Being Strong and Stable

       Upon reading the following verse I felt led to encourage you with it. 1 Peter 5:10 -“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” In the first part of the verse is the phrase “God of all grace”.  One of my favorite definitions of the word grace is, “God’s ability in me to do that which I don’t have the ability to do.” I like that! It reminds me that the things I cannot do in my own strength, God will help me to do. Of course, we have to ask for his help.

        What I really want to focus on today are the last four key words in the verse – perfect, establish, strengthen and settle.

PERFECT – “…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18

     The word perfect in the Greek this word means “to mend (what has been broken or rent), to repair, to complete, to fit out, to equip, to put in order, to arrange, to adjust, to fit or frame for oneself, to prepare or ethically, to strengthen, to perfect, to complete, to make one what he ought to be.” (Emphasis mine)

    Imagine that, God desires to make us all that we ought to be!  In other words, God wants us to mature. He wants us to allow him to make the necessary changes in our lives so that we can be a reflection of him for others. This reminds me of Philippians 1:6 which says, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” What a promise! He WILL complete the work he has started in us!

ESTABLISH/CONFIRM- “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” II Thessalonians 3:3

     Establish in the Greek means “to make stable, to place firmly, to set fast, to fix, to strengthen, to make firm, to render constant, to confirm (one's mind).  The idea here is that God wants to build your life and character so that when the storms of life hit, you will have firmly placed in your mind and heart the promise of God’s protection and grace to get you through that time.

STRENGTHEN – “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” Psalm 31:24

     The meaning of this word is pretty basic - “to make strong, to strengthen; used of one's soul.”  Simply put, the Lord wants to make you stronger in your character and in your walk with him.  In times of difficulty as we turn to God for help he promises to strengthen us. Some of the ways we can gain strength is trough a bible study with other believers, by being part of a local church and most importantly by our time spent in the presence of God through prayer, praise and worship.

SETTLE – “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of the LORD is His treasure.” Isaiah 33:6

     This word means to “lay the foundation, to found, to make stable, to establish.” The word I want to focus on here is stable, but before I do that let’s consider the word establish in this definition. For those of you that are Christians you may be trying to find “your place” in your local church. You know you want to serve the Lord. You may even feel called to a particular area of ministry but you can’t see how it will ever come about. Let me encourage you with this thought. (I have to remind myself of this often!) Be patient. God will establish you where he wants you in your local fellowship. We’re all part of the body and we each have our particular function that God has designed for us. We just need to be willing to do what he wants us to do, not what we want to do.

     Now, getting back to the word stable or stability. What I want to focus on here is that God wants to make you a stable person. If you call out to him, as the above verse says, he will be the stability of your times. Jesus Christ is the only person that can give us true stability in our lives! The truth of the matter is that your life will never be ‘settled” until Jesus Christ has come into your life.

     What troubles you today?  Look at what Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”  You see, that’s the key. We must commit everything to the Lord. We have to have settled in our heart and mind that no matter what we’re going through in our life, we are going to live for him.

Commit everything unto the LORD, and He will establish your thoughts. Do things His way; do them unto Him; turn them over to Him in prayer; and trust Him for the results. He will take care of you. If you’re going through a struggle at this time contact a leader in your church or someone that you know who is a mature Christian and ask them to pray with you.

     Until next time, be strong in the might of the Lord!

Magnify His Name!

        Recently I found myself humming the chorus to a song we used to sing at my former church where I used to live. The words go like this: “I’m free to worship, I’m free to praise, I’m free to lift up holy hands and magnify His name.” Intimacy, that is something our Lord so desires that we have with him. Are you free to worship him? I once heard someone say; “That praise and worship stuff if just a bunch of emotional hype for Pentecostals and Charismatics.” Oh my goodness, that is so far from the truth!

     All throughout the bible we find commands to praise and worship the Lord. Here are just two scripture passages of dozens found in the bible: “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.”  Psalm 134:1-2 This next one was a real eye opener for me at one time. “Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise in the assembly of saints. …this honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD! “  Psalm 149:1 & 9 (Emphasis mine) Do you see that? ALL God’s children have the awesome privilege of praising him. Let’s see how we can magnify his name together!

