Flame On
Are We A Flame For God Or Just A Spark?
The bible says that many worship with their lips but their hearts are far from me in Mathew 8:7-10. He called them pretenders and that their worship is useless. They are not approved and acceptable to God. He references Isa 29:13.The Prophet of the Living God is talking about the attributes of people who claim to believe and have faith.
These people may put on a show for man to see or actually believe they are doing the lords work and are deceived but may land in mat 7.
Matt 7:20-24
20 Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.
21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.22 Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? 23 And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands]. [Ps 6:8.] 24 So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock.
It is true that God is after true and clear motives behind every work or it will be consumed by fire and burned up. We find these people are cast into outer darkness awaiting the lake of fire in another account of these same verses.(Luke 13:25-30) They have built their house on sand and not the Rock and their kingdom they received is on this world and not in Christ Kingdom.
They have practiced lawlessness and are workers of iniquity but they also called Jesus lord.
They Flame they received is not the flame of God but the flame of God’s wrath and Justice because they refused sound doctrine and traded their birthright for a doctrine other then Jesses like Esau and stew.
By Their Fruit You Shall Know Them:
So we shall know them by their attributes or their character (their fruit). The evidence will explode out of them by their everyday lifestyle in actions and in their deeds.
They will hear their shepherd’s voice and know Him and He will know them. Their words will carry power and will not be for show or for an imitation to sound good or holy because they will be Holy. The exact opposite of the people in Mat 7, there heart and motives will be pure. They will seek after and follow hard after him and study to show themselves approved like a Brean and crucify their flesh in order to identify with Christ sufferings. (2 Tim 2:15 and Acts 17:10-15)
They will fan in the flame for God and burn for all to see to proclaim Gods Kingdom!
Are we burning for God or just a spark?
To know this, we must examine or selves and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. We must listen to Him and His written word and apply it to ourselves because Jesus is the standard and not any man.
1 John 2:3-6
3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Gods’ Authoritative word and not mans
Let us have a look as a comparison in God’s word in order to rightly divide truth so we may burn bright instead of luke warm or even cold. The scripture Show a way not commonly taught but is how Jesus did it. Study to see whether these things are so and test the spirits.(1 John 4:1)
Matt.3:11 John the Baptist said that he only baptized with water, but Jesus who would come after him would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with the fire of God. We should be beaming lights for God burning brightly for Him If we truly are in Christ and not just an occasional spark that will quickly go out. Jesus said that He came that we might have the Life of God and have that Life abundantly. It is a life filled with the fire of heaven John 10:10.
Hebrews 1:6-7 God said that when He brought His Son Jesus Christ into this world that the angles should worship Him and that we will be made flames of fire to minister and burn brightly for Him. God never intended for us to live our life as though our relationship with Him meant it would be like a rollercoaster ride with continual ups and downs. His intention was that we would continue to progress in our relationship with Him, and learn to rise above and never come down by continually fanning the flame so that we would burn more brightly for him and become a more powerful witness. (Acts 1:8)
Hebrews 6:1-6 We must remember that Esau was not permitted to be renewed in repentance because he sold his birthright for a temporal pleasure and he lusted for things contrary to what God desired for his life. (Heb. 12:16-17) The scripture clearly reveals that Esau was a profane man and a fornicator. We cannot have it both ways. Jesus said that if we save our life to live it as we wish, we will lose our life in Him. He also said if we lose our life to live it in Gods good grace then we will save our life. Matt. 16:25
Acts 2:1-4 One hundred and twenty of Jesus’ followers were obedient to His command. They went to Jerusalem and were in the upper room in the Spirit praying and preparing themselves for Gods’ empowerment on their life. They were fanning in the flame that they had received in their relationship with Jesus the Christ.
What are we doing with what Jesus has given us?
Are we fanning in the flame and untying Gods’ hand to operate mightily in our life or squelching the Spirit and only making sparks we receive from Him flicker and go out?
Matt. 25:1-13 Jesus brings this thought to life in a in a parable of the ten virgins or (ten followers of Christ). We see that there were five that were wise and five that were foolish. In this parable, five fanned in the flame by continuing their relationship with Jesus Christ and five were only sparks and did little or what they thought was just enough to keep the fire burning brightly for Him. The five that kept fanning in the flame were keeping watch for the return of the bridegroom and continually sought to be in His presents.
Jesus commanded us to watch and pray that we wouldn’t get sidetracked in our relationship with Him Mat 26:41-43.
We don’t have to learn the hard way!
Revelation 19:11-12 His eyes were like flames of fire as He sat on the white horse (purity and righteousness).
If we are truly walking with Christ as we should in full obedience then that same flame of fire will be sitting on us and we will be riding victoriously on the same white horse with Him and not on the pale (Gray: Green) horse of religiosity.
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1 John 3:2-3 If we desire to see Him as He is, we will do all we can to purify ourselves just as John instructs us in this passage of scripture. John is telling us to continue to fan in the flame and not just become sparks for a moment and then go out because of the lack of the oil (Agape love) of Gods’ Holy Spirit. Remember that only the pure in heart and the obedient shall see God. Matt. 5:8
Joel 2:28-32 If we pay close attention to this promise given to us by the prophet Joel, then we can see that it only involves the remnant.
Only a remnant will have flames and not sparks.
God is pouring out His Spirit on the remnant, those who answer His call and continue in their relationship with Jesus Christ, His Son.
The remnant is forgiven and is different, pure and Holy (bride in white). They are not living by we are not different, just forgiven! (Doctrine of demands) 1 Tim 4:1-2
Fire or spark
There are many examples in the bible to illustrate the fire of God or spark analogy.
To do this, we will look at the lives of David and the life of Saul.
