Feed the fire

Feed the fire. Lord be my one desire. Fan the flame, in my heart. Light the spark. Lead me on through the dark, and feed the fire in my heart.

One of the things that I have been learning about allot lately is the importance of feeding the fire, the holy spirit. Doing so serves two very important purposes. The first being that it kills the flesh, a.k.a. the sinful nature. So often have I tried to do battle against my flesh and have failed. I know the scriptures and what they say, but that doesn't seem to be enough. I know in my mind what I need to do, and can talk all about it, but I still fall flat on my face time and time again. I even try to fill my mind with other things to avoid thinking and doing things to please the flesh, but it just doesn't work. I even ask God for strength to fight the flesh, but that doesn't work.

So how can I kill this thing called the flesh? Simple: by feeding the spirit. When I feed the spirit, the flesh is not being fed. So has the spirit grows stronger, the flesh becomes weaker and weaker until it all but goes away.

How do I go about feeding the spirit? Simple: pray. In prayer, the attention and focus shifts to God and away from the self. In prayer, the promises presented in the scriptures are recognized. In prayer, it becomes clear that I cannot do this thing called life on my own, and I am in desperate need of God's grace, mercy, love, guidance, and spirit. In prayer, I recognize my sin for what it is; humbly acknowledging that I cannot repay the sin debt I owe him; humbly acknowledging my need for forgiveness; humbly accepting that my sin has been forgiven and forgotten; and humbly accepting that forgiveness is not something I deserve, but that it is because of God's infinite grace, mercy, and love. Another great way to feed the spirit is to meditate on scripture. Scripture is the living word from the living God. It is the truth. If we want to know how the spirit works, then we need to be in scripture. If we want to know the promises God has for us, we need to be in scripture. If we want to know the truth about who God really is, we need to be in scripture. If we want to grow in the spirit, we need to be in scripture.

Feeding the fire, the holy spirit, serves another very important purpose. It gives us the power to carry out God's will for our lives. One of the things I really struggled with was the uncertainly of knowing whether or not I was doing something with the right motives. I would see what would appear to be an opportunity to reach out to someone for Christ, and sometimes I would act on it, but I never knew if that was just me doing it because it was something I had to do because that's what the bible says to do, or if it was done out of a real love for the person. The truth is, how can I really show love to that person if the father, son, and holy spirit are not present in my life? "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23. One cannot cultivate these fruits by oneself. These fruits only come as a result of the holy spirit at work in one's life. So if I am growing in the spirit, and the spirit is present in my life, then I will bear these fruits. These things will come naturally. I won't do good things because I have to, but because I will naturally want to.

Galatians 5:16-26:

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

Feed the fire. Lord be my one desire. Fan the flame, in my heart. Light the spark. Lead me on through the dark, and feed the fire in my heart.