In the Charismatic/Pentecostal circles that I often spend most of my time in, there is a popular phrase that many like to use in prayer – “Send the fire, God!” I’m not against this prayer. In fact, I pray it often! However, I do believe there is a problem with the mindset that generally accompanies such a prayer. The problem is, He already sent the fire.
So often we ask God to send us another encounter, another prophetic word, another revival, etc. The truth of the matter is that we have rarely stewarded the thing that He sent last time. We cannot continue to ask God to send fire into our lives if we are not willing to arrange our lives in a way that will tend to the flame that He sends.
This is an Old Testament principle that the priests understood very well. Once the temple was built and the altar was prepared, God supernaturally sent fire to consume the sacrifice (Leviticus 6-9). However, once the fire was there, it was the duty of the priest to make sure that the fire never went out (Leviticus 6:13).
A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out. – Leviticus 6:13
In our context, we stand as spiritual priests before God, stewarding the very altar on our hearts, with our lives being a living sacrifice. We must arrange our lives in such a way that the flame of personal devotion does not go out. We must learn to steward the flame of God on our lives.
I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with asking God for more. Ask and keep on asking, but don’t ask for something new when you haven’t done anything with what He has already given you. I want to be faithful over the little things…
Join me in praying this morning that Holy Spirit would help us to steward a life of personal devotion, so that the fire on the altar of our hearts would be kept burning and never go out. While we should always hunger for more, let us not neglect what God is already doing in us.
One Thing 