🎥 Video 7B: Wildfire Accelerants

Hi, I am Haley Steiner, a CLI presenter.

This course is taught by Professor Brian DeCook.

A small fire can become destructive when accelerants are added.

Gasoline does not create fire by itself, but it can make a fire spread quickly.

Conflict works the same way.

A disagreement may begin with a misunderstanding, disappointment, hurt, or real wrongdoing.

But certain responses make the conflict spread faster.

In this course, we call these Wildfire accelerants.

They are attitudes, words, and behaviors that feed the flesh and make harm spread.

Some common accelerants are anger, pride, revenge, lying, hatred, intimidation, gossip, and manipulation.

Anger becomes an accelerant when it takes control of the heart and mouth.

Pride becomes an accelerant when being right becomes more important than being faithful.

Revenge becomes an accelerant when we want the other person to hurt the way we hurt.

Lying becomes an accelerant when we twist facts, leave out details, or tell the story in a way that makes us look innocent and the other person look evil.

Hatred becomes an accelerant when we stop seeing the other person as someone made in the image of God.

Intimidation becomes an accelerant when we use volume, position, money, authority, emotion, or spiritual pressure to force an outcome.

Gossip becomes an accelerant when we invite people into the conflict who are not part of the solution.

Manipulation becomes an accelerant when we try to control another person through guilt, fear, flattery, silence, or selective information.

Galatians 5 describes the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. That passage helps us discern what kind of fire is spreading.

The works of the flesh include hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions.

The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

That contrast gives us a heart check.

When I enter this conflict, what is increasing?

Is patience increasing?

Is truth increasing?

Is gentleness increasing?

Is self-control increasing?

Or are suspicion, accusation, anger, and division increasing?

This does not mean that every strong word is wrong.

Jesus spoke hard truth.

The prophets spoke hard truth.

The apostles corrected sin.

But biblical courage is not the same as fleshly aggression.

Courage stands in truth while remaining surrendered to God.

Aggression tries to win through force.

The Peacefire does not ignore sin.

It removes the accelerants so truth can be spoken in love.

Before moving on, ask yourself:

Which accelerant am I most tempted to add when I feel threatened?

Name it honestly.

Then ask the Holy Spirit to replace it with the fruit of Christ.