in God. Begin to expect great things! Look up toward the throne where your Advocate sits at the right hand of God. All heaven is on your side. God will not disappoint you! Matthew 11:20-24, “The next morning as they passed by the fig tree He had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree You cursed has withered and died!” Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”