Fruitful Living
Igniting the Pentecost fire: Nine ways to light the spiritual fire in your life
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Acts 2: 1-3
INTRODUCTION
“Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn”. – John Wesley
This Sunday, 28th May, 2023, is Pentecost Sunday and I would like to invite us to allow the Holy Spirit to put us on fire. Recently I have been thinking about what the Apostle Paul meant when He talked about being fervent in spirit in Romans 12:11(NKJV): ‘Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;’ The Greek word for fervent is “zeo” which means to boil with heat.
This means that we have a mandate to keep our fire for the Lord hot no matter what the spiritual climate is around us. I am sure that all of us can remember the very pointed quote about being hot or cold in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 3:15-16 – “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”
None of us want to be distasteful to the Lord. None of us want to make Him sick. None of us want to be viewed as tasting like lukewarm soft drink that has lost its fizz. So what do we do to keep the flames of fire burning in our spirit? Here are nine ways that will help you keep those revival fires burning.
NINE WAYS TO LIGHT THE FIRE
OF THE LORD IN YOUR SPIRIT
1. Feed the Flames with the Word of God
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What I am talking about is not dutifully doing our daily devotion with sleep filled eyes every morning. It is not about hungrily searching the scriptures for the voice of the Lord within their pages.
Just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who had their hearts set ablaze when the scriptures were explained to them by Jesus – Luke 24:32 we need to dig into the scriptures and allow the Lord to start explaining the scriptures to us just as He did to them.
2. Stoke the Furnace with Prayer
There are three things we need to have a blazing fire, fuel, oxygen and heat. Prayer is the oxygen we use to stoke the flames high. Spending time in prayer is spending time in the presence of God and the presence of God is the air that our souls need to be on fire. Oswald Chambers puts it bluntly: “Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian; not the thing that makes Him alive, but the evidence that He is alive.” When we pray, we are breathing. We are taking in the vital element that gives life to our soul.
3. Worship the Lord with Extravagance
One of the things that keeps fire small is containment. We cannot have a big fire in a small metal box. The way to break these walls of containment is to worship the Lord with extravagance. Let us go beyond our comfort zone. Let us offer up sacrifices of praise with our lips in greater degrees than we are comfortable with. Let us make praise and worship a true sacrifice of ourselves conscious and self inhibitions.
Let us firmly decide that we will praise God in a more vocal, uninhibited way this year than we have ever done. If we need help praising God, let us play a recording by a favourite Christian artist and sing along. Let us challenge ourselves to learn how to raise our hands, bow our knees in worship, and even fall flat on our faces. These things will break down any walls of containment where we are keeping the fire in a small metal box.
4. Allow the Holy Spirit to Move
The Apostle Paul gives us a very pointed exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 – “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit”. Is there anything in your life that is hindering the Spirit’s work? Are you resisting doing something or giving up something that you know the Spirit is tapping you on the shoulder about? Do you have mindsets or mentalities that are contrary to allowing the Holy Spirit to move? Some of the greatest breakthroughs I have had in my life have been when I stopped telling the Holy Spirit how He can operate.
I am very good at setting up preconditions that the Holy Spirit has to fulfill before I believe that it is Him. I may be good at setting preconditions up, but I have found that the Holy Spirit will not know kowtow to my whims. Those preconditions were stifling the Holy Spirit and I learned quickly to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in my life.
5. Do a Spring Cleaning Of Our Heart
The Bible says that in the last days the love of many will grow cold – Matthew 24:12. Many times this is caused by unforgiveness and bitterness taking hold and growing in our heart rather than love.
Let us take time to do a spring cleaning of our heart; let go of any unforgiveness we may hold towards someone and remove any roots of bitterness that might have sprung up. Let us forgive one another as in Christ God has forgiven us – Ephesians 4:32 and Colossians 3:13. Nothing puts out the flame of God’s love faster than bitterness. Do not let us allow unforgiveness to freeze our soul. Let us guard our heart and deal with offences quickly.
6. Bring Your Flame Closer To Other Flames
Those of us who have been Boy Scouts can remember having a raging fire at night during camping. Many times in the morning there will still be some embers from the fire wood and if we need to build a new fire, the first thing we would do is gather all the smoldering firewood or charcoal together.
This is why we should never live the Christian life in seclusion. God has called us to be in community. But let us make sure we are in a church that is on fire for God – because a dead church could put out what is left of our fire. If our church compromises God’s Word or ignores the Great Commission, we should find a new church home.
7. Start Making Your Fire Useful
Spiritual passion is ignited when it is being used to serve others. Start using the gifts and talents that God has given us to help others.
Every believer in Jesus has been given gifts and talents and we are no exception. We must face our fears and stretch our faith as we begin to step out, but soon we will find there is no greater joy than being an instrument of the Holy Spirit to bless people. When we become obedient to stop burying our gifts and talents and start investing them into the lives of others, then we will be given even more to give as we read in Matthew 25:14
8. Find a Personal Firebrand
Everyone has to learn how to make fire. We do not normally discover it naturally. We need spiritual fathers and mothers to teach us how to light our spiritual fires.
Let us sometimes ask these firebrands to lay hands on us and pray. We can also make appointments with them so we can glean from their wisdom and experience.
