During my teen years I used to always pray for the fire of God in my life, for an all consuming passion to overtake me. The truth is that at the time, I didn't really know what I was asking for. Often times we think the fire of God is an emotional drive to evangelize, or a passion that is visible when you look into someone's eyes. This may be symptoms of someone who has been touched by the fire of God, but this is not what we are praying for. What exactly are we praying for, then, if not this? We are praying for a refiner's fire.
"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the
Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have
men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord as in days gone by, as in former years." Malachi 3:3-4.
When we pray for that fire, we are praying for testing and refining that is painful, not just an emotional high. It is a transformation from the inside out. It takes time. It's not something that God just gives you. It takes time to develop righteousness and be refined. It's a stripping away of everything that you love more than God, which is a lot more than you think. It's not a tingling feeling, but a refiners fire that burns away every other lover but Jesus. It's a breaking away of the flesh.
So do we know what we are asking for when we ask for the fire of God? God will give it, but it is a long, painful process, but oh so worth it!
"So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD
your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image
in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded
you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:23-24.
He is jealous for you, beloved. Pray for that fire. Pray for it every day. Know that the deeper relationship you will have with Jesus is worth the fire you will walk through.
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