Keep fanning the fire – Saturday,  24 February

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.”
John 14:16 (NKJV)

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…”
1 John 2:27 (NKJV)

In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit came on certain people for express purposes at specific times, and then He would leave. But in the New Covenant (which we are now in) the Holy Spirit doesn’t come and go – He “abides forever”. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). This means that the power, anointing, gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit are always present in you and available to you. But they will not automatically flow in your life – you determine their flow.

“For the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets [the prophecy is under the speaker’s control, and he can stop speaking]”
1 Corinthians 14:32 (AMP)

The power, anointing, gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit are subject to you. You experience their flow in proportion to the degree that you allow them.

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
2 Timothy 1:6 (NKJV)

If you don’t stir up the Spirit and His gifts in you, then they won’t be stirred up. If you don’t stir yourself up, you’ll settle to the bottom! The phrase “stir up” shows that it’s a continual exercise. You don’t go to the gym once a month, or once a year and experience results. Likewise, if you want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit and reign in this life, you need be active in stirring up the Holy Spirit and His gifts.  God won’t take away the gifts of the Spirit from you (Romans 11:29), but through neglect, they can become inactive.

“Don’t be drunk with wine, which will ruin your life, but be filled with the Spirit.”
Ephesians 5:18 (ERV)

This is a command, not a suggestion. We’re instructed to be filled with the Holy Spirit because it is a vital part of living the lives God destined for us and fulfilling our callings. “But be filled” is in the present tense, making it a command of continual action. There is the initial moment when you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then you’ve got it! But if we neglect to stir Him up we will grow cold. We need to continually fuel our lives by stirring up the power of the Spirit in us and allowing Him to overflow in our lives.

“That is why I remind you to fan into flame the gracious gift of God, [that inner fire—the special endowment] which is in you through the laying on of my hands…”
2 Timothy 1:6 (AMP)

Picture a fire with a few embers. Unless you fan them (blow on them a little) they will grow cold and the fire will die. We need to arouse and fan the fire of the Holy Spirit in us. God gives the fire but we need to tend to it. We don’t create the fire but we stir Him up!

“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Acts 4:31 (NKJV)

These were believers who had already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were praying for God to give them boldness to speak the Word and they were asking for God to work through them in performing miracles as they ministered. They were stirring up the Spirit in them. They experienced something tangible. And the result was that they ministered with boldness and we see them moving in the supernatural (healing people, standing strong under persecution and changing the world).