How to Get Your Fire for God Back

Often we can walk our Christian life while going through the motions. If you sense that you are stuck in this cycle, I believe that as you understand these principles, God will begin to rekindle His fire within you.

Background of The Ark of God

This story is based in 2 Samuel 6. Prior to King David’s reign, Israel had the Ark of the Covenant. It was a box where God held His presence, and within it were also the Ten Commandments. The Israelites would take this ark to battles and would win.

Further along in the story, we see that Samuel, a young guy under Eli, saw that after the Israelites lost one of the battles the Philistines took the box. The Philistines had placed it among their gods, but it resulted in tragedy for their gods and their people. Having realized that it was more than just a box, they returned it to Israel with gifts.

Years later, David, now king, decides to bring the Ark of God into Jerusalem. Instead of looking into the Scripture for guidance, David simply builds a new cart and puts the ark on it. As they’re driving the ark from the house of Abinadab, where it had been for about 20 years, Abinadab’s sons, Uzzah and Ahio, watch over the Ark. They got used to it, and as the oxen are moving along, the ark is about to fall from the cart. Uzzah stretches out his hand to prevent it from falling and drops dead as a result. Seeing this, David becomes scared and realized the seriousness of what it meant to carry the Ark.

Here are a few principles from this story that will help recalibrate our hearts to presence of God.

Principles to Understand

Principle 1: God’s Presence Rests on People, Not Programs

In this story, David’s mistake was borrowing the Philistines’ method of transporting the Ark.

Similarly, I believe the first core thing we must remember is that God’s presence was intended to rest on people, not methods or programs. The right people will make the right things work. God wants His presence to rest upon us, not on Sunday services, songs, or churches. The devil, in contrast, wants to place heaviness, depression, guilt, shame, and embarrassment on us. But God offers us a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness.

You are a temple of the Holy Ghost.

Principle 2: The Threshing Floor Separates Chaff from Grain

Another points that is highlighted to me in the story is when Uzzah touched the God box at the threshing floor, a place for processing grain (2 Samuel 6:6-7). Threshing involves beating the grain to separate it from chaff, followed by winnowing to let the wind carry away the lighter chaff. Spiritually, it represents God’s judgment separating the righteous from the wicked (Micah 4:12). In the same way, God allows trials and difficulties to separate unrighteous things from our lives. When we go through spiritual threshing, the devil tries to prove we are chaff, but God proves we are grain.

Principle 3: Do Not Reduce Your Expectations of God to One Experience

David initially saw God as a punishing God and kept a distance. However, when Obed Edom chose to allow the Ark to live in his house, he experienced blessing with the ark. This shows that God also rewards righteousness.

I want to encourage you to not do what David did. Don’t reduce God to one experience. He is greater than any single negative incident. God is just and merciful, not a vending machine. Bad things happening don’t define God’s character. He is good and trustworthy. Trust in God beyond one negative experience.

Our understanding of God should not be limited to our past experiences.

Principle 4: Do It Again, Do It Right, Do It Better

David later realized that Uzzah didn’t die because God was capricious; rather, it was because they handled the ark incorrectly. We must understand that our intentions don’t matter if our actions are wrong. Instead, we should correct our actions, do it right, and do it better. Trust God fully. If you’ve been distant from God, return with full commitment. Do it again, do it right, and do it better.

In our lives, we must learn from our mistakes, correct our course, and pursue God with renewed passion and commitment.

Principle 5: No Passion, No Intimacy, No Intimacy, No Fruit

Michal, David’s wife, lacked passion and had no children. Another key point to recall is that passivity steals not only your past but your future. Despite her traumatic past, Michal’s passivity led to unfruitfulness.

Unhinge yourself from your past, and choose to trust in God again. Engage in what God is doing, be a worshipper, and pursue intimacy with God. Michal’s story shows that watching from the outside, rather than participating in what God is doing will lead to spiritual barrenness. Passion leads to intimacy, and intimacy leads to results.

Conclusion

We must remember that testing strengthens our character, proves our faith, and it honors God.

Don’t let trials cause you to fly away from your faith. Fall back on the truth of God’s word. Trust in Him, even when everything is shaken. Don’t let fear or shame stop you from reconnect with Him. Once you do, continue and you will see how the fire you once had lost will begin to rekindle once again.

Read: How to Build Your Spiritual Fire