I have some questions for you.
- Are you discontent with your spiritual life?
- Does just going to church not satisfy the yearning deep in your heart?
- Do you feel that nothing seems to satisfy you anymore?
- Are you desperate for more of Jesus?
- Do you desire intimacy with Him but don't know how to go deeper?
- Do you want more supernatural signs and wonders in your life?
- Is your heart's desire to hear the voice of God?
- Do you want to encounter Jesus, move in His anointing and see beyond the natural into the supernatural and what is happening in the Heavens?
- Do you want to learn how to pray powerfully for others?
God wants to satisfy our longings and teach us how to do this. He wants to open our eyes to see in the Spirit to fulfill the Great Commission. He wants to show us how to intercede for the people around us and the nations. He wants to anoint us with the Fire of His power and presence. He wants us to become a people of revelation, longing for nothing else and no one else but Jesus.
Let's raise our hands in worship and thanksgiving to the Lord and ask Him to give us the desires of our heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to come touch and consume us and let more of His presence come.
PRAYER - Lord Jesus, we welcome the Holy Spirit and the fiery glory of Your presence. We welcome the Cross and the blood that You shed for us. We ask You to come and touch us, Lord. We need fresh winds and fresh visitations. We need a fresh touch of Your mercy and love. I ask that You meet everyone here and show Yourself to us. Show us how to understand the Holy Spirit and learn how to move in Your anointing. Let the Fire of God come with a fresh illumination of Your Word and impartation from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet so we can be a carrier of Your glory and presence as a walking flame of Fire. Teach us how to pray for one another. Open our ears so we can hear You through all the noise of this world. Give us Your eyes so we can see how You see people. Encourage us with how You love intimately and have a plan for our lives. I now ask that the Fire of Your anointing fall upon everyone here. Open our hearts to receive the fresh illumination and interpretation of Your Word so that we would be willing to meet face-to-face and feel what You feel. Amen!
I am excited when I come to church because it allows me to ask the Lord what He desires to do for that day and how I can pray over the people to receive what He wants to give. Every service is different. Every group of people is diverse. It is never the same and never boring because God is not boring. Sometimes people get bored, but God isn't.
God wants to give us fresh Fire and impartation of His heart. He wants to ignite our hands to be the hands of a servant for a hurt and dying world just as His hands were nailed on the Cross. He wants to anoint us with fresh oil and Fire to heal the sick.
He wants to commission us as carriers of the glory! He wants His glory and weight to settle around each of us. He wants us to know His presence. He wants to ignite a torch of Fire from His Throne Room inside each of us to be carriers of His glory and ignite our homes, churches, and cities for His purposes.
Do you seriously seek Jesus? Do you hunger and thirst for Him? Does your body yearn for Him like water in a dry and weary land? (Psalm 63:1)
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! (Isaiah 55:1 ESV)
Just working and pursuing money to buy things does not fill you up and satisfy the longings of your spirit or nourish you like food. You must eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest foods He provides (Isaiah 55:2)! Only Jesus can satisfy the thirsty and fill the hungry with good things (Psalm 107:9).
Tasting the heavenly gift and the goodness of God and His Word and sharing in the power of the Holy Spirit is not enough to get to Heaven (Hebrews 6:4-6). Genuine satisfaction in this life comes from the blessing of God upon those who earnestly desire His approval and do what He deems is right (Matthew 5:6). You must pursue righteousness and loving devotion to Jesus to find real life (Proverbs 21:21).
"So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." (1 Peter 1:2-3 ESV)
To "taste and see that the Lord is good," you must trust and take refuge in Him (Psalm 34:8 ESV). Do you truly believe that the Lord is good all the time? Do you take refuge in Him?
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine." (Proverbs 3:5-10 ESV)
We must ask God to teach us how to hear His voice so that we can trust Him more. He wants us to be totally dependent on His mercy and be desperate to hear His voice (John 10:3; Romans 9:16). His written Word teaches us about His character and nature so we can know Him and clearly hear His voice to follow Him (John 10:27). God is good all the time because He is Love (1 John 4:8,16)
Catch this – replace the word ‘love’ with the name Jesus!
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)
God has given every Born-Again Christian the ministry of reconciliation so that every person can experience His divine favor (2 Corinthians 5:18). For us to do that, we must let Jesus deal with our fear of man, looking different, making mistakes, being wrong, losing our reputation - you name it. It can be frightening to step out in trusting-faith and let Him impart the supernatural gifts through us.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrew 13:8 NLT)
Jesus does not change (Malachi 3:6). We are not to be attracted by strange, new ideas because our strength comes from God's grace, not from rules that don't help those who follow them (Hebrews 13:9).
