Stewarding Takes Maintenance
An encounter with the fire that is the Holy Spirit
I’m not proud of it, but I have the tendency to only clean my room when it reaches an embarrassing point, with a visual resembling where a tornado has touched down.
Well today I finally reached an occasional “get my life together” day. As I’m cleaning my room and spending time in prayer, I rhetorically ask God “What’s the point of cleaning it if I’ll just have to clean it again a week?”
This could be said for everything, and quite honestly I do say it for just about anything. What’s the point of studying to get a good grade if I’ll just have to study again to keep that grade? Or what’s the point of spending an hour in the word if I’ll have to do it again tomorrow to sustain my faith?
“Stewarding takes maintenance”
The Lord spoke that to me in the mundane, through the simplicity of cleaning my room.
I immediately wrote that down and asked Him what that means. I get on my phone and begin to look up what the word means, and search for any references of the word in scripture. By definition, stewarding can mean either to manage or look after something, or to supervise arrangements or keep order.
My first thought: what’s the point of babysitting a toddler if you only supervise them for a few minutes, then leave them unattended for the rest of the day? How good of a babysitter would that person be? As a child needs continual supervision, so does your faith need continual stewardship.
Paul describes us all, servants of Christ, also as “stewards of the mysteries of God”. That is to be faithful to the secret things, the known things, the present things, the future glory, to the Gospel. I’m trying every way possible to figure it out, I’m trying to ask him, “God, how do I steward the season that I’m in?” Luke 16:11 says, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” Stewardship is not just some responsibility, it’s a blessing. Like Jesus taught in the parable of the talents, I have the privilege to steward what has undeservingly been entrusted to me. Though this word is as true as it is wise, this isn’t the word God was speaking to me.
So I didn’t mean to watch a sermon, but there I went. It happens. I searched the word “steward” on YouTube, knowing that with my algorithm, something biblical will come up. One of the first sermons was by Pastor Rich Wilkerson, titled “Icon: Stewarding Fire”, from a series about the Holy Spirit and His various “icons” like a dove, wind, oil, and this one that so happened to be fire. One of the first things Rich said is “We’re going to open to Leviticus”. Leviticus. In all honestly that book has gone completely untouched in my Bible.
“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” - Leviticus 6:12-13
Keep the fire burning. The Lord said to me “stewarding takes maintenance”. He then used this sermon to answer my questions and reveal what that meant. That in order to steward a fire, you have to throw wood on it, every day. Not some days, every day. Start your day with it. In the morning, begin stewarding. And whatever you do, keep the fire burning.
But this wasn’t like a campfire type of fire. Not the kind that you gather around, just close enough to feel the warmth, but at a comfortable distance to avoid getting burnt. It’s not unusual for someone to say “I’m on fire for God”, but what does that really mean? To be on fire for God, you have to be willing to get burnt.
“Do not quench the Spirit.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Or in other words, do not extinguish the fire.
A few hours later, I went on a drive around the city. I’m blasting worship music in my car, still overwhelmingly awestruck at the way that God spoke to me earlier this day. I’m driving on a long, narrow road that runs along side a neighborhood, where you can see the back of some houses from the street. The very moment I drive past this one particular house, guess what I see shoot up from the backyard? Fire.
Honestly, my very first thought was “Lord I pray that everyone is okay”. My second thought? “I need to pull over”. In the sermon from earlier, Rich spent some time talking about how fire attracts people, naturally you see fire and it grabs your attention, and I was a prime example to that. He showed me fire, and how I gasped, and how I ran to it. My car began to fill with the smell of smoke, and I turn into this neighborhood to see if something was wrong. Turns out it was just a bonfire going outside, but by the time I drove around the fire was completely out of sight.
Another story Rich was preaching was Moses and the burning bush, and one particular point he made really stuck with me- “For Moses, the bush was on fire, but something in his heart was set on fire”. And I think that’s what He did with me. He showed me a physical fire in order to light a fire in my heart.
Today God spoke to me so clearly and immediately followed up with confirmation so there was not even a second to doubt the sound of His voice. I learned so much about stewardship, so much about the Holy Spirit, so much about fire. One thing about fire is that when you touch it, it marks you. And when you’re marked by fire, you can’t just shift back into your previous state. Lord, I don’t want to just feel the heat of Your surrounding presence, I want to be marked. Holy Spirit fire, You dwell within me. Set a fire in my heart God, I want to get burnt. I pray that you help me steward this fire, to throw wood on it every morning. Teach me to keep the fire burning.