Fan to flame

We have been talking about being ready for the return of our King Jesus, the return of the Bridegroom to get His Bride, the Church. I have been thinking about the 10 virgins from Matthew 25, well you already know that because we have been talking about them for a few weeks now!

Matthew 25: 6-8 says, “Then suddenly, in the middle of the night, they were awakened by the shout ‘Get up! The bridegroom is here! Come out and have an encounter with him!’  So all the girls got up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish ones were running out of oil, so they said to the five wise ones, ‘Share your oil with us, because our lamps are going out!’”

Last week we looked at how the Holy Spirit is both oil and fire. We also looked at 1 Thessalonians 5:19 which says, “Never restrain or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit.” Another translation says, “Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit.” In Matthew 25, when it speaks of the 5 foolish virgins, it looks like we are looking at people who adopted a lifestyle of restraining the Holy Spirit by being unresponsive to the working and guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is people who are determined to do things their own way and who are not focused on doing things God’s way.

When we live out our lives the way we want to, or in a way that makes us “happy”, we are going to put out the fire in our lamps. Does that mean God does not want us to be happy? No. What I am talking about is when people say, “As long as you are happy.” “You can do what you want, what pleases you, as long as you are happy.” That is nowhere in the Bible.

God wants us to be full of joy and joy is not based on circumstances, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If you live life trying to be “happy” you are going to face a lot of disappointment because happiness is an emotion and emotions are temporary, they come and go. You are happy one minute, frustrated the next. What you need is joy. Joy is long lasting. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Let joy be your continual feast.  Make your life a prayer. And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.”

So instead of focusing on what makes us happy in the moment, we need to turn our eyes to Jesus, pray about our stuff, give thanks in everything and we get to experience joy as a continual feast.

We also need to be in a place where we obey God with what we know now. Sometimes as Christians we like to give excuses for not doing what we know we should be doing and we say things like, “I’m just waiting on God.” No, God has been waiting on you a long time. Bible says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” James 4:8. You make the first move. What is the last thing God asked you to do? Are you doing that thing? Are you being responsive to the working and the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

When I think of the working of the Holy Spirit, I think it is two-fold. Faith comes by hearing so first you hear the word and when you respond to that word you heard, then God gets to do a work in you. For example, when my pastors are preaching, God is speaking to me through their message. It is up to me, however, to receive it. I can quench the working of the Holy Spirit at that point, go home and say, “That word was not for me. Good message though.” We are good at that as Christians. Saying, “Oh I wish so and so was here today to hear this. This word is for them!”

If you believe your pastors are hearing from God, do you think God, the Creator of the world, is incapable of speaking to every single person in the room at the same time? Sure He is, and He does. Sometimes it feels like the whole message is for you but other times it could just be a sentence or a phrase, but God is speaking to you. We have an opportunity to respond to God in that moment and receive that word in our hearts so Holy Spirit can begin to work that word in us.

The second part of the working of the Holy Spirit then happens in our heart as God speaks to us about specific situations, heals different areas, comforts us, confronts us – yes, God confronts us when we are misaligned so we can come back in alignment with His word. It is all through Scripture (also read Hebrews 12:5-13). So, I encourage you, fan to flame the fire of the Holy Spirit in you by living in obedience to the word of God and by being responsive to Holy Spirit’s work and guidance in your life. Everything God does in your life is because He loves you. Does not always feel like it, but it remains a fact. So instead of running from God, run to God. The clock on Jesus’ return is ticking and it is time to get that fire going.   

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.