Flying Closer to the Flame: A Passion for the Holy Spirit [Hardcover]

Charles R. Swindoll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993

Chuck Swindoll suggests that many of us have spent our lives trying to keep a safe distance between ourselves and the Holy Spirit. It's time, he says, to experience all the blessings God has in store for us. It's time to start flying closer to the flame.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Word Publishing; 1ST edition (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849910013
• ISBN-13: 978-0849910012
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Charles R. Swindoll is senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the Bible teacher on the internationally syndicated radio program Insight for Living. He has written more than thirty best-selling books, including STRENGTHENING YOUR GRIP, LAUGH AGAIN, THE GRACE AWAKENING, and the million-selling GREAT LIVES FROM GOD'S WORD series. Chuck and his wife, Cynthia, live in Frisco, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flying Closer to the flame - Home Run!, October 22, 2000

By 

Jeffrey C. Hulderman (Clarkston, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying Closer to the Flame (Paperback)

As usual, Chuck Swindoll hits it out of the park! This book gives us a view of God's Holy Spirit not often taught from the pulpit. He tells us that incredible power is available to the believer to accomplish much for the cause of Christ, but we usually don't trust God to do much more than the mundane in our lives.

"Let's face it - many of us simly do not understand the Holy Spirit. We feel awkward relating to Him..." And, he goes on to teach us how to understand Him and how to comfortably relate to Him. This book is easy to use, taking little time out of the day, and listening to the audio tapes will really give you the complete picture.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Roller Coaster Ride, March 21, 2002

By 

"christluvr" (Lancaster, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flying Closer to the Flame (Paperback)

Charles Swindoll encourages the reader to get closer to the Holy Spirit yet seems more than cautiously skeptical of any claims of the Spirit's more dramatic manifestations. I found myself more than once starting to get excited about where he was going only to have him cut himself short to redundantly warn readers about getting "fanatical" or joining "cults". While I do agree that Christians should be duly cautious about dramatic experiences, claims, cults, and the plethora of charlatans who have paraded so called "gifts of the Spirit" on Television weighing everything they hear of and experience against the scriptures, I feel his cautions tended to overpower the many excellent points he made about how the Holy Spirit can empower, revitalize, and enable believers.

I commend the fact that Mr. Swindoll was clearly trying to be conscientious by gearing his work to a general audience of believers at all points of the spectrum of belief. Still, the repetitive admonitions gave the impression that he felt most dramatic and/or physical "manifestations" were not to be believed and that most readers of this book were looking for a grand miracle to confirm their weak conviction, rather than a deeper relationship with this integral Person of the trinity.

I feel the point that should have been more stringently stressed is how Christians themselves limit the Holy Spirit's influence and gifts because of feeble faith and a poor diet of God's word. When one is daily in the Bible and prays frequently and fervently seeking God's will in ALL they do, the influence and revitalizing qualities of the Holy Spirit are most poignantly experienced.

This is not to imply that the book has no merit or that there is nothing to be gleaned from it. On the contrary, Mr. Swindoll infuses most of his many excellent points with a healthy smattering of pertinent scripture and tended to lean more on Biblical truths than his own understanding. This is the sort of attentive preaching and teaching we could use much more of.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ground-Breaking Yet Now Somewhat Dated, January 20, 2008

By 

Robert W. Kellemen "Doc. K." (Crown Point, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flying Closer to the Flame: A Passion for the Holy Spirit (Hardcover)

If not for the dated nature (15 years old) of "Flying Closer to the Flame" I would surely give it five stars. In 1993, Chuck Swindoll, then President of the non-Charismatic, cessationist Dallas Theological Seminary somewhat shocked the Evangelical world by his authorship of this book.

As his title suggested, Swindoll was encouraging those who believe that the sign gifts have ceased to hold those theological views while remaining open to experiencing the full power and presence of the Holy Spirit today.

Non-charismatic cessationists teach that the sign gifts (such as healers, miracle workers, speaking in tongues, prophesy, etc.) ceased at the completiion of the New Testament canon. This has often caused them, according to Swindoll, to minimize the ongoing role of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life today.

With careful exegesis presented at the lay level, with careful balance avoiding extremes, and with an irenic spirit, Swindoll invites non-charismatics and charismatics alike to consider what the Bible does say about the Spirit's non-sign-gift-work today. He rightly teaches that there is much that the Bible promises about the Spirit's ministry that is still alive and well today.

Laying this foundational biblical theology, Swindoll moves into practical/pastoral theology of the spiritual life. He explores with readers the role of the Spirit in decision-making, guiding, and leading the believer. He examines the filling and fruit of the Spirit and how the Spirit produces spiritual maturity in believers today.

For readers wanting an updated and more scholarly focused study of the same topic from a cessationist perspective, "Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit" by Wallace and Sawyer is the recommended text.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering," "Soul Physicians," and "Spirtual Friends."