Reading Report

CRITICAL/CREATIVE ANALYSIS

Tani Li Fernández | Pneumatology | April 14, 2021

 Alliance Biblical Seminary of Peru

Closer to the Flame

by Charles Swindoll. Betania Publishing

READING REPORT: CRITICAL/CREATIVE ANALYSIS

1. CENTRAL ARGUMENT OF THE AUTHOR:

Many believers have settled for just the desire to want
to have more ardent or abundant Christian lives, without having the courage to
to venture to seek more of God through the Holy Spirit. The goal of
author is to take the reader beyond the cognitive and make them enter into the
personal area; encouraging him to have a more receptive mind and spirit
willing to learn, inviting him to experience a spiritual awakening and
to enter into an intimacy with his Lord, to practically verify in his
personal life the phenomenal work of the Holy Spirit.

Flying closer to the flame is a book cataloged by the same author.

like "from the heart" much more than "the reason", without losing for that reason the
balance between these two. It is a more personal, practical, and positive book.
To fly close to the flame we must shed our resistance.
between us and the Holy Spirit, breaking down all fear of the unknown,
the traditional limitations and freeing ourselves from personal excuses
Charles Swindoll.

2. SECONDARY IDEAS OF THE VALUE OF READING:

How difficult it is to understand the true role of the Holy Spirit in
our lives, theological knowledge does not in itself provide a source
to get to know the Holy Spirit personally and practically, of the
what He wants and can do in our lives, without deviating from the
theology.
It is important to find through the Holy Spirit, those lives
dynamic and joyful Christians that we long to be
healed, consoled, and strengthened by Him. Live filled with Him.
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, it is God.
The same Spirit that empowered Jesus is the same one that now empowers us.
of power, "DYNAMIS", that is, being able, qualified to
extend the Kingdom of God. This 'DUNAMIS' also includes
internal confidence, fearless to face times of conflict,

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surpassing human capability itself. An unmatched help,

who opens the lips to preach of Christ, who gives perseverance,
firmness, which is observed and noticeable in life. This power that
was at the beginning of the church, it can be ours.
Without the Holy Spirit, there is no way to restrict or control the
the carnal aspect of our lives.
The battle or war that we have every day in the soul, like a
a lighter about to explode in our minds, does not mean that
we are brothers, rather we are humans and there is no sin in
acknowledge the conflict.
Living under the control of our flesh is an existence that amounts to
to death. But if we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, its
works are reproduced in and through us, we have life.
The Holy Spirit works in us, silently, mysteriously,
unexpectedly and spontaneously, the perfect and profound will
of God. Like the wind, the Spirit continues to move in
we still, after our new birth, blowing here,
changing over there, changing personal plans, creating new ones
situations, encouraging good wishes, motivating decisions.
It is the Holy Spirit who gives energy to the believer to remain in
activity, who motivates us despite the obstacles, who us
consolation or calm in adversity and becomes our
companion in loneliness or pain, who guides us to better things
decisions.
When trying to do something without the Holy Spirit, using any
another 'fuel', life ends up paralyzing.
We do not belong to ourselves, we are God's and called.
to glorify Him in our body. All our life is in His
hands, for this we must eliminate from our vocabulary the
words 'by accident', 'coincidence' or 'chance'.
Each believer has the Holy Spirit; however, it is possible that
it operates on your life without His control. If we operate under His control, we will have
the potential for peace, joy, calm, guidance, and limitless courage.
Seeking to be filled with the Spirit is a commandment. As time goes on
of time, as one experiences the fullness of the Spirit, this
it becomes a constant part of our consciousness and our life.
It is not a mechanical process, it is to seek voluntarily and persistently.
that the Spirit controls every area of your life is to surrender completely
to Him.
The filling of the Holy Spirit makes us grateful people.
with God in everything.

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The fullness of the Holy Spirit is a great experience, for it calms

our fears, and gives us the inner security of knowing that He is
there, who is interested and has control.
Abnormal experiences are not necessary for Christian maturity.
neither as expressions of the fullness of the Spirit.
The enjoyment of the fullness of the Spirit is for all believers,
but its operation in each person is particular and different. It should not be
to stereotype the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many times the believer prefers to keep things locked away on the pages of
the Scriptures the phenomenal work of the Holy Spirit before that
to experience it practically in your life.
The inner work of the Spirit in our life demonstrates the power
unique of God, transformer, that clothes us with humility, wisdom
divine and strength, He surprises us.
The Holy Spirit will not always lead us to comfortable places, some
sometimes according to God's astonishing plan, it will take us to places of
difficulty in serving as their representatives and the Spirit
what arranges 'the spiritual to the spiritual' will give confidence and power
to face any situation.
The truth of many Christian lives is that it is not always the case
the understanding and appropriation of the Holy Spirit they possess is everything
what it can be and should be, we need to take ownership of the Spirit
Saint in a much broader measure, He is ready to become
charge us and infuse us with his power and confidence, his vast provisions
they are there, they are ours.
When one has the Holy Spirit, they have the anointing, which
we receive from Him when we are born again and He remains in us, each
The believer has it, this anointing allows us to 'speak' thoughts.
what God gives us (adjusting the spiritual to the spiritual) and from a
innate knowledge, a discernment of all things, a realization
internal
Let us maintain the balance, the anointing of God is not for doing
shows to attract people, it is not to seek facts or
supernatural experiences in life, we must not sacrifice
our solid and pure biblical foundations at the altar of experiences
extravagant. The anointing is knowledge, it is discernment, power
that strengthens, that gives security and always exalts and gives all the glory
to God.
There is much about the work of the Spirit in the life of
believer, more than we have ever known, but we do not
let's deceive, let's bounce everything to the light and truth of the Word of

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God. Once again balance and understanding and do not be afraid to fly closer
of the flame.
Sometimes there will be some unidentified internal stimuli in
our life, when you are not sure that something is of the Spirit,
proceed with great caution, hold back and use the Scriptures as
guide. When you are sure that it is from God, stand firm,
Even when others doubt, be strong and determined, trusting in God.
Conscience is like a compass, if it is faulty very soon
he may have lost his way, so that our conscience is a good one
guide, must be directed by the Holy Spirit, who sensitizes us and
capacity to hear the message and truth of God.
One must be cautious about being led by the
emotions when the Spirit of God is not in full control, for
There is a tendency in us to become emotionally unrestrained.
Our faith is not based on emotions but on facts, however
emotions are an important part of our lives and we cannot
ignore them. God gave us emotions. Let's use our emotions
to praise God with understanding.
When one seeks healing from God, the Word urges to inform.
to the elders of the church to pray for the sick, who
He/She has already been to the doctor and is following his/her treatment.
therapeutic (anointing), then the elders will pray for him, the
specific results are left in the hands of the Lord. It was sought
the will of the Lord and not the empty promises of some individual
earthly (very relevant teaching regarding those of very
fashion now, the famous 'I decree').
Four principles in healthcare: the confession of sins is
healthy, use it; praying for one another is essential, practice it; the
medical attention is imperative, obey it; when health comes
from God, claim it.
Many times we long to be healed physically or emotionally in a
just a moment, and of course God can do it, but there are many others
times when healing takes its time and the greater it is
damage, longer recovery time, all this with purpose
divine.
The person who truly seeks God's healing wants nothing.
with more strength than healing, being well, being responsible, adult that
it works and bears its share of the load; patience, tolerance
with others and obedience to God are a secondary product of this
painful process, and it is called wisdom given by the Spirit.
divine wisdom will make you less arrogant, more apt to learn,

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be more obedient to God, show genuine humility and be sensitive

to the pain of others.
When we demand that God heal us right away and it doesn't happen like that (since
we seek our will and not God's) our heart is filled
of resentment and disrespect towards God. Therefore, we must
maintain balance in our expectations of divine healing and
pray that God makes His perfect will so as not to fall into the
fatalistic disappointment if we do not receive what we asked for.
In the first instance, one must submit and seek the will of God.
and not the personal and secondly, to accept that many times the
God's healing comes accompanied by a process that takes time.
but what is beneficial and restorative. Other times health does not arrive.
because this is how God decides in His purposes, here God teaches us to
rely on His grace.
The ministry of the Spirit is still active in every believer, with
all the strength of its dynamic power, within us and around
ours. We see this power at work in our lives, when
we recognize and feel your presence in us and in others
believers and when we are the object of their love and power through
gifts for use in the ministry. That power also works in favor
of the believer, by restraining and controlling even the evil in this world and
favor of humanity, regenerating the lost, bringing them to Christ
and building his church.
The Holy Spirit is still at work transforming lives, touching the...
people, using each believer, He is alive, His ministry is not yet
it ends between us.
As I began to fly closer to the flame, feeling how the Spirit
Saint controls and transforms our life, we always need to have
present: the bible must always be our guide, let us always use it
discernment, let's stay balanced, let's seek advice
of wise men in God, let us always maintain the unity of
body of Christ.

3. CRITICISMS OR OBJECTIONS:
The author's stance on not offending beliefs or positions is very accurate.
adopted by other evangelical communities regarding the fullness of
Holy Spirit.
Very important is the call that the author makes about enjoying the vast
common ground that we have as evangelical churches before being
fostering divisions by becoming engrossed in our own

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theological or experiential persuasions. In each case, the truth and light

God must shine more than ever. "May our enormous land be the
a foundation that supports us, rather than a battlefield that separates us.
Charles Swindoll.
The language used by the author is simple, easy to understand and the
examples and very relevant biblical verses.
It is a highly recommended book about the Holy Spirit for believers.

4. CONCEPTUALIZATIONS O IDEAS PROPOSALS FOR

RESEARCH IN THE FUTURE:

An interesting topic to me seemed "Beliefs about the Holy Spirit in the

charismatic communities.

5. AUTHOR'S PROPOSALS THAT I FIND CONFLICTING:

At the moment of starting the reading, even from the first chapter, I felt a
internal conflict, being blatantly challenged to "fly closer to the flame"
I felt the fear of the unknown and honestly asked myself, 'What about it?'
I am getting into it, will it be good to keep reading this book? However,
I decided to continue with the study of it, trusting that if God it
has placed in my path could help me a lot to learn more about
of the Holy Spirit and my relationship with Him. Later the author me
it confronted exactly with what I had felt when reading this book: I had
some personal barriers to break down if I wanted to learn to fly,
freedom, closer to the flame. I decided to bring them down.

Another proposal that I found a bit controversial was the one about the
feelings and their expressive emphasis (chapter 8), personally when reading
In this chapter, I had objections with the author when mentioning the example of
some people who do not express their emotions so vividly in front of
others. The author says: "expressing your emotions is not a sign of
immaturity or carnality" and I agree with that. But I also am
I agree that there are people who are not very expressive due to their
own temperament (for example, a believer with temperament
phlegmatic) and do not express emotions like other people, that
neither is it a sign of immaturity, carnality, or hardness of heart. I add to
This is what we can and must learn to express our emotions despite
of our temperaments, it is healthy.

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6. RELATING WHAT HAS BEEN READ AND APPLYING IT TO SOME

PRACTICAL SITUATIONS OF MY PERSONAL, FAMILY AND
MINISTERIAL - CURRENT ECCLESIASTICAL.

[Link] PERSONAL:
After having read the book, I must say that it has opened my eyes.
to a completely different world of perceiving the work of the Holy Spirit and
my expectation of experiencing a life "close to the flame", I want
learning to fly closer to the flame. The personal confrontation that
the author asks me questions such as Are you satisfied with your
Are you really walking the Christian walk or do you need to fly closer to the flame? Or what?
Do you stop yourself from flying close to the flame? They have challenged my soul and
lit a spark that will not easily extinguish.
This book calls me to reflect on whether I want to continue being part of the
evangelical world that only longs for a greater intimacy with God,
but does not act out of fear or ignorance of the power of the Spirit
Saint. I must leave more space for God to act directly in
my life today.

Some challenges for my life after this reading are:

Learning to fly closer to the flame.
Dismantle personal barriers between the Holy Spirit and me.
Keep short accounts regarding those things that
they interrupt the communion with God.
Walk in dependence on the Lord.
My prayer at the beginning of the day and often: "Lord my life"
it's yours.
Seek a more passionate, more dynamic prayer life, with
more trust.
May God always be the first in my thoughts.

B. IN THE FAMILIAR:
I want to teach my little daughter the great blessing of being able to approach
God with all freedom and security, guiding her to learn to trust in Him with
all their heart. I want to convey to them throughout their life development
the love of God and the great power that His Holy Spirit has in the life of
believer. I want, with the wisdom of God, to learn to fly closer to the
call and teach my girl to do it too.

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I want to motivate my husband every day in his spiritual life and be that help.
suitable that needs to be a good testimony and the reflection of God's love
for him and together embark on this new adventure of flying closer to the
llama.

C. IN THE MINISTERIAL:
I long to serve God according to His will and give to others.
grace what God gave me for free and to sow or water in every believer,
new in the faith or unconverted, the truths of The Word so that they
they build, with the power of God, that solid foundation upon which
may live confidently by faith. Be a useful instrument for the glory of
God.

Glory to God alone.

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