It is certain that when Elisha saw Elijah go to heaven in a fiery chariot, he was affected by the heat, so let us also get as close as possible to those who are burning for God, and we will be ignited.
9. Spread the Flame
The biggest thing we can each do is to raise our spiritual temperature and light the fire of God in our life is to spread our flame. There is nothing more exciting I can say than leading a person to faith in Christ. I guarantee if we step out of our timidity and share the gospel with a neighbour, a co-worker, or a stranger on the bus, our spiritual temperature will instantly rise to 30 degrees – and we will want to share with someone else.
Just as John Wesley said that if you light yourself on fire that men will come from miles to watch you burn. Part of that is spreading the flame of the spectators. Let’s challenge ourselves this year to speak of our faith, share our testimony, and pray with people who need the reality of Jesus Christ in their life.
Culled from: ViralBeliever.com
Stay blessed!
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By Dr Joyce Aryee, the author
Wonderful counsellor
This coming king – Jesus, is exceptional because He is the Son of God and Son of man. He gives the right advice because He is intimately acquainted with the counsels of God from eternity. In fact John, one of His apostles describes Him as ‘one who was with God in the beginning’ – John 1:1-2. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God He was with God in the beginning.”(NIV) This Wonderful Counselloris the wisdom of God our Father who has made Him our wisdom. We can rely on Him for wisdom to handle our everyday situations and solve seemingly intractable problems. He is our wisdom because He enables us to move beyond our selfishness, greed, unholiness and self-will and submit to God’s direction without feeling that our peers would consider us foolish.
Mighty God
The coming King is a Divine Warrior because He has supernatural skill and strength in battle. Because He is God Himself, Jesus is able to fight and overcome every scheme of the devil concerning the lives of His redeemed. But even more, His divine skills in battle are transferred to us through the armour He has provided us which include the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness the gospel of peace; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit as we read in Ephesians 6:13-17. “Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. – (NIV) Through God’s might we are able to overcome one of our greatest enemies – the SELF; the I in us which insists on having its own way even if that way is against God and humanity. The might of God, given us through the coming King, Jesus Christ, gives us power to resist the world’s seductive attractions.
Everlasting Father
This coming King is timeless; He is God our Father or better put Father for ever, meaning that the King will look after His people as a father looks after His children. Jesus’ own promise to the disciples (and to us) is that no one can snatch us from His hands because we have been given to Him by His Father, God: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I am the Father are one”- John 10:27-30 (NIV).
Prince of peace
As a King, He preserves commands and creates peace in His Kingdom. He Himself is Peace and, therefore, brings prosperity and well-being to His people. He does this by governing with justice, righteousness and equity. In Isaiah 11:1-9 gives further detail about what constitutes the rule of the Prince of Peace as follows:
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from the roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with his eyes or decide by what He hears with His ears, but with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist. The wolf will be with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, and their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child put his hand into the vipers nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” – (NIV)
Getting ready for the King
During this period until soon after Christmas, we should all be meditating on the message of Christmas. It is the message of God coming down to our level so that we will be raised to His level. It is a message of salvation from sin, the breaking of the bonds of slavery to Satan. It is a message of God lovingly binding broken hearts and healing diseases. But most of all, it is a message of restoration – God restoring us to the original relationship He created us to have with Him.
By Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee
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Emotional intelligence, as described by Mayer and Salovey (1997), is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions wisely. In leadership, it enables calm decision-making, empathy, and resilience.
A teacher, imam, or entrepreneur with high emotional intelligence inspires trust and cooperation, even in adversity. Spiritual intelligence, defined by Emmons (2000) and King (2008), is the ability to apply spiritual values to daily life — to find purpose, act with compassion, and remain morally anchored in challenging situations. It helps young men connect personal ambition with divine accountability.
Together, emotional and spiritual intelligence cultivate ethical leadership — the kind that prioritises service over status, integrity over image, and community welfare over personal gain.
Such leadership is what Ghana, and the world, needs: men who lead with conscience, competence, and compassion — embodying responsibility in every sphere of life.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth.” For Ghanaian youth, education must therefore include mentorship, entrepreneurship, and service.
A responsible man takes charge of his learning, his career, and his growth. He invests in his future with diligence, honesty, and a commitment to contribute positively to his society.
4. Responsibility in marriage and family life
Family is the bedrock of any society. Strong nations are built on strong families — and strong families depend on responsible men. The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
“The best of you are those who are best to their wives.” (Tirmidhi, Hadith 1162).
In Islam, leadership in the home is not domination; it is service. The husband is a caretaker (qawwam), entrusted to love, protect, and guide with mercy. Responsibility in marriage means emotional intelligence, financial prudence, and spiritual leadership.
Sociologist Anthony Giddens (2013) in Sociology notes that modern family life requires emotional participation, not just financial provision. Men must be present not only as breadwinners but as role models, listeners, and teachers.
In today’s Ghana, we see families crumbling due to absentee fatherhood, domestic violence, and lack of communication. True masculinity is not measured by authority, but by empathy and responsibility. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم demonstrated this balance helping with housework, caring for his family, and treating all with gentleness.
When men lead with compassion and discipline, families thrive and when families thrive, nations prosper.
By Imam Alhaji Saeed Abdulai
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