Fire

P 2392 Words can build and heal.

/ DVH

“And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them. The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation. So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted His holy influence in your life. Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love.” Ephesians 4:29-32 TPT.

Man this is a scripture that can change lives. I love the way the bible gives us such clear instructions. That word ‘let’ is huge. It is surrounded by a whole lot of other words, but I think everything in this passage hinges on ‘let’ – ‘allow.’ It is much too easy to allow things that do not help us in our Christian life. It is that sort of self-permission, often carelessly or thoughtlessly given, that steers our main focus away from the One we love best. And suddenly we are in the middle of a virtual freeway with cars and trucks coming at us, (other people’s angry words), wondering how we got there.

Often one small decision to let someone have it … opens doors to a flood of disobedience that changes not just our day but our lives. ‘Permission to speak sir,’ is often used in the Armed forces – in my mind’s eye I need to ask the Lord that all the time! You know, I can’t count the times when one word has sent me down a plug hole! Sadly a word out of place can do immeasurable damage. To both parties. Words can seem harmless but James 3:5 (NIV) says: “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”  That’s proof that James understood what he was on about eh?

Here are some interesting verses that further diagnose the problem. “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8 NKJV ”Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29 from the ESV this time. What we allow out of our mouths governs our ability to bless others with our words. Our speech is intended to spread Grace, to build one another up, not to hobble each another, or throw thunking great rocks, either! Words are powerful, and because we know and follow Him, there is great power in our words!

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;” 1 Peter 3:10 ESV“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:6 ESV. That little word let, is easily passed over, but there is such a wealth of power in it! Well-flavoured speech needs both guidance and obedience. The best way to season what we say is to know the bible well enough to quote it, to yourself and someone else and then we bear in mind what it says when we open our mouth.

Speaking personally, it is my ever-present opinions that often shoot me in the foot.  At the time I know it is unwise to say something, but I let the circumstances;  or feeling provoked, or hurt;  or even pain;  take that guard off my lips and then I let fly. “I’m sorry” afterwards seems so shallow. Still, “I am so sorry, please forgive me” are the best words of reconciliation we have. Words can heal. Especially if they are followed up by appropriate actions! ‘I’m sorry please forgive me’ is hot air without follow up. Repentance produces fruit. Fruit may take some time, but you can see it growing and developing!!

I have also found that words give me opportunities to humble myself.  Actually it is usually somebody else’s words that give me that opportunity! The ability to say nothing unless you are speaking blessing, is vastly underrated. But opportunities come with every new day and I am still learning how to ‘lay aside’ stuff that won’t profit anyone. I have learnