Fan The Flame

"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifice and the glory of the Lord filled the house."
II Chronicles 7:1

Every Christian needs the fire of God in their life. The fire of God is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. It prepares us for the glory of the Lord. It is the fire of God that takes the pages of our Bible and burns them in our heart. It is the fire of God that creates in us a passion for worship and an enthusiasm for prayer. It is the fire of God that gives us both the desire and the boldness to be a witness. Have you ever wondered, though; why some Christians seem to have a mighty inferno blazing in their lives, yet others merely a flickering tea light? Or have you ever questioned why there were times in your life when you had an intense, encompassing passion for the Lord, yet at other instances there was barely a flicker? I have heard Reinhard Bonnke say that "...there is a flame for every head...", but I can't help but notice that it seems that not everyone's flame is equal. That doesn't sound like the nature of God, because the Bible clearly states that God is no respecter of persons. So why is there such a difference from one person to the next? Why is there such differences between the various times in my own life, some seemingly hot, others apparently cold?

Some time ago now, I was in my hotel room praying. My hunger for God began to intensify even while I knelt there beside the bed. I was seeing the great need I had for God to come and consume my life, making me a flame of fire. Oh, how I desired it! Suddenly, the Lord began to speak to me, to teach me some things about His fire. He directed my attention to 2 Chronicles 7:1-2 and showed me that the fire fell on the sacrifice. In fact, He clearly spoke to my heart, saying, "Where there is no sacrifice, there will be no fire." I asked Him, "What is the sacrifice you are looking for, Lord?" He replied, "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercy of God that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God (Romans 12)."

That day literally changed my life, opening up such a depth of understanding from the Word of God regarding the fire of God. Recently, the Lord also showed me a picture. I saw a firea good size one, like a bon-fire. Different sized logs were fueling that fire. All of a sudden a hand reached into the fire and pulled out a log. As the log was set down, I saw that there was writing on it. It said, early morning prayer'. Then, another log was pulled out with the words tithes and offerings' on its side. More and more logs were slowly pulled out of the fire and set to the side. One said Bible study', and another said witnessing'. Then the hand pulled off logs which said consecrated lips', consecrated eyes', and consecrated ears'. I noticed that each time a log was pulled out of the fire, the flames grew a little smaller! Suddenly I begun to see, that the hand was mine, that I had been pulling logs off of the fire of God which was at work in my life. These were things that I had previously laid down and consecrated to the Lord; but that recently I had begun to rescue from the fire in the name of moderation. For the service and pleasure of my flesh.

A couple of months ago, I was driving through the countryside in Alabama, when in the distance I saw a huge column of smoke. The smoke was very thick and black, so I thought that a building must be on fire. As I got closer, I finally began to see flames, and they were at least twenty feet tall! Finally I was close enough to the fire to see that it was an old abandoned house, torn down and pulled off its foundation. Standing a little ways off from the fire were two men. One had a hose and the other one had a bucket! I thought to myself: O sirs, great is your faith!' Without supernatural intervention, there was no way they would ever put that fire out with a hose and a bucket! Suddenly, the Lord spoke to me and said "The only difference between that roaring inferno and the little flame on the end of a match is the amount of fuel they are given". You see, every flame, however small it might be, has the potential to become a forest fire if given the right conditions. It was a little match that started those terrible fires that have devastated thousands of acres in Colorado this summer.

There is a reason that our fire for the Lord has grown dim. It is because we give Him so little to work with, so little fuel to put on the fire. We go to church once, maybe twice a week. Our devotions last fifteen to twenty minutes, almost seven days of the week. We can't seem to find the time to witness or spend time in prayer.

When we were first born-again, we threw ourselves into the things of God. Into prayer, into Bible study, and into church every time the doors opened. Perhaps you were like me, removing all those nasty habits from your life. We monitored our TV, our magazines, our internet, our movies, our books and our social activities. "Fanat-ical," some might say. Probably true, but remember the passion and joy that filled our hearts? God was good, the devil was bad, and we were going to do great exploits for the kingdom of God! When the Lord first showed me that fire, I began to examine my heart. I started putting some of those logs back into the fire, and sure enough, He was there to meet me when I did. Now I've chosen to live my life in the fire of God, as intense as I can possibly get it! And I'm praying that some of you do too!

Many Blessings,
Jon