"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not fslothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" (Rom. 12:10-11).

I want you to notice the expression in the verse above that says, "fervent in spirit." I looked up several translations, and one of them says, "Be glowing in spirit."

The Weymouth translation says, "Have your spirits aglow." And the Moffatt's translation tells us to "Maintain the glow." God wants his people to maintain the glow.

In our text, Paul is writing to the saints at Rome and all of those who are called to be saints wherever they may be. He is encouraging them to be doers of the Word of God - not out of duty but prompted by the Spirit.

What did Paul mean when he said, "maintain the glow"? The Goodspeed translation says, "Be on fire with the Spirit." In the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us how to maintain the glow: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; But be filled with the spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:18-19).

When Paul wrote to the saints at Rome, he said, "Be fervent in spirit" or "Be on fire with the Spirit" (Rom. 12:11). And he told the Church at Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Then Paul told them in Ephesians 5:19 how to be filled with the Spirit; he told them how to maintain the glow.

We understand that this experience must be recognizable or we wouldn't know whether or not someone is maintaining the glow. Notice what the text said: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled (or be being filled) with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms..."(vv. 18-19).

I'm not a singer but I always speak in psalms. Sometimes I'll wake up in the night and get to praying and speaking in psalms for an hour or two. One night I spoke the entire night in psalms.

Out Of The Abundance
Speaking to yourself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs and making melody in your heart to the Lord are characteristics of a Spirit-filled life. The Bible says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34; Luke 6:45). If you have a song in your heart, you just can't help but speak it out of your mouth.

Being filled with the Spirit and speaking to yourself is something that you do just for yourself and not to someone else. We are to speak to ourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Now it may be something that the Holy Ghost gives you or it may be a song that has already been given by the Spirit.

Another mark of a Spirit-filled life is found in Acts chapters 2 and 10. When you were filled with the Holy Ghost, you spoke something. Acts 2:4 says, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak!" You can't be full of the Holy Ghost without speaking. And once we are filled with the Holy Ghost, God wants us to keep on speaking to ourselves and to Him.

Now let's look at what the Bible says concerning Cornelius and his household in Acts, chapter 10:
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.
(Acts 10:44-46)
Verses 44 through 46 tell us that the people heard the Word of God and the Holy Ghost fell on them all. Immediately, they spoke with tongues and began to magnify the Lord. So keep on speaking with tongues and magnifying the Lord. And God will give you a song or a psalm to sing.

A psalm is a spiritual poem or an ode. It may rhyme or it may not rhyme, but there is an element of poetry about it.

There are 150 psalms in the Old Testament that have been given by the Spirit of God. Many of them were given to David by the gift of prophecy. They were inspired by the Holy Ghost. If you'll read them carefully, you'll find out that many of them were given just for David's benefit; they applied to his circumstances.

The psalms that David wrote were for his encouragement, and you'll find that psalms will have the same effect in your own life. The Holy Ghost will give you a psalm to encourage you and lift up your spirit so that you can maintain the glow.

Living Up To Par
Spiritual health is just as discernible as physical health. It's very easy to discern whether someone is feeling good physically or not. If someone is not up to par in his thinking, you can say something to him two or three times and he still doesn't understand what you are saying. It doesn't mean that he's hard of hearing; it just means that his mind is off somewhere else. He's not as sharp as he usually is.

You can look at people and tell by their countenance whether or not they're up to par physically. Many times people are not up to par physically because they're not up to par spiritually. They might be dragging physically, and their spiritual health is discernible. It's important to realize that your spirit knows more than your head knows when it comes to spiritual things.

Maintaining the glow includes more than just jumping up and down, smiling, and being happy. Now that's part of it, but there's a whole lot more to it. You may get blessed in church when everyone else gets blessed. But what about when you get home? What about maintaining the glow in your everyday life? Do you have the glow when you're at home?

It's An Everyday Thing
You see, that's where the difference is. Paul was talking about maintaining the glow every day. And that's what he was endeavoring to get believers to do - to keep being filled.

As a young Baptist boy, I didn't know about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I had never spoken in tongues. But after I was healed and raised from a deathbed, I found out about a scripture in the Book of James which says, "Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations" (James 1:2).

The Greek word translated "temptations" means trials or tests. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse or different kinds of trials or tests. Count it all joy! James didn't say, "It is joy." He said, "Count it joy."

We used to sing a song years ago called "Count Your Blessings." I got hold of that song when I was going through a severe test as a teenager, and I did exactly what we were singing about. I looked the devil right in the face and started laughing. Now I didn't feel like laughing. I mean, I felt like doing everything else but laughing, but I did it anyway.

When I was going through this test, I visited my grandfather's farm. I went down to the barn to pray. I had never seen anyone shout, and I had never heard anyone say, "Praise the Lord." But I got behind the barn and just started dancing and shouting. I got hold of James 1:2. And it has been a blessing to me ever since.

Behind The Barn Is Where It Counts
It's easy to dance in church, but what about in the midst of a test or trial when no one else is around? Well, get behind the barn! If you don't have a barn, get behind the house or go where someone can't see you. Just get alone by yourself and dance a little jig for joy. You know when people are happy and full of joy, they dance and jump. We're not shouting and jumping to be seen of men, but to praise the Lord.

Jesus said to the devil in the midst of His temptation, "It is written" (Matt. 4:4). And that's what I told the devil, "It is written." Then I said, "In case you can't read, Mr. Devil, I'll read it to you." I said, "Just go ahead, devil, put on all the pressure you can. Do everything you can, but the harder and the tougher it gets, the more I'm going to shout. The more I'm going to praise God!" And I just kept praising Him until the burden lifted and the problem was gone.

Things changed almost immediately. But, you see, if I'd stayed on the negative side and continued whining, griping, and complaining, I never would have gotten out of the trial victoriously.

When you are filled with the Spirit, when you're motivated by the Holy Ghost, and when you are aglow with God, you can praise God and thank Him under all circumstances. No one likes to go through a test. But in every test and trial, you can thank God that it is another opportunity to believe Him. It is another opportunity to exercise and develop your faith.

It's not only important to maintain a Spirit-filled life, but it's also important to consecrate and dedicate your life to God in order to maintain the glow. Consecration and dedication should be a continuous thing. You don't just consecrate and dedicate once and for all.

Did your ever notice Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? When Jesus was in the garden with Peter, James, and John, he went a little farther than the rest. He fell to His face and prayed, "... O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done" (Matt. 26:42). After seeing that His disciples had fallen asleep, Jesus went back to His place of prayer and prayed the same prayer again. As you read the passage, you'll find that He did this three times.

You need to pray some prayers over and over again. Some prayers that I prayed years ago, I'm still praying today. These prayers are the prayers of consecration and dedication. When you pray these prayers, you are telling the Lord that you'll go where He wants you to go and you'll do what He wants you to do. The reason for continually praying these prayers is that we don't always know what He wants us to do. But we must be willing to do whatever He wants us to do.

I used to pray this prayer of dedication and consecration when I was younger. I found out what He wanted me to do, and I'm doing now what I saw back then. I would pray, "Lord, I'll do what You want me to do, and I'll go where You want me to go. If You want me to go to Africa or China, I will go. I am willing to do anything You want me to do."

If you're going to maintain the glow and stay filled with the Spirit, learn the importance of speaking to yourself in psalms and spiritual songs and of consecrating and dedicating your life to the Lord. When you do, it will be easy to maintain the glow and live a Spirit-filled life.

Copyright © Kenneth Hagin Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.