Set Me on Fire for you Jesus! Has Your Faith in God Stagnated? God’s Word Promises Restoration
Don’t be discouraged if your faith has stagnated, God can send the fire of the Holy Spirit upon you again. He did it before, He can do it again.
Many Christians who were once on fire for God feel their faith has stagnated. Some once had faith to believe they would go into the world and change it. Sadly, many years on, it was the world which changed them.
Take courage, God’s word promises restoration. In the time of the Prophet Joel people lived through an economic crisis. Locusts destroyed the harvest. God’s response was this: “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust and the chewing locust’ (Joel 2:25).
When we examine the reasons for spiritual stagnation, we can learn how to avoid it repeating. The primary reason is we do not obey the Lord and this takes place when we fail to surrender. God asks us to surrender to His goodness and His plan. It’s a beautiful surrender, but as God removes the old empty life, it can feel painful.
The Christian life is not a democracy. We don’t get to ‘vote in’ parts of the Bible we enjoy and ‘vote out’ parts of the Bible which cost. If we are to be filled with God, we need to empty ourselves of everything within which resists the purposes of God. We do this by exquisite surrender to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:19).
Think positively about surrendering to God. You’re giving up the old failed ways and being filled with all of God’s goodness and His plans. His thoughts towards us are to provide peace, a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
All who want to be on fire for God should come back to the Lord in humility, in prayer and repentance and say, “Set me on fire again Lord! I want to obey. I surrender all. Please live Your life through me.”
Before we pray such a powerful prayer, we must first count the cost (Luke 14:25-34). If we want to be used by God, we need to obey Him unconditionally. Laying down one’s life on the spiritual altar is what all the distinguished men and women of God in history have done. Moses did not have a vote on what God was asking him to do. He obeyed. Moses could have lived a boring unnoticed life; instead, he chose to surrender and miracles followed, and we all know his name.
Will you do the same? The Lord loves you enough to fill you with His Spirit and reveal His good, pleasing and perfect will to you (Romans 12:1-2).
Unconditional obedience to Christ is coupled to limitless possibilities. If God will live His life through us, He will need us to obey Him at all times. Paul explained this experience as the crucified life and stated, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Paul gave up his life, his desires and his choices. He laid down all his hopes and dreams, so God could live His life through him. When Paul was born again Jesus told him, “Arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:6). He surrendered all and obeyed unconditionally, and he changed the world with God. Will you do the same? Who knows how God will shake the world through you if you do.