We are looking at the life of them and not the stumbling of them. We will look at the habitual way of life and see a contrast. Though Saul had powerful moments, being made king over Gods’ people and even prophesying to the point people thought he was a prophet. He did not however continue in his relationship with God after these spiritual encounters with God. 1 Samuel 10:10-11 There were however many unmistakable moments of anointing in Saul’s life.
Saul drifted away from God and disobeyed Gods’ commandments.
Perhaps one of the most significant acts of disobedience was when God had commanded Saul to kill Agag, an enemy king. They were to destroy all the spoils of victory of which Saul did not destroy the spoils and spared the king Agag.
Saul had a rule of living his life with a series of sparks with moments of victory but he never turned into a sustained flame of obedience. Disobedience and life seemed to rule Saul’s’ life over all.
If we now look at David, a man after Gods’ own heart then we can begin to see a difference.
David made mistakes, but always found his way to repentance. One such mistake was with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, taking her for his wife. David made this happen by sending Uriah into the front lines so that he would be killed. David did this so he could have Bathsheba and he justified his actions by saying: Uriah died in battle.
David would become broken before the Lord and recognize his sin before God and how he sinned against him. He would always find his way to repentance and not just sorrow.
2 Samuel chp 11 David was a flame for God and God raised him up to be Israel’s next king. David had a reputation of being boldly obedient to God.
How did he do it?
In psalms 51:7-10, we find 3 key elements that we can use in becoming a flame for God and not just a fading spark like Saul or the fading glory on Moses.
- Psalms 51:7-10 We must continually seek God’s cleansing.
As we look at David’s life and in his writings, we can see that he continually lived a repentant life before God. He always sought after God and God’s cleansing on his life and to have a pure heart have pure motives.
If we are to fan in the flame in our life and walk with God and in His power and in His anointingsas we are called to do, then we must seek God’s righteousness in our life and continue to strive to maintain a holy walk with Him.
- We must be persistent in craving more of God and His Spirit.
David writes. Do not banish me from your presents and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
In entering into worship in church service, we are seeking the presents of God and a powerful move of His Holy Spirit in our life and in our church service. David addresses that very thing in his prayerful writings. God doesn’t want a one day a week worship but a life of sweet incense and worship. It is a life of praise to Him so when we come in to a corporate worship we can have a barn burner.
We shouldn’t have to seek forgiveness or seek a cleansing, we should already be made whole and clean and basking in God’s spirit. The Holy Spirit should already be stoked in us ready to come into agreement with others with the mind of Christ in that service already.
- David seeks a powerful witness from God and so must we if we are to become powerful flames of witness for him. We must seek the giver of the gifts if we are to demonstrate His power and authority and not some strange power. It was the power and Authority of the Most High God that Paul speaks of in 1 cor.2:1-5
- David writes, oh God: If you will open my mouth to speak of the Glory of you and your kingdom then I will teach those who rebel against you and your laws and precepts(ways).
David is saying in our terms or words used today that he will devote his life to serving God and to those who are looking for Him. He is saying he do not be merely a church attendee or just another spark but have a true fire burning within us where ever we are. If we are burning like this then we will be a fire starter to those around us or they will reject us.
The question to ask is are we winning the world around us like our family members or our co workers. How about our friends or strangers or is the world around us winning?
Do people even know we are believers and can they see the difference because it is virtually impossible to conceal or contain our zeal if we have been properly cleansed by God and filled with His hunger and thirst. It will flow out of us because that’s who we are now as a new creation.
If we don’t have this fire and burning desire for the lost then it doesn’t matter how powerful the church service is. If we as individuals don’t possess this fire then it won’t matter how powerful the church service is either because we will miss Jesus and the Holy Spirit and all that it was. The flames of God could rest on people and they look like tongues of fire and to you, it’s another day at church, no big deal.
1 Cor.13:1-3 Though we can speak with tongues of men and of angles, if we do not have a burning desire (Agape Love) to win the lost, we have become as a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ( just a loud noise) If though we speak with a prophecy and understand all the mysteries and have all the knowledge of men, or we may even have faith to move mountains and do not have Gods Agape Love to win the lost, then we have nothing.
Many today have lost that vision and purpose of the church and have settled for a purpose and vision that is less and is a counterfeit that says I will work or even worship alongside you but not preach to you(I’m not called to do that, that’s not my gift).
We as the body of Christ need to fan in the flame and get back into that presents of God. We need to press forward in our relationship with Jesus so that we can catch His vision and strive to fulfill His mission (his commission to us) while we still have some time to get right in our relationship with him as the bride in white. We are to be a helpmate in this world working with Him and not against Him.
We need to not deny Jesus and Love less And Love them enough to tell them the truth.
Christ is coming back soon and we will give account for what we have done with this great opportunity and with what he gave us to do it with (parable of the talents).
What did we do with His Sacrifice?
Psalms 51:16-19 King David tells us that God is not interested in fleshly offerings that we make to Him and that He is more interested in our relationship with him and our obedience to Him.
What The Holy Spirit is looking for is a Faith coupled with a contrite heart, one that is naked and bare before His thrown. Pure And Repentant.
He is looking for a broken heart that knows without him, we can do nothing. One that is in total submission to Him and not just mere words that says without him we can do nothing. Then and only then can He (Holy Spirit) empower us and use us His full potential.
It is then He can truly use us to go into the entire world and make known the Mystery that is God bringing about His Kingdom
2 Tim 4:3-6 Lets not be an occasional spark; lets fan in the flame of God and pray in the spirit always and on all occasion (Eph 6:18) and build up our most Holy Faith ( Jude 1:20) and burn on fire before our living God so that we may finish the race strong and hear on that great day, well done my good and faithful servant.
Fire Of God Ministry – The Fathers House
written by Bob Gonstal