Mention His Name – “ And in that day you will say: "Praise the LORD, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4

     One way we can magnify the Lord is to be a witness for him. Give him praise by sharing with others what he has done for you.

Abide in His Presence - "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

Acts 3:19

     Friend, when you need some refreshing in your life, the best thing to do is to spend time in the presence of the Lord. The Holy Spirit can do in seconds what it will take a counselor or doctor days, weeks or years to do.

Give Him the Glory – “But "he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." 2 Corinthians 10:17

     When God moves through your life to minister to someone else, don’t take the credit for it. Give all the glory to God. We must never forget that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can do anything for God.  See Zechariah 4:6

No One Else - "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

     We must remember that it is through Jesus Christ that one is born-again and gains eternal life. Our church, our pastor, or our denomination…nothing can save us but the shed blood of Jesus. We can’t even depend on the relationship our family members have with God. We must have our own relationship with him.

Intimacy – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” James 4:8

     The Lord is waiting for us with open arms to come to draw close to him. If your parents weren’t like that, know that God is. He loves you and wants to spend time with you.

Freedom - "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

    When you walk in the truth of God’s word you will be free to worship. You see, when we have things in our lives that we know are not right, it’s often difficult to enter into God’s presence & praise him. When things aren’t right we often let pride get in the way. Don’t’ run from God, run to him!

Yearn for More of Jesus – “I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah”  Psalms 143:6

     “Selah” means to “pause and consider this”. In other words, think about it, if we don’t spend time in God’s presence and in the bible, like the land without rain, our soul will become dry. Are you thirsty for more of Jesus? Cry out to him and he will fill you.

     Just knowing that he has saved you is worth praising him. Let me close with one of my favorite songs - “When I Think about the Lord/ How He saved me/ how He raised me/ how He filled me, with the Holy Ghost/. How He healed me, to the uttermost. When I Think about the Lord/ how He picked me up and turned me around/ how He placed my feet on solid ground/ It makes me wanna shout, Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus, Lord, your worthy, of all the glory/and all the honor/and all the praise... “

     Until next time, MAGNIFY his name!

YOU CAN BE FREE!!

   

  I remember a time when I received a phone call from a woman who in the past couple of months her family had experienced the deaths of two relatives from suicide. And, a third relative attempted suicide.  Receiving that call reminded me of times myself and others have had to battle the lies about suicide. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2001 suicide took the lives of 30,622 people. All that said I would just like to encourage you once again that there is hope beyond where you are.

     There were several people in the bible that battled depression, fear & being suicidal for one reason or another. King Saul, King David, Elijah, Jeremiah and Judas; just to mention a few. Let’s look at a few examples from the life of King David. In Psalm 38: 6-8 “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long…I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Sound familiar? Depression, fear, suicidal thoughts, etc. all begin in the mind. The mind is the battlefield that the devil uses to bring us to a point of despair, defeat and the desire to give up on life. The fact of the matter is that none of those negative thoughts are true. The Word of God is true.

     In many of the Psalms you find David going through depression and other negative emotions. Depression, self-condemnation, etc. are usually rooted in guilt. We feel so badly about our life that we begin to isolate ourselves from others. Isolation is a major tool that the devil uses against us. If he can get us alone and keep bombarding our minds with his lies that we’re no good, useless, or no one cares, and the list of lies goes on.

     Back to King David. In many of the Psalms you will find that David starts off with despairing thoughts but by the time you get to the end of the psalm he ends on a happy note. Why is this? We find the answer in 1 Samuel 30: 6 – “Now David was greatly distressed…But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” God is the ONLY one who can help us and deliver us of our hopelessness. Allow me to share just a few pointers from the bible that may be helpful to you.

God has a good plan for your life. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:11-12      God has a specific plan in mind for everyone but we won’t know that plan unless we ask him. God's plan for you is life, not death. The Bible teaches that both physical and spiritual deaths are the result of our sin and disobedience to God, but eternal life is a gift to those who receive it. (See Romans 3:23) Repentance is the first step in moving forward.

Death and destruction are the work of the devil.  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “ John 10:10

     In this scripture Jesus refers to the devil as a thief. That’s what he is! All that Satan wants to do is steal from our families, and us. He does it by filling our minds with his lies so that we will become discouraged and give up.

The giving and taking of life belongs to God. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19

I won’t dwell on this point because I want to focus on some positives in closing. Simply put, it is never our place to take our own life or someone else's life.

     If suicide is not the answer then what is?

Hope in the Lord  “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20

     We must put our hope in the Lord, not in other people, not in our job, not in ourselves. Our hope should be in the Lord Jesus Christ only.  The solution to hopelessness is not suicide, but faith in God.

Tell someone -  “12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”  Hebrews 12:12-13

     Tell your pastor or youth minister, your parents, a close relative, your teacher or school counselor, about the struggles you are facing and that suicide is in your thoughts. You can’t get help if the need isn’t made known.

     Lastly, but most importantly…

Accept Christ's free gift of eternal life and salvation –“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13

     If you call out to Jesus, he will answer you! But he’s waiting for you; he will not force himself upon you.  Look at what John 1:12 says; “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Once you accept Christ, God gives us a brand-new life and helps you learn to walk a holy life. I close with one of my favorite scriptures… “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.“ 

2 Corinthians 5:17

COMFORT ZONE CHALLENGES

       

 Recently I heard a couple of sermons, although from different perspectives, they both covered the need for us to get out of our comfort zone and be all that God has called us to be. One pastor challenged us in two ways.  First he encouraged us to pray and make sure that the things we’re doing in the church are for the sake of the Kingdom of God and not for our own glory. I would add to that, and not so that we can have control over a particular area in the church. Then he challenged us to step out and be passionate about the things of God with the understanding that we will one day be judged for how we lived our lives for the Lord.

     Now before you jump the gun, his message was not a “salvation by works” message. Rather it was an enlargement of James 2:17 which says, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”  We must prove ourselves that we are truly serving Jesus.

     The second pastor I heard preach made the following statement: “Getting comfortable spiritually will lead to complacency.” He said this statement was shared among some ministers who realized that they had grown satisfied with where they were at spiritually and had lost their passion to win people to the Lord.

     Perhaps you have grown complacent in your passion for the things of God. Or, maybe God has been speaking to your heart about stepping into a particular area of service and you’ve been holding back in fear of not being qualified. The first thing I’d like to share with you is a quote I’ve heard often. “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.”  In the Amplified Bibles, look at what 2 Corinthians 3:5 says. “Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.”  We can’t do it on our own!  So, what are some things we can do to feel more prepared to step out of our comfort zones?

Be Mentored – “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Pet 4:10

     I have shared this with you before.  If you know God is speaking to your heart to serve in some capacity, find a Christian who is mature & has experience in being a leader and place yourself under their mentorship. Being mentored means learning and serving under the one whom God places you so that when the time comes for you to branch out on your own you will understand both serving and leading. Thus you will be a “Servant Leader.”

Be Studious - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

     Most importantly, read the bible!  However, there is an abundance of books, courses, and workshops out there for you to learn from.  Just make sure that whatever you expose yourself to that is in line with the bible.  Ask the person mentoring you if they have any recommendations of what to study.  Now a word to pastors & church leader… Next to receiving our salvation. There is nothing that can give us more joy than to pour our lives into another person to help spread the Kingdom of God through their lives.  As leaders this is what we’re called to do – equip, train and edify. (Ephesians 4:11)

Be Empowered – “…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6

Be Ready – “14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16          Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” 1 Timothy 4:14-16

    Remember, when we try to do things in our strength they will not last. We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us in all that we do.  And we must make sure that what we’re doing is a “God thing”, not a “good thing”. I tell my students all the time – “Something may come along that’s godly, even something that God could bless, but it might not be his best for your life.”  We must be sure that Satan is not deceiving us when he disguises himself as an angel of light. (See 2 Corinthians 11:14)

     Until next time, be a modern day Peter and step out of the boat to let Jesus lead you!

Are You Letting the World In? - Part 2

    

           In our last post, we looked at three areas of life where the devil likes to set traps for us. First, we looked at the Lust of the flesh.  We learned that this is where the devil tries to get us to choose our own will instead of the will of God. We talked about how the devil disguises himself as something good, causing us to doubt God’s will for our lives. 

     Next, we talked about the Lust of the eyes.  This is where the devil tries to get our eyes off of the Word of God. Satan brings things along that appear to us to be more important than the Word of God in our lives. If we’re not careful, that very thing will pull us away from the scriptures, and we will miss out on the truths God has for us.

     The last thing we discussed was the Pride of life. This comes against our worship of God. We want to worship ourselves, or other things or people, instead of God. We become caught up in what “we” want to do, what “we” think is best, etc.

     Now I want us to take a few minutes to see how we can escape the traps that Satan tries to set for us.

     First, Capture your thoughts – For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

     We must take our thoughts captive. We can’t allow them to run wild or be the controlling factor in our lives.

     Second, Evaluate the thought – “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-- meditate on these things.”  Philippians 4:8

     Assess what you’re thinking. Does it line up with the scriptures? If I act on it, what will be the result? Can I praise God for the thought?

     Third, Confess the wrong you’ve done – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9

     Confessing our sin means to admit that it’s there. Once we can admit the problem, the next step is to repent of the sin. Repent means to turn away from. In other words, you make a decision to walk away from that kind of behavior and turn to God and his ways.

     Fourth, Resist – “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

     Resisting temptation cannot be accomplished by will power alone. You need the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why this verse tells us to first submit to God, and then we can resist the devil. Now let me share something about this thing called sin that may help you more easily resist temptation. What is happening when we face a temptation? Here it is: we’re tempted to meet a legitimate need in a wrong way, through the world, the flesh, and/or the devil, by living independently of God. 

     Here’s an example. You’ve been rejected in the past and desire so badly to be loved. So you go to the clubs, meet someone of the opposite sex, and allow yourself to live in a promiscuous way. After going through various relationships, you’re still not satisfied. Why? Because you are trying to get the love you need from sources other than God. Author Neil Anderson says this about temptation: “Temptation’s hook is the devil’s guarantee that what we think we want and need outside of God’s will can satisfy us. Don’t believe it.”

    Here’s another scripture about the process of temptation. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:14-15

     Space does not permit me to expound on this verse, as much as I would like. Simply put, when we “toy” with fleshly desires and thoughts instead of resisting them, we will eventually fall prey to them. And that will lead to spiritual death. My friend, nothing and no one is worth missing heaven for!

     As we close, let’s look at one more scripture that will help us to have victory over these areas. Look at what Zechariah 4:6 says. “… 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.”  The bottom line, my friend, is that in and of ourselves, we do not have the power to overcome temptation or anything else in our lives. We must rely on the power of the Spirit of God to strengthen us during our times of weakness. You are not alone in your battle. Jesus is standing there just waiting for you to ask for help. Ask him. I know you won’t be disappointed.

  

Are You Letting the World In? - Part 1

     What I am sharing with you today was provoked by some recent-mails, regular mail, and conversations I’ve had with people. The common thread was a concern about being Christian and yet being worldly. One friend wrote me about a Christian rock concert she went to where the dancing and body language was very suggestive. Now, before you put this down, hear me out. I am not against good contemporary music. As long as the music brings glory to Jesus Christ I am okay with it.

     The concern I’ve heard voiced is this. Why does the church feel like it has to compromise it’s standards, morals and values to bring people in?  Brothers and sisters, remember we are in the world but not of it. In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 it says,  “16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

     Let’s look at some of the traps the devil tries to use against us to draw us into worldly living. They are found in the following scripture. “16 For all that is in the world-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-- is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” I John 2:16-17 - Here are three main areas of temptation that we face. Some of the things that we’re tempted by aren’t always what I call “the big bad evils”.

The lust of the flesh - preys on our physical appetites.

     The lust of the flesh is what led to the fall of Adam and Eve to fall. Satan stirred Eve’s interest by making the fruit appealing to her. (Genesis 3:1) So an example of something that is a lust of the flesh could be over-eating. (Remember, we’re not just looking at the “big sins” here.  As Christians, the devil won’t draw us away with things that are obviously wrong.

     Back to Eve... We know the story how Satan twisted the will of God to confuse Eve.  He will often try to do the same with us.  Look at what 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” He will make something appear to be real desirous to us and he will attempt to twist the word of God in our lives. The lust of the flesh draws us away from the will of God. It’s choosing our will over his will.

The lust of the eyes - appeals to self-interest/preservation.

     The lie that the devil tells us here us that we must have a sense of self-preservation, what appears to be” my best interest.”   The next lie that Satan told Eve was – “Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.” Genesis 3:4 He was twisting the scriptures again. It’s the old argument, “God won’t me make die for doing this.” The death in Genesis 3 was a spiritual death, not a physical death. After they ate the fruit Adam and Eve were still physically alive, but they were now spiritually separated from God and found themselves in need of restoration.

     It’s no different today. The lies the devil tells us are things like ”You’re young, just live it up.” Or “I’m not hurting anyone.” Or “I have my rights.”  And the list goes on. Reality is that every choice we make not only affects us, it affects those around us. Friend, be strong, don’t follow the crowd. Be willing to make wise choices according to God’s word instead of being worried about what others will think. The devil will make things come up that cause us to think we don’t have time to read the bible, etc. The truth is, we cannot afford to not read the bible for it is the ONLY truth out there.

The pride of life- self-promotion/self-exaltation

     This one is obvious; it is about thinking you’re better than others. It’s like the story in Luke 18:10-14 where the Pharisee said: “ 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” He thought that appearing religious made him better than others. There’s no such thing as different levels of sin. Sin is sin whether you kill someone or tell a lie. We need to walk in humility before God.  A good definition of humility is “confidence properly placed.”  If our confidence is in God, we can be assured that we’re living as he would have us live.

     Sometimes pride can cause us to hold on to things that we think are important, or make us better than others, and we think even better than God. Things like position, possessions, intellect, our feelings, job, and family, to mention a few.

     In closing, I leave you with one more scripture. “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2

     Next week in part two we will look at how we can escape the traps the devil tries to set for us.

Consumed By God's Fire!

     Recently I found myself singing the words a song titled “Take Me In” by Dave Browning. “The words are: “Take me past the outer courts/And through the holy place/Past the brazen altar/Lord, I want to see Your face./Pass me by the crowds of people/And the priests who sing their praise/I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness/But it’s only found one place. So take me in to the Holy of Holies/Take me in by the blood of the Lamb/So take me in to the Holy of Holies/Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am”.  Thinking about this led me to Hebrews 12:28,29 – “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

     Let’s look at how the fire of God can affect our lives.

The Fire of God Purifies - "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap.” Malachi 3:2

     It is only the Lord who can purify us. There is nothing we can do to make our self  “more clean” for God. The only thing that can cleanse us is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Once we accept God’s gift of salvation the cleaning process begins. And it is just that, a process. While some things may change instantly, for most of us it is a process of growth and maturing in our relationship with the Lord.

The Fire of God Consumes - For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

     The fire of God will consume us. The definition for the word consume here is “to do away with completely.”  In other words, the fire of God will remove everything from our life that is a hindrance to his life flowing through us. This happens when we spend time in the presence of God.  I’ve said it before, when we’re in the presence of God in a matter minutes He can radically change our lives.

The Fire of God Empowers - John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. Luke 3:16

Another scripture - Acts 1:8 -"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

     In the natural, wherever there is a fire you can see power. A fire is a powerful thing of destruction. When God’s presence is in our lives we will have power. When we allow the fire of God to consume us, and the Spirit of God to come upon us, we will be empowered to live godly lives, to fulfill his calling on our life and be a witness to others.

     Having said this there is one more point to consider. What will keep the fire of God burning in our lives? . We need just a spark to keep it going.  Let me explain that with a short acronym

Submission - humble ourselves under the authority of God’s Word daily. – James 4:10
Prayer - pray daily  - Ephesians 6:18
Approaching - seek God’s face in intimacy – Psalms 27:8
Repentance - turn from our sins – Acts 2:38
Kneeling – Worship Him! – Psalm 95:6

  If we will be diligent to do these things we can be assured that the fire of God will not burn out in our lives.  I would like to close with the chorus to a song titled “Refiner’s Fire”. Let it be a prayer for each of us as we walk through the process of becoming more like him. Remember, for gold to get it’s worth, it must be burned in the fire but the goldsmith.

Here’s the chorus: “My heart's one desire/is to be holy/set apart for You Lord/I choose to be holy/set apart for you my master/ready to do your will.”

     Until next time, let the fire of God burn!