Lord, Let the Fire Fall!

It’s summer, which means people everywhere are breaking out their backyard grills and roasting marshmallows over campfires. For thousands of years, people have gathered around fire to sing or tell stories. And while there’s warmth and comfort in a fire, there’s also power.

Power to cleanse. Power to seal. Power to transform. 

That’s the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Over and over throughout Scripture, God uses fire to signify His holy Presence. Moses spoke with God in a burning bush. The Israelites followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Elijah stood against the prophets of Baal to prove the power of the one true God, and fire fell.

When John the Baptist preached along the Jordan River, he spoke of One who would follow him, baptizing “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). At Pentecost, believers stared in wonder as it happened, tongues of fire flickering above their heads.

The Holy Spirit burns like fire in your soul.

The genius of the Christian life is that to walk by faith, you don’t have to put in more and more effort. You simply surrender to the burning power of the Holy Spirit. 

Because fire is all consuming, and when you allow Him to, the Holy Spirit will burn away all that is unholy in your life –your sin, your fears, your scars, and pain – until only that which looks like Him remains. Until you are renewed, as Titus 3:5–6 says…

So how do you kindle that fire? You stoke sparks into blazes through Bible study, prayer, self-examination, witness, and quiet times. You say, “Lord, I’m ready. Let the fire fall!”

And He will – through the cleansing of your mind and by transforming your heart and sealing your spirit until the Day of Redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

Friend, won’t you ask the Holy Spirit for His fire to fall on you today?