Fire in Your Bones:
Faith that Produces a Flame
By E. Glenn Wagner
God taught the prophets of Baal an unforgettable lesson through his prophet Elijah. Unless God strikes the match, it doesn't matter how much time you spend preparing the wood.
Yet many Christ followers, desiring to increase their impact, resort to improving the mechanics, or developing and expanding their skill sets and competencies. The rationale is, "If I do a better job executing the task, then I will be more effective, and God will do greater things through me."
You can't start a fire without a spark, and we need more than a momentary burst of flame from a mountaintop experience to see ongoing miracles from God. We also had better be able to distinguish between the fake fireplace of exuberance and enthusiasm and the true fire of God.
Before you get angry, shout me down and declare me a heretic, give me a minute to clarify. I certainly believe in teaching, equipping and training, and that God uses peak experiences to get things jump started. But I also know that no one spends their entire life at the summit.
Even if you have a Ph.D., it can never be a substitute for Sc.D. (Simple Childlike Dependence). As the Bible says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths" 1
Why should this surprise us? Isn't this exactly what happened in the Gospels and Acts? Isn't this what took place in John 9 with the man born blind? This man had nothing to depend upon except for the fact he was touched by the Son of God.
Let me say this again, so no one misunderstands. I am all for training and equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. I believe in, and have devoted my life to, this mission. But I'm not about simply filling people's heads with principles and practices that often move their dependency from God to techniques. Rather, I am committed to helping them see, know and live the truth, empowered by the Spirit of God, so their witness is filled with the very fire from on high - because He is the one who has chosen to do His work through us as we depend upon Him.
A practical habit I developed years ago, at the suggestion of a pastoral mentor, was to pray through every line of my sermon before I preached it. Notice I
didn't say rehearse every line; I said pray through every line. I have done this for as long as I can remember, and I consider it one of the most important components of my preparation process.
Another thing I often do before I enter the pulpit is kneel in prayer with others, to posture my inner attitude. Positioning the body in such a humble manner has a way of ordering our inner man. It's nothing more (but also nothing less) than showing God and others how we are feeling inside.
The point is, we need to go beyond just saying we are dependent on the Lord in our preaching, living and speaking. We need to incorporate actions that
demonstrate this. Pray, "Lord, I recognize that nothing eternal can happen unless I am dependent upon You. I desperately need You to live, lead and speak through me today." You'll be amazed what God will do!
Just consider the writings of the early saints, as well as many of God's choice servants in our own day; you'll quickly understand how they longed to experience
"The Presence" of Jesus in their life-ministry.
This longing is more than just a penchant for the mystical. It was and is a clear knowledge that living and speaking with faith and fervency is essentially an encounter with the living Lord Jesus. And although Christ is present everywhere and at all times, there are moments, seasons and places where He chooses to
manifest Himself in an extraordinary way.
Many church fathers experienced this special presence. So did men such as Robert Murray McCheynne (and many other Scottish divines), Evan Roberts, A.W. Tozer, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Jonathan Edwards. Richard Baxter, Martin Bucer, George Whitefield, John Wesley, C.H. Spurgeon and D.L. Moody. These stalwarts of faith testify of encountering Jesus, especially through preaching, in such a way that hearts were melted, spiritual victories gained, repentance and salvation given, and a prevailing sense of love and affection for Jesus Himself embraced.
God used the ministry of Evan Roberts, an ordinary, uneducated coal miner in
The New Testament, and specifically the book of Acts, is the record of the Spirit's formation and influence on the early church. If we are going to see lasting change in our lives and those we come in contact with, it will be due to the work of the Spirit's anointing.
How does this anointing occur on a practical level? Although I can tell you some ways (forms) I have practiced to get down under God, it would be wrong for me to comment, "Here's how you do it, because this is where I went, what I read and how I prayed."
Why would this be a mistake? Because although there are "functions" that remain the same (by this I mean that God desires to fill and empower us), the forms used vary from time to time and from person to person:
- For some, it's prayer and fasting; for others, prayer and feasting.
- For one, it's solitude, while for another, it's getting together with Christ followers to worship and seek His face.
- For some, it's listening to worship music and for others, it is the reading of great hymns written throughout the history of the church.
- For one, it's the meditation and reading of scripture, while another quietly waits for God to speak.
One way I practically demonstrate my yearning and desire for the Spirit's anointing is through a group of men in each church I have pastored who would
gather to pray with me before each service.
Congregations also experience the anointing of the Spirit, Who must energize and open people's hearts if they are to receive the blessing of the preached
Word. Believers in the pew are as needy of the Spirit's touch as the pastor. Without it, our congregation is merely an audience, rather than a flock of hungry
souls.
The thing both pastors and congregations have in common is that we must seek the Spirit's ministry among us. God desires to be sought and pursued. Think
of some of the Bible passages that direct us to seek Him:
- "But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him and seek Him with all your heart and all your soul."3
- "How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart."4
- "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him."5
We cannot earn or deserve the Spirit's energizing, but we can long for it - and by doing so bring pleasure to Him and open our lives to His awesome presence and power. I use the term "get down under God," and one practical way I accomplish this is to physically get down. I lay prostrate, just Jesus and me, reminding myself and acknowledging that without Him I can do nothing.
E. Glenn Wagner is a best-selling author and the founder and president of FutureLead (www.futurelead.org), an organization committed to equipping people to live and lead with purpose and passion. He has served as a pastor and was on the founding board of Promise Keepers and served as Vice President. He has authored numerous books including, God: An Honest Conversation for the Undecided (Waterbrook Press) and his latest book, Fire In Your Bones (
NOTES
1Proverbs 3:5-6.
2 For details on the Welsh revival and many other revival movements, visit: www.revival-library.org.
3Deuteronomy
4Psalm 119:2.
5 Hebrews 11:6,
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