Ginnak Wilasin Lyrics by Lasantha Fernando

Burning upon my head like a fire,
O Spirit,
kindle and set ablaze the fire in my heart,
come, Holy Spirit

I did the bidding of illusion and lies,
lost, deceived, in the darkness
by your cross… kindle my heart,
with light… kindle my eyes

Gazing at the wicked shadow of falsehood,
would my rightful sight slip away and flee?
by your cross, kindle my eyes,
and keep me abiding in your service

This is a prayer to the Holy Spirit, and its opening image comes straight from the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit descended on the first believers as “tongues of fire” resting on their heads. The singer asks for exactly that: “burning upon my head like a fire, O Spirit, kindle and set ablaze the fire in my heart, come, Holy Spirit.” Fire here is not destruction but purifying, energizing presence, the passion and power of God set alight within.

The reason for the prayer is confessed honestly in the second verse. “I did the bidding of illusion and lies, lost, deceived, in the darkness.” The believer knows he has been living by falsehood and needs rescuing, and so he asks the Spirit, through “your cross,” to “kindle my heart” and “with light, kindle my eyes.” Fire and light together, one to warm and move the heart, the other to let him see truly again.

The final verse names the danger he fears, “gazing at the wicked shadow of falsehood, would my rightful sight slip away and flee?” He is afraid of being deceived once more, of losing clear vision, and so he prays to have his eyes kindled by the cross and, above all, to be kept close: “keep me abiding in your service.” What the listener is left with is the earnest longing of Pentecost, a heart asking to be set on fire by the Spirit, cleared of illusion, and held fast in God, burning and seeing by the light of the cross.