“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”(Isaiah 33:14)
The fire of God will never go out. We should have a hunger for more of God and his Holy Spirit.
This was the first thing that struck Moses as he observed the burning bush – the bush did not burn up, but neither did the flames die down. The temple fires on the altar of burnt offerings and the altar of incense never went out; it was holy fire. The Day of Pentecost was not something the disciples looked back upon with nostalgia and longing. That day extended throughout their lives. We read a little about their experience on the Day of Pentecost, but it takes the whole book of Acts to tell the full story – and even then it is not over! The fires of God do not diminish as time goes by. Their fuel sources are eternal, inexhaustible. As we read in Zechariah, the seven lamps received an endless supply of oil direct from the olive trees.
At the time of Pentecost in Jerusalem, magnificent aqueducts brought water from the hills to the city of Rome. Now all that remains of that remarkable piece of engineering are ruins. The arches are broken and the channels are dry.
Is that also true of Pentecost? Does it belong to a long-ago age, 20 centuries before modern times? Is there no longer an Upper Room, no more wind and fire? Is an idealized, stiff representation in stained glass all that a church now has of what was once its vitality?
Has the Church lost it’s favor?. It’s Fire?. Or are we so taken with the love of this world’s goods: TV, Football games and good food. But, there is shaking coming….a stiring of the Spirit…to bring us back to divine relationship, back to the truth….that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
But, you know what, we like to do it ourselves! If revival is truly a heavenly visitation, that means that we can’t manufacture it or produce it of ourselves. We have to be dependent on God. But that’s the best place to be! He wants to bring this stiring within us more than we want to see it. He wants to bless more than we want to be blessed. He has invested far more into this dying world than we have, and He has far more at stake. What better place to be than at the feet of the Lord in fervent prayer, crying out: “Revive Your people O God, Revive Us, Give Us a Day of Visitation!!”
And when He comes in power He will not only act. He will speak! Revival is characterized by the Word of God on fire. It is not simply a matter of making time in every service for teaching and preaching. It is not just giving the Word its proper place. We’ve had our fill of the pulpits that “honor the Word,” and many believers today are “taught to death.” They have become “spiritually fat” and lazy. No, it is a matter of the Word on fire, a matter of hearing the urgent message of the hour: “Repent” for the day is at hand” For it’s only through deep repentance can we hear from God (2 Chron 7:14)
We want a fire-baptized church. It is time for us to stand up, speak up, and never shut up. Let our tongues be set on fire by the Holy Spirit. Early Christians were burned like candles to light the gardens of Nero. We must burn like candles of God in the pitch darkness of this god-ignorant world. A man on fire is not afraid of what man can do to him. We know Him who is true; let us speak as if we do. The fire can only do as much as we let it. The Spirit will only bless where we go.
We must set this nation ablaze if only with our contention. Yes, we will be controversial figures but, we will also make godlessness controversial, showing it up for what it is; an object of scorn. Unbelief and the rejection of Christ bring every kind of wrong and wickedness in their train. The world is insane. It is insane to doubt God, the resurrection, and the Word of God.
Churches ablaze with enthusiasm, creating a national forest fire. Revival means fire; people who have real fire, burning publicly. Revival does not come if you stay comfortably indoors and pray for God to move. God will fire-baptize you and then send you out as Samson sent out the foxes with torches tied to their tails.
Jeremiah the prophet was the sort of man we want, millions of them. He was discouraged, but he could not keep quiet, for he said the word of God was like a fire shut up in his bones (Jer 20:9).
We come back to our first question. Our God is a consuming fire.
Can you live with Him, with the everlasting burnings? If you don’t, will you ever be able to live with yourself?
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