Snapshot: The Consuming Fire

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  Deuteronomy 4:24

I've had this brought to my attention recently.  God wants to burn up the things that we might be tempted to idolize.  He wants to separate us from our distractions so that we ourselves do more than just escape "as through fire"  (1 Corinthians 3:15).  He wants to begin testing us now, so that we can begin passing now!  Why wait until a day of rebuke?  I don't want to, and God doesn't want me to either.  If we let Him consume us and destroy our idols, we can have assurance that our works will be done for His Glory alone.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).  And if we love Him, we will obey His Will and our works will stand the test of His judgement.

Confirmed:

A few days ago I was reading an article on the Happy Hunters, a husband and wife team who ministered in healings and miracles starting in the 1970's.  They talked about the fire of God, and how a hunger for Him was necessary for an outpouring of the Spirit to take place.  Charles Hunter was mentioned as commanding healing on those in the audience.  When he did this, some watching saw fire come out of his hands.  This fire is the power and character of God.  It is joy unspeakable and full of Glory.   Often during healings we see that the person being healed gets a warm, tingling, or even burning sensation in the part of them that was afflicted.  God is at work when the fire of His presence is there.

Confirmed:

I was on the Quickened Word Forum and there was a topic on the purification that God gives us, and how it is a process of fire.  This post was pretty much matching what God had started speaking to me a few days prior.

Confirmed:

My Father in law just bought a sealant called "Fire Seal".  This happened after the two confirmations above.    Sealants to me always remind me that God has sealed me as His own.  In this case, this means that He allows us to go through fire so that we can be purified and remain in Him!


If we are not desperate for Him, it's only because we've been yoked with the world and do not know just what we are missing.  Friendship with the world is more than a turnoff to God.  Draw near to Him, and He will come in like a fire and consume you.  There is always a redemption when we die to ourselves.  Let's be purified before Him today.

Snapshot: His Rest

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In returning and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it'". Isaiah 30:15

This verse had been brought to my memory about a week ago now. It took a couple days and some events for the Lord to show me how exactly this verse applied to Me. God is so faithful, and He was preparing me for future events by bringing this promise to remembrance.

I need to rest in the validation God gives, and not in anything else. Other people do not have the power to justify or condemn. We cannot care about the thoughts of other people so much if it distracts us from God's feelings towards us. The world and it's systems are by default against God's word and His children. Conviction is His job, as is vengeance. Jesus even said we are blessed when men persecute us and speak evil of us. Our job is to turn the other cheek, withdraw from fruitless debating and return to Him. That's were we are aware of our salvation!

Our strength needs to be in the joy of the Lord. And the joy of the Lord is in "quietness and trust", not debating and arguing. The Lord was telling me this verse as a way to prepare me to turn the other cheek. It takes the Holy Spirit to become unoffendable, but praise God that in Him we can succeed. Trusting the words of men leads to deception, or, at best,someone's disappointment, but trusting in the Lord brings strength that does not fade away.

Reaping and Sowing

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what He sows." Galatians 6:7

We can sow life or destruction based on our yieldedness to The Lord. The Holy Spirit always directs us into fruitful sowing. If you are not being led by Jesus right now, you are setting yourself up for destruction. Thankfully God's grace can cover our fruitless sowing, but I want to give an example of God's justice when people sow with evil intent.

I did street ministry in Springfield, Missouri this summer. While downtown I met a women who was bleeding black blood, sick, and smelled of rotting flesh (sorry for the details...I was a little disturbed myself). But glory to God, He reminded me that greater is He in me! My faith was uplifted so that I knew I would not get sick myself. I talked with this women for a while, and she said that she and some friends had been casting spells and putting curses on people who wronged them.

As I heard this, I knew that she was unknowingly reaping those very same things she'd tried to sow in the lives of others. God was not mocked, He delivered justice instead. When this lady invoked evil in an attempt to hurt other people, she loosed an evil spirit. I believe that God in His sovereignty then redirected this spirit back to the sower. What a daunting example of this verse! Things like witchcraft cannot escape the power of God.

"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified." Galatians 3:1

Praise God that He restricts the power of evil by limiting the damage done by evil spirits primarily to the sower. The Galatians were bewitched into believing otherwise and so are many people today. Those who sow evil do not understand the resurrection power of Jesus, nor the way that His blood covers us from receiving the curses of others. I am thankful for the hedge of protection God puts around His own. Even those who sow destruction, if they repent, can be spared from the results of their actions. God can, by His grace, subdue any power by the salvation found through His son.