Don’t Be Afraid of the Fire

When Pastor Paul Mooney visited a glassblower’s gallery, he asked the proprietor what was necessary to learn the art.  Her answer startled him.  “You can’t be afraid of the fire.” Beautiful glass creations can only be crafted as the artisan gets as close as possible to the fire.  He immediately saw the spiritual application.   Fire burns throughout Scripture.  It burned in Old Testament sacerdotal rituals.  Fire perpetually burned on the altar of incense and candlesticks.  Fire consumed Elijah’s sacrifice before the false prophets.  Tongues like fire sat upon the 120 in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost.  Indeed, the Scriptures declare that “God is a consuming fire!” (Deuteronomy 4:24). 

Fire may represent spiritual power, but fire is also dangerous. Scientifically speaking, fire is a rapid chemical reaction known as oxidation. Inside a fire, oxygen molecules break bigger molecules apart into carbon dioxide and water vapor. All the heat and light of a fire comes from big, carbon-based molecules combining with oxygen. When the right substances are present, and when the temperature reaches an ignition point, a fire starts.  Fire changes whatever it burns into a different substance. The only way glass-blowing can work is that sand gets so hot that it changes its molecular structure.  It melts it to the point that it becomes transparent. 

Too many believers have become afraid of God’s fire.  Even Apostolic, Pentecostal people have grown distant from the fire that birthed them into the church!  Services that have too much fire are embarrassing.  Dangerous.  Out of control.  Not cool.   But, the gifts of the Spirit—like speaking in tongues—are not only scriptural, they are central to the kind of revival that drove the early Pentecostals and the Pentecostals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Spirit-led services.  Walking and living in the Spirit.  In fact, you cannot read the NT without seeing that the operation of the Spirit of God was at the core of the growth and character of the Apostolic age! “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.” Acts 5:12-14. 

The early church strategized, but they operated out of the fire, not out of the playbook.  They planned, but they operated out of the prayer meeting, not out of the planning session.  It seems to me that they were pretty successful in achieving their goals—and they didn’t even have any goals!  They just had revival! They didn’t have video projectors.  They didn’t have flat screens hanging everywhere.  They didn’t have live-streaming. They didn’t have spotlights.  They didn’t have computer generated sermons.  They didn’t have electronic keyboards and synthetic music.  But what they did have made up for all the things they didn’t have!  They had a God connection!  They had Holy Ghost fire! 

It is notable that the wild fires that have burned out west in recent years have been studied extensively.  Scientists now say something remarkable—wild fires create their own weather!  The rapid oxidation, the plumes of smoke, the intense heat all combine to perpetuate the flames.  Fire has a transformative power.  How can an old, hard, gritty sinner, alcoholic, drug abuser, philanderer, adulterer, thief, cheat, liar, profane person ever change?  By the fire! The closer you get to the fire, the hotter God’s Spirit burns within you!  He can melt you down, change your thinking, cleanse your mind and heart, and create something brand new out of the old you! Our God is a consuming fire! Don’t be afraid of the fire.  Get close.  Touch it.  Feel it.  Take it.  Use it.  Let it transform you!

Comments

[Sydney Heimericks]

I just read all of the 6-7 (I didn't count them) new, short posts on here - of yours. They were all such a blessing. So, I will let this one post suffice for them all.