How Can One Get "Stirred Up" For God?

Many once-happy saints, neglecting the fire and power of the holy Ghost, have grown cold in spirit. Child of God, does your fire need stirring? Are you as happy as you once were? If not, then your fire needs to be stirred. Do you know how to "stir up" this gift of God (holy Ghost and fire) that is in you? How to let the power of God be manifested through you? How to regain that kind and friendly disposition that you once possessed? How to feel the love of God flowing through your being one more time? What would you give to feel now as you did when God filled you with the blessed holy Ghost and fire? Do you remember how you felt toward everybody? Oh, the joy that you expressed as the Spirit spoke through you and demonstrated the power of God on your body! Now, if you are anxious to "stir up" the gift of God which is in you, recover your lost fellowship with God, read this remedy: "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. . . ." And again, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life".

My brother or sister, do you want your name to remain in the Book of Life? If so, then you had better "stir up" the fire which is in you and let it burn the dross out of your life. We begin to regain the fire of the Spirit by praying until we attain to a willing mind. Beloved, if you have lost the spirit of prayer, go down upon your knees and "pray without ceasing" until you are restored. Living in the spirit of prayer is the only way to serve God. Prayer is the paddle we use to "stir up" the gift of God.

When the sincere child of God begins to pray, when the holy Ghost is finally stirred up, he will hear a voice... the voice of the Spirit, which is saying, "come out of her my people" (Rev.18:1-4). Religion will no longer satisfy the "stirred up" believer. Instead, he will forsake the religious errors that quenched the holy Ghost to begin with. He will follow the one who stirred him up outside of the denominations, ceremonies, and false ways of Christianity - all of them. The religious ways of Christianity are the ways of death. It was these things that quenched the life of the Spirit - so when the Spirit is revived it will have no alternative to "come out" of religious "diversions". Now, dear reader, will you be free of these things? If not, just repent and pray through, and let's get in a condition to serve God and gain eternal life. If you are not living according to this standard, if you are not being led by, and full of the Spirit, you are not meeting the requirements to enter the new, heavenly Jerusalem.

Brother, sister, what will it profit you to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Remember Paul's exhortation: "The night is far spent; the day is at hand. Let us therefore put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. . . . But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now, dear children of God, let us press on and "redeem the time", because "the days are evil", and many are turning back to "the elements of this world". Let us not be of those who "draw back", but of those who press on "to the saving of the soul". "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth," as Paul warns you in Ephesians 4:29-32, "but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it might minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Paul knew that the strength to endure hard trials comes only through the Spirit of God. We are strengthened when we learn to stir this holy fire within us, for its warmth keeps us spiritually in motion, active and moving for God, letting us know that He still abides. Failing to arouse this bestowed gift is the chief cause of spiritual leanness among believers. To neglect the stirring of this heavenly gift is to starve the soul. Sadly, many children of God are physically and spiritually weak and afflicted because of a failure to keep the gift of God stirred and burning within the soul. As followers of Christ, we have the privilege of stirring God's gift until it burns out of our lives even the most perplexing problems and weaknesses, making us firebrands for God. That is why if any of God's children are part of any place that teaches the holy Ghost is an "option", or merely a "gift" for some (and not all), they will eventually die.

Reader, do you know that joy makes us strong, and that this joy comes only to those who have the gift of God? Then for you to retain this joy, your gift must be kept continually in motion. To see this, look back to the time when God's Spirit came into your life, the hour you were baptized with the blessed holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. You remember that great joy which flooded your soul, don't you? Can you not recall the strength that this joy gave you? Of course you can. Now, listen, that same joy can come streaming back into your weak, frail body this very moment, if you will only stir, or rekindle, this precious gift of God which is still in you, but which for some time has been neglected. Oh, to learn the precious lesson of renewing our strength by stirring God's gift! But as we look to God for strength through the rekindling of His gift to us, let us remember that it is His strength we receive. We are "without strength"; however, in our weakness His strength is made perfect in us as we learn to rely upon Him. Thus could Paul say, "For when I am weak, then am I strong." As we see the multiplied thousands today whose fire has burned low and whose gift lies hidden in the smoldering ashes of sin and rebellion, we are reminded of Israel, who believed God's word and sang His praises, but "forgot His works and waited not for His counsel." We are told that God "gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls" (Ps.106:13,15). What a picture of many today! "We want" or "we are going", and God is left out - unless He desires to do His will in their way. As a result, many who could stir their gift and be used of God are victims of lean and self-willed souls. They are blind to their leanness and satisfied with their accomplishments, believing they are living in the realm of God's best. How they must grieve their Father!

Now is the time to stir God's gift in us. Oh, how we need to stir this gift, which is our only hope in Christ, both as individuals and as a body of Christ! Stirring the gift of God is a righteous act, from which we may richly profit. Oh, to learn the precious lesson of renewing our strength by stirring this gift.

Dear soul, are you now ready to start stirring? Are you ready to begin praying for spiritual strength? We feel the need to do so when we understand that the saints of God are in grave danger of being deceived by the merchants of Spiritless religion. The alluring ways of vain religion have led many already to "forsake the right way". Yes, children of God, these are "perilous times" and every one of you should be diligent to "try the spirits" now abroad in the earth lest you be "led away with the error of the wicked", and thus "fall from your own steadfastness".

May God put it upon you to "stir up" the fire on your altar, that you may possess your soul, for there shall come "a falling away" before the coming of our Lord. Many ministers, through covetousness and "with feigned words", are "making merchandise" of those who are failing to keep the spirit of prayer stirred in them; but, the day is evidently not far distant when "no man buyeth their merchandise any more." Come on, friends of God, let's hasten that day!

No combination of evils can defeat those who keep God's "unspeakable gift" stirred and burning. It is our privilege and duty to stand against the sweeping tides of evil. We know we have found a peace of which this world is greatly in need. So why not then abandon the dead forms of Christianity and stir up this good and perfect gift which God has sent us? Do you fear being put out of men's company if you do? Stir up the gift, and you'll lose that fear. When this gift is thoroughly stirred in our hearts, pride and selfish desires must go, leaving in their place a humility which makes us willing to go God's way.

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