The God Who Answers By Fire Series

Folks, the fires of God come into your lives, not because He doesn’t love you, but because He does. He loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way. As a friend of mine said recently, God is more concerned with your holiness than your happiness.

He wants to cut through your hypocrisy to make you real, to make your testimony believable. He wants you to cut through going thru the motions and commit your heart, all that’s inside of you. He wants you to place Him first, above all else, above your comfort, above the opinions of your peers, above the opinions of your children or parents. He wants you to stop trying so hard to look and sound like a Christian, but actually act like one. He wants your walk to match your talk.

And He’ll do it by presenting you with challenges. He’ll use a verse from James that says, how can you say you love me when you hate so-and-so? He’ll use a verse in Matthew that says where 2 or 3 are gathered in his name He’ll be there, and He’ll ask the question: how can you say you believe in prayer when you don’t ever go to prayer meetings? He’ll use Malachi to say, how can you say you trust me if you don’t even tithe? He’ll check you on your choice words and ask, would Jesus say that? He’ll check you on your selfishness and say, would Jesus do that? He’ll check you on your TV watching and say, if Jesus was here sitting on the couch, would He watch that?

And each time you’ll be faced with: do I do what I want, or do I do what’s right? You’ll be challenged each time to serve yourself or serve Him. His fire, His conviction, His pressure, His heat will step into your life whenever it’s time to step up your obedience and faith levels.

And it’s all because of His love for you. Because He wants you to know Him. Because He wants you to be free from self. Because He wants you to be pure, like He is. That’s why He challenged the people back on Mt.Carmel, and that’s why He challenges you. His heat is not pleasant, but if you stick it through, you’ll be better at the end. Hebrews 12:11 encourages us with these words: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

So friends, stick with it. Endure the heat. Know that it’s for your good. Know that you’ll be closer to God if you let the fire takes its course. Know you’ll be better and more refined than you are now. Don’t say no when God points something out in prayer, Bible reading, and church services. God loves you with a relentless affection, and He will go to any length to have you love Him back with an undivided heart. Will you let His fires burn away your dross today? Will you let Him have His way with you?