Christians, what does it mean to be “on fire” for God? Recently we were at our mid-week service at Church. We were singing the song, “Set me ablaze”, by Jesus Culture. During this song, God laid out a depiction of what it is like to be on fire for Him. Of course, He used a time when I was lighting a fire at my Grandpa’s farm.
My Grandpa has a farm and he asked me to come help him clean up the cocklebur weeds. If you are unfamiliar with a cocklebur it is a weed whose seed looks like a little sea urchin. If you go walking through nature, they are the ones that get stuck on your socks or clothing. They are a pain to remove. We cut all the weeds and piled them up in his front yard.
Many of them were damp or green, so I used an accelerant to help get the fire going. I very carefully doused the pile with some gasoline, I then stuck some crumpled up paper strategically and went to light it. The fumes from the gas were so strong, that before the paper lit, WHOOSH, the gas ignited and flared up. (The hair on my hand is almost fully grown back now 🙂 ) I was not hurt, but I wondered how God would turn this for my good?
He gave me the revelation that sometimes in our walk, we have moments where we have an ACCELERANT experience. It could be a youth camp, it could be a speaker’s conference, it could be an amazing midweek service. The presence of God is so strong over that experience that it does not take much for us to ignite, to be set off. It’s the time when we are most DANGEROUS because we can singe the enemy. He is intimidated by an on fire church! The problem is, much like the accelerant, it STARTS the fire, but it does not SUSTAIN the fire, that is our part. The song says, “breath, come and breath on the coals of my heart.” We need God to send His spirit, like a mighty wind, to fan the flame to increase the heat.
During this same fire I was burning, I was literally blowing on some of the coals. As I did, the oxygen would cause the fire to increase, to flare up. I blew and blew (got a little light-headed) but finally the fire took off and was burning, instead of smoke, there was FLAME. Now I had something I could work with!
To clean up the farm, we pulled branches I had cut last fall out of the weeds, they were good and dry and the fire burnt them up with ease, and the fire got hotter and hotter. The flames were over 5 feet tall. As I worked around the farm, I cut down a small fresh tree that was in the way. I put that fresh tree on the fire, and because the fire was hot and burning, it consumed the fresh cut tree easily, even though it was not dried out. Later when the fire had died down, I tried to add some other new branches I had cut. They would NOT ignite, they could not be burnt because my fire had died down. I had to pile them up for a later burn because I had no flame.
The dry branches represent the spiritual fuel for our Christian lives. They are the Word of God, the Holy Bible, teachings, messages, anointed worship, a powerful testimony, a miracle received, or a breakthrough. They fuel our walk with God, they keep us passionate, they keep us focused, they keep us driven. The green branches represent the tests and trials we are guaranteed to face as Christians. They are the loved ones who die, the lost jobs, the health trial, the lost loved one or prodigal son test, the broken washing machine, financial strain, and the waiting seasons we all face. If you are feeding the fire in your spirit enough dry branches then you’ll be prepared when the enemy throws wet branches your way – they’ll be CONSUMED by the RAGING fire of faith in your life! People will be amazed, maybe a little scared to get too close to you, because they can feel the heat, the passion you have for God in your life.
God longs for an ON FIRE Church – He is not impressed by a lukewarm Church. An ON FIRE Church is full of ON FIRE people. ON FIRE people can be encouraged, led, and fed by on fire pastors, worship leaders, small group leaders, and other members of the congregation, however they are most effective at tending their own fire on a daily basis. I know at times, I have felt the flame FLICKER, I have felt luke-warm, and in those times, God will send a meeting like last Wednesday night, where His spirit came, it fanned the flame. It was accompanied by prophetic words, revelations, instruction, edification, and encouragement. I came into the meeting physically tired from the work I had been doing, and spiritually tired from the lack of fire in my life. I left the meeting with a raging fire in my soul which spilled over into the natural realm. My physical body even had more energy, enough to come home and write this revelation.
Many things can challenge or douse the flame in our lives. In the American Church, it could be as simple as not getting a position in the Church you feel you deserve, maybe a snide comment, or the way someone looked at you. We are sometimes so sensitive that the simplest thing could affect our fire for God. In other countries people are suffering and dying for the opportunity to be called a Christian. Even the early Apostles faced situations that you THINK would douse their flames, but if you look how they responded, they were ON FIRE! Nothing, NOTHING could stop them, they were so ON FIRE that they followed God, proudly, boldly, fiercely, most of the time, to their death. To have that fire, to live those lives, I long for that fire!
If you feel like you are not ON-FIRE, but you want that fire, that raging, all consuming fire. Let’s pray for it. Heavenly Father, we come to you, we ask you to breath on our lives, we ask the Holy Spirit to come like a rushing wind over the coals, to stoke the flame. We purpose to feed our fire the right fuel (you Word), to keep it blazing, so that we can face the tests and trials with passion and a right heart and mindset. Please pour accellerant on our lives right now, through this post, to light brand new fires, to re-light fires that may have gone out, and to raise us all to a deeper level of intimacy with you, in Jesus name, Amen.
God’s Message to a Church NOT on fire: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and repent. Revelation 3:15-16, 19 (NIV)
God shows up, for those ON-FIRE: The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Acts 16:22-23, 25-26 (NIV) (emphasis added)
*ON-FIRE people look as suffering differently: When they heard this they were furious and wanted to put them to death. (a man makes a point) His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The Apostles left the Sanhedrin, REJOICING because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Acts 5:33, 40-41 (NIV) (emphasis added)
That is why I would remind you to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination]. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well balanced mind and discipline and self-control. II Timothy 1:6-7 (AMP)
written and posted by Daniel Poggensee | 2016
roadcrew 40|3 