The Holy Spirit
Fan into Flame
John Wesley once prayed, “Oh, Lord, send us the old revival, without the defects; but if this cannot be, send it—with all its defects. We must have revival.”
Many individuals and communities, out of fear of excess, have safely placed the Holy Spirit into a neat theological box, keeping Him as merely a doctrine to be held rather than a person to be encountered. However, the Spirit was never meant to be domesticated. He is the very breath of God, the One who hovered over creation, empowered the early Church, and continues to breathe life into believers today.
We understand the Father through fatherhood and the Son through His incarnation. But the Spirit can be harder to grasp. He is described in the Scriptures as wind, fire, water, oil, and a dove. And when we cannot understand something, our human instinct is often to reject it or fear it.
Not everything that people claim to be the Spirit is actually the Holy Spirit. Scripture warns us not to believe every spirit but to test them (1 John 4:1). The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Scriptures, because He is their Author. As RT Kendall reminds us, “The Bible is the Holy Spirit’s greatest product. You will have the Holy Spirit’s anointing to the degree that you honor what the Holy Spirit wrote.”
As we grow in our understanding of what the Scriptures teach about the Spirit, our experience of the Spirit will grow. When it comes to experiencing the Spirit, Craig Keener gives us a wise word:
“If we must ‘feel’ God’s presence before we believe he is with us, we again reduce God to our ability to grasp him, making him an idol instead of acknowledging him as God. I find that I often do feel an overwhelming sense of God’s majesty and love and character now, but usually (in my better moments) I neither seek it nor use it to gauge my relationship with him… Feelings should follow faith; God himself, rather than feelings, should be the object of our seeking.”
Throughout Scripture and church history, when God begins to move on individuals and communities, supernatural things occur. Tears, travail, joy, trembling, healing, prophecy, boldness, peace, and miracles are all part of His activity. Yet the absence of these manifestations does not mean the Spirit is not moving. The life of Elijah shows us that God can be in the fire and also in whisper.
In this article, as we explore what the Scriptures reveal about the Holy Spirit, come with open hands and open hearts. Don’t let me convince you. Let the Scriptures convince you.
When I was first confronted with the activity of the Holy Spirit, I had to go to the Scriptures for myself. As I studied, RT Kendall’s quote proved true in my life. As my understanding of the Spirit deepened, my experience of His presence and power also grew.
William Booth once said that when it comes to the Spirit, we have three options: quench Him, grieve Him, or fan Him into flame. Let’s fan Him into flame.
The Promise of the Helper
In John 16:7, Jesus says something astonishing:
“It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”
After walking with His disciples for three years, Jesus tells them that His departure is actually better for them. Why? Because the Spirit is coming. Not only to dwell among them, but within them.
In John 14, Jesus comforts them:
“I will not leave you as orphans. You will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
Paul echoes this: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Message puts it this way: “Your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit. Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for?”
To be born again means more than being forgiven. It means the life of the age to come has entered the present through the Spirit. The Spirit brings us into the very life of the Trinity.
The Divine Dance
At Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1, the Father speaks, the Son is baptized, and the Spirit descends like a dove. The same triune God who created the world is also at work in redeeming it.
C. S. Lewis called this reality “the dance.” He wrote, “In Christianity God is not a static thing, but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”
Within the Trinity each person glorifies and delights in the other. As Tim Keller explains, “You’re glorifying something you find beautiful for what it is in itself. Its beauty compels you to adore it.”
Jesus prays that we would be brought into this same reality:
“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.” (John 17:21)
The Spirit doesn’t just live in us. He places us in Christ. We are drawn into the divine relationship of love, joy, and glory that has existed for eternity.
The Spirit Through the Story
From Genesis to Revelation, the Holy Spirit has been the active presence of God. In the Old Testament, He hovered over the waters, empowered prophets and leaders, and pointed toward Israel’s renewal. In the New Testament, He is revealed as the Paraclete—the Comforter, Counselor, and Helper.
He has a mind, a will, and emotions. He speaks, teaches, prays, convicts, and empowers. He can be grieved, resisted, and quenched.
He is not a force to be manipulated but a person to be known. He is God Himself.
RT Kendall writes of a British missionary couple in Israel noticed a dove nesting in the eaves of their roof. Each time they slammed a door or argued, the dove flew away. One day, the husband said to his wife, “Either the dove adjusts to us, or we adjust to the dove.”
The Holy Spirit doesn’t adjust to us. We adjust to Him. When we forget that the Holy Spirit is God, we tend to think that He will bend to our preferences.
The dove remained on Jesus because he felt home. Jesus modeled a life that showed what it looks like for a human to live under the influence and guidance of the Spirit.
The Now and Not Yet
Paul describes the Spirit as a down payment of what is to come (Ephesians 1:13–14). The Spirit is the evidence that the future kingdom has already broken into the present and the guarantee that one day it will come in fullness.
Gordon Fee writes, “The Spirit is God’s down payment—the certain evidence that the future has come into the present, and the sure guarantee that the future will be realized in full.”
The Spirit is also the firstfruits (Romans 8:23) and the seal of our redemption (Ephesians 4:30). The seal marks ownership and authenticity. We belong to God and are protected by Him.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Paul calls us to walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–25).
The goal of the Spirit’s work is not better performance but transformation. The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—are not tasks to complete but evidence of His life within us.
As Christopher Wright writes, “That is the heart and soul of Christian living. It is the center and secret of what it means to be a person in Christ.”
Life in the Spirit
The Holy Spirit makes us alive.
He saves and sanctifies (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
He fills us with joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
He reveals truth (1 Corinthians 2:10).
He empowers preaching (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
He strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16).
He teaches us to love (Colossians 1:8).
He gives us power for hope (Romans 15:13), power for miracles (Acts 1:8), power for prayer (Romans 8:26), power for praise (Ephesians 5:18–19), and power for witness (Acts 4:33).
He is fire that purifies, wind that energizes, water that refreshes, and oil that anoints.
(Thank you Gordon Fee and Sam Storms for the above list)
Jesus Our Model
Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to live completely surrendered to the Spirit. Conceived by the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, and raised by the Spirit—everything He did flowed from intimate dependence on the Spirit.
If Jesus, the Son of God, lived this way, how much more do we need to?
Two Stories
I want to lay out one final contrast by sharing two stories from RT Kendall:
During the Welsh Revival, a missionary couple in India heard what God was doing and returned to England to see it. Friends told them not to bother, saying it was “just emotionalism.” They believed them and went back to India. They missed the move of God.
Meanwhile, a man in London pulled his young daughter out of school and took her to Wales, saying, “She can always go to school, but she may never see revival again.” That little girl grew up to marry Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
One quenched the Spirit. The other fanned Him into flame.
Conclusion
The Holy Spirit is God, and He wants to be known and experienced. He is the presence of God with us and within us. He unites us with Christ, empowers us for mission, and transforms us into His image.
We can quench Him. We can grieve Him.
Or we can fan Him into flame.
Let’s be the kind of people who fan the flame. Clenched fists will never be able to receive.
Approach Him with open hands and let His life begin to flow through you.
Join the dance.
Prayer
Father, fill me today with your wonderful Holy Spirit.
I come open handed and ready to receive.
My desire is that I would experience the divine dance.
I want to be a participant, not an observer.
Today, I let go of my fear and I yield to your love.
Jesus you said it was for our advantage that you leave, so that the Helper would come.
Holy Spirit, take over my life.
Let your life begin to flow and may your flame burn bright in me.
In Jesus Name, Amen.