Do We Put Out the Fire or Flame it?
Good Morning Friends,
In Southwest Florida there are good burns and fires in nature and fires around people that we logically consider bad ones. So too in the Bible, for fire can both describe hell and also the blessings of the Holy Spirit. On Monday we were considering the baptism of Jesus as a perfect example of the Trinity and how the power of the Holy Spirit was at work dancing with Jesus and the Father. Now this morning I would like to further explore the work of the Holy Spirit for we are in an age of the Holy Spirit. And that brings us to the question of the day. Do We Put Out the Fire or Flame it?
Scripture: 43But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia* and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.5 Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you;6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’
Isaiah 43:1-7 (NRSV)
15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,*
16John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
Luke 3:15-17 (NRSV)
21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;* with you I am well pleased.’*
Luke 3:21-22 (NRSV)
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
19Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, 20and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics,* their trousers,* their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
Daniel 3:19-23 (NRSV)
11I baptize you with* water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire.
Matthew 3:11 (NRSV)
Message: The Pentecostal Movement is a fire in the global South. And you might experience it as a warm and fuzzy bonfire that brings us to sing kum ba yah. Then again it may well remind you of the destruction of fire’s path burning with the cry of injustice and cars on fire and shop windows reflecting broken flames and the streets where children once played. Maybe it is like a rock band singing, Burn Baby Burn with images of white cheerleaders and black basketball players. Such is the nature of fire. In the 1960’s it was young whites and blacks rising up against political censorship, racism and later the Vietnam War, but it was also a new attention to the disproportionate negative impact of poverty on Blacks and Hispanics, and the rise of woman’s rights. Such is the image of fire in our history. It is both an image of judgment and the refiner’s process for those bound in the fire seeking freedom. Here friends, the beauty…the hope…the promise is that God did not create us to destroy us, for we are not alone in the fire. God is with us. Here the burning bush is not consumed. Here the image of fire dances on the heads of people at the day of Pentecost. So do not dwell for long on thoughts of Sodom and Gomorra or the Lake of Fire. Know that the Bible speaks about God’s good attributes of light and heat more than God’s destructive force. So this morning I think of the burning bush, the pillar of fire and the flame on the altar. I think of Christ coming to prepare a cooked meal filled with the taste of the food and fellowship of our faith.
Pray we love God because we truly love Him, not because we are afraid of going to Hell. Pray we have fire in our bones. Pray we not want to escape God’s Spirit fire. Pray that we allow the fire of God to enter the recesses of our lives and to purify, and cleanse. Pray that our prayers rise like smoke up into the heaven then bring what is in heaven down to earth. Pray we witness the resurrection in each of us after the fire. Pray that deep down hidden from sight we be a life that is ready to burst forth again after the fire. Pray we be the fruits of fire. Pray the fire of the Holy Spirit spreads throughout the world. Pray we be a light shining in the world knowing that now is the time for us to catch fire. Pray that God’s fire bring forth a love that conforms us to the image of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 