God has given irrevocable supernatural gifts to help people (Romans 11:29). They are NOT our possession but are for those who need them for healing, restoration, and direction. A sick person needs the gift of Healing. A person who needs guidance or restoration needs the gift of Wisdom or Knowledge, and so on. They are not about us but about others who need them.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit."
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." (1 Corinthians 12:1-11 ESV)
THE FIRE OF GOD
"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." (Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV)
The love of God is "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). Fire often appears as a symbol of His presence, the Shekinah Glory, as well as a sign of His power (Exodus 3:2, 14:19; Numbers 9:15-16; Ezekiel 1:4; Judges 13:20; 1 Kings 18:38). Fire represents the presence of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 3:2; 13:21; Acts 2:3-4).
In the Old Testament, God showed His presence to the Israelites by spreading fire over the Tabernacle (Numbers 9:14-15). His fiery presence provided light and guidance (Numbers 9:17-23). His Fire was required for burnt offerings as sacrifices to God. The original Fire on the altar was ignited directly by Him (Leviticus 9:24). He commanded the priests to keep His Fire lit (Leviticus 6:13). No other source of igniting the Fire was acceptable (Leviticus 10:1-2).
When Solomon finished his prayer of dedication, Fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices. The glory of the Lord filled the temple (2 Chronicles 6:12-7:3).
Elijah prayed and the Fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and the water in the trench (1 Kings 18:38). On the day of Pentecost, tongues of Fire fell upon the heads of the Disciples and "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2:3-4 ESV). Jesus will "baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matthew 3:11 ESV).
The Fire of God is the Holy Spirit, who indwells the spirit, mind, and body of the Born-Again Christian and anoints us daily to do His bidding (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:15-17, 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:1,6:16). It gives us passionate love for God and His Word. It helps us surrender to His will for our lives completely. Just as with the Old Testament sacrifices to God, we are called to offer our bodies as "living sacrifices" to be consumed daily by the Fire of the Holy Spirit on the altar of His glory (Romans 12:1; Matthew 3:11).
The Holy Spirit brings the Triune God's presence, passion, protection, and purity into our lives so that we can have a fiery passion for Jesus in our hearts and share the Gospel in power (Luke 24:32; Acts 4:31). He comes daily to positionally sanctify, cleanse, and refine to remove sin from us (Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 17:3; Titus 2:14; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 12:5-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2). He "refines" our trusting-faith "by fire" so that it results "in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7 ESV – also Zechariah 13:9).
BENEFITS
We can keep the Fire of God burning in our lives by doing the following:
- Offer up praise and thanksgiving to God from a clean and sincere heart. (Psalm 19:4)
- Meditate on God's Word day and night. Read it, speak it, and live it.
"I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word"… "I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes." (Psalm 119:15,48 ESV)
- Always give thanks to God, rejoice, and pray without ceasing.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV)
The Lord hears and answers all our prayers.
"Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." (Psalm 139:4 ESV)
"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (1 John 5:14-15 ESV)
- Deny Yourself
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34 ESV)
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6 ESV)
THE PRICE
There is a price behind the Fire and anointing of God. We must pray daily, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" (Psalm 139:23 ESV) Ask the Lord to show you your heart as He sees it, and then let Him adjust every part of your personality so that you align with His Word and have an intimate relationship with Him.
It requires honest repentance or forgiving someone. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door to the anointing (Mark 11:25-26). It also requires dying to our reputation and fear of making mistakes. We must have a heart for lost people and be willing to speak to them with the words of God. We must commit to a sacrificial lifestyle and be willing to lay hands on the sick and brokenhearted whether or not we see immediate results.
There will be seasons when God wants us hidden so that He can teach and train us in His ways and hear His voice. We must let Him lead and direct us as we stay committed to a lifestyle of saying yes to Him in obedience, no matter how long it takes.
Stop coming to church as a spectator. Come as a participant, a warrior, and a watchman. Open the eyes of your heart and tell the Lord you are listening for Him to speak. Ask Him what is happening in the church today and how He will speak to you and the people.
Do you want to intimately know and touch Him? Stop expecting other people to hear His voice for you. Ask God to open your ears so you can hear Him anytime, day or night. Ask for His presence to fall on you right now with hot Fire and touch the deepest fibers of who you are. Let His anointing come!
LET'S PRAY!
Lord Jesus, we want to be an open and yielded vessel to You. We want to know Your heart with every part of our being. Put keys into our hands to unlock prison cells and set captives free. Teach us how to pray for the sick and let the fire of Your miracle power come so that the dead can be raised. You said that we would do even greater works than You, so we pray that You teach us daily to trust and follow You with all our hearts. Amen
