This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
God’s people were created to carry His fire. Not just a little excitement on a good Sunday. Not just a warm feeling that disappears when life gets difficult. We are meant to be people of passion, filled with God’s love, ready to serve, and willing to share what He has put inside us.
But how do we keep that spiritual fire going when prayers seem unanswered, pressure builds, and our circumstances give us very little reason to celebrate?
Romans 12:11-13 gives us practical direction. God supplies the fire, but we have a responsibility to care for it. We are created to be stewards of God’s eternal fire.
We Were Made to Carry God’s Fire
Fire is not an extra feature of the Christian life. Consider the way Scripture describes it:
- Jesus came to bring fire to the earth. In Luke 12:49, He describes fire as part of His mission. He did not come simply to make our lives comfortable.
- Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist points to this in Matthew 3:11. This is not meant to be a temporary spiritual experience that we leave behind as we move through life.
- Jesus speaks of his people being salted with fire. In Mark 9:49, He connects salt and fire. Salt brings flavor, distinction, and preservation. God’s fire should give His people a recognizable distinction.
We cannot get close to Jesus without getting close to His fire. A church should be more than a group of people fulfilling a Sunday obligation. We are called to be passionate about Jesus, moving forward, serving others, and participating in what God is doing.
And that fire does not compete with love. In Romans 12, Paul’s teaching about sincere love leads directly into his teaching about spiritual fervor. We can carry the tenderness of God’s agape love and the strength of His fire at the same time. We need both.
Spiritual Fire Shows Up in Service
Romans 12:11 calls us never be lacking in zeal, but to keep our spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. That word fervor carries the picture of intense heat, like metal glowing red hot.
Notice what that heat leads to: serving.
The evidence of spiritual fire is not simply a feeling. It is a function. It is a life that serves.
Someone may feel deeply passionate about the Lord. Wonderful. But does that passion move their hands and feet? Are they serving in the church? Are they giving themselves to God’s work in their local community? Are they making room for Him to work through them?
Jesus is our greatest example. He served throughout His life, and His death and resurrection were for our good. His passion was never detached from giving Himself.
So the question is not only, “Lord, will You give me fire?” It is also, “Lord, how can I serve? What can I do? How can what You have placed in me reach someone else?”
Think about someone moving across hot coals. They are not taking a leisurely stroll! Heat gets people moving. Spiritual fire should move us, too.
The next verses directly tell us how to keep our spiritual fire going.
1. Be Joyful in Hope
The first direction in Romans 12:12 is to find joy in hope.
Some seasons make that easy. Prayers are being answered. Things are coming together. You have testimonies to share, and gratitude comes naturally. Those seasons genuinely feed your spiritual fire, and they should.
Then there are the other seasons.
You know God loves you. You know He is for you. But your prayer list keeps getting longer, and the answers seem delayed. You are running out of room on the paper, and you begin wondering what is happening.
That is where hope matters.
Bring Future Joy Into the Present
Being joyful in hope means allowing what God has promised for the future to strengthen you today. Your current circumstances may not give you much fuel for your fire, but they are not the only place you can look.
Think about eternity with Jesus. Think about being in His presence, receiving a glorious body instead of one that causes pain, and seeing those who have gone before you. Think about the fullness of His love and grace. Think about being rewarded by him.
There is real joy ahead. You can thank Him for it now.
You might pray, “Lord, this season is difficult, but it is not the whole story. One day I will be with You. I will receive everything You have prepared for me through Jesus. Thank You for the grace that is still coming.”
We can grab hold of future joy and make it a joy that we experience now. That is how future joy becomes present fuel for our spiritual fire.
Our spiritual fire is not meant to rise and fall with our earthly happiness. We need to tend it when life is good, but especially when life is hard.
Fire Brings Hidden Things Into the Light
Acts 28:3-5 gives us a striking picture. Paul was adding wood to a fire when the heat drove a snake out of the bundle. The snake fastened itself to his hand, but Paul suffered no harm.
The heat exposed what had been hidden.
That picture reminds us why spiritual fire matters. As we burn for the Lord, hidden strongholds and the enemy’s activity cannot remain comfortably covered up. God’s fire brings things into the light.
2. Be Patient in Affliction
The next instruction in Romans 12:12 is patience in affliction.
Now, that may not be the part we were hoping for. We would rather say, “Can’t someone just pray for me and make this pressure disappear?”
Of course we should reach out to the Lord. But we also need to understand the kind of patience Scripture describes.
Affliction includes persecution and circumstances that put us under pressure. That pressure might involve our health, a relationship, or another difficult situation. Whatever its source, we can feel caught between a rock and a hard place.
Learn the Farmer’s Patience
James 5:7 points to the kind of patience we need. We are encouraged to be like a farmer waiting for the autumn and spring rains.
A farmer plants seed, then goes through a period without a harvest. Nothing is ready to sell. There may be very little visible evidence of progress. Yet the farmer understands that growth has a season.
Rain comes. Roots develop beneath the surface. Shoots appear above the ground. Eventually, there is something to gather.
This is not helpless waiting. It is patience shaped by understanding.
God works in seasons and cycles. Some are short. Some are long. We need to pay attention to how He works instead of assuming that nothing is happening simply because we cannot see a result yet.
When you have been praying, worshiping through difficulty, and trusting God, remind yourself that sowing and reaping do not always happen at the same moment.
Sometimes God Grows What We Ask For
Sometimes God GIVES us an immediate blessing. At other times, God GROWS something rather than simply placing it in our hands.
That means there can be genuine activity beneath the surface while we are still waiting for something visible. Our part is to continue in faith rather than abandon the field.
Do not walk away merely because you are tired of waiting. Learn the farmer’s lesson: a season without a harvest is not proof that the seed has failed.
There is an important connection here to spiritual fire. When impatience becomes, “I am done trusting, done praying, and walking away,” it becomes an expression of doubt. Doubt puts our fire out. Faith feeds it.
Patient trust keeps the fire burning under pressure. We can say, “Lord, I do not see everything yet, but I know You work in seasons. I will continue to trust You.”
3. Be Faithful in Prayer
The third instruction in Romans 12:12 is to be faithful in prayer.
There is no way to sustain God’s fire while neglecting closeness with Him. Hebrews 12:29 describes God as a consuming fire. If we want His fire in our lives, we need to draw near to Him.
Prayer is where we do that.
Good preaching matters. Worship matters. Both can point us toward the Lord. But neither replaces a praying life or a praying church.
A church cannot depend on an excellent Sunday service to do what only seeking God will do. We need to make prayer central, not optional.
The believers in the upper room give us that example. Acts 1:14 describes their shared devotion to prayer. Then Acts 2:1-4 describes the Holy Spirit coming upon them, with visible tongues resembling fire.
They were gathered together, seeking God. Prayer was not a side activity.
That challenges us. What would happen if prayer gatherings were no longer attended by only a small handful, but became a priority for the church family? What if we gave ourselves to seeking the Lord together?
To carry fire, get close to the One who is fire. Be faithful in prayer, both personally and with other believers.
4. Share With Others and Practice Hospitality
There is a fourth practical direction in Romans 12:13: share with God’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.
And this fourth instruction belongs with everything we have already discussed. Generosity is not a disconnected thought. It is another way we keep our spiritual fire alive.
Let What God Gives You Flow Through You
Serving like Jesus means receiving from Him and passing His love along. We are not meant to store everything up for ourselves.
When we help someone in need, we have an opportunity to make the source clear: this help comes because Jesus loves them. We are simply making ourselves available to Him.
Something beautiful happens when a person realizes, “The Lord has seen me. He cares about me. He has helped me.” Their heart begins to warm. They may begin wanting to love and serve Him, too.
That is spiritual fire spreading from one life to another.
Think about wind moving across a fire. Wind can carry it beyond its original location. In the same way, the Holy Spirit can move through our acts of love and carry encouragement into another person’s heart so that the fire spreads.
Open Your Life a Little
Romans 12:13 starts with the needs of God’s people. Begin with your church family. Notice who needs help. Open your home. Make room in your life.
It does not always have to be something big. Small acts of service can communicate the love of Jesus.
If your life feels closed off, generosity can be like adding oxygen to a struggling fire. Instead of becoming stagnant, you allow the Spirit of God to work through you.
As love flows, fire flows. Someone else is strengthened, and your own heart is stirred again.
God’s fire is not only something we receive from above. It is something we share with the people around us. It comes to us, and it moves through us.
God Gives the Fire. We Tend It.
God has entrusted us with things we must care for: our bodies, our families, and our resources. Spiritual fire also requires faithful care.
We do not manufacture God’s fire, but we are responsible for tending what He gives.
- Be joyful in hope. Let the joy of what God has promised strengthen you in the present.
- Be patient in affliction. Remember the farmer, and keep trusting through seasons of pressure.
- Be faithful in prayer. Draw near to God, personally and together as a church.
- Be generous. Share with those in need and make room for hospitality.
We are not called to settle for a church life built only around duty. We are called to love Jesus passionately, serve willingly, and let His love and fire move through us.
If your fire feels weak, you do not have to settle there. You have practical steps to take. Keep hoping. Keep trusting. Keep praying. Keep giving.
Lord Jesus, stir our hearts again. Help us recognize that You created us to carry Your fire. Teach us to tend it faithfully and share it freely. Make us a people who love You deeply and serve others gladly. Amen.
Application Questions
- Where is your passion for Jesus becoming practical service? Is there a way you can serve your church family now?
- What future joy in Christ can you thank God for during a difficult present season?
- Where do you need the farmer’s patience rather than the urge to walk away?
- What would greater faithfulness in personal and shared prayer look like for you?
- Who could you bless through generosity or hospitality this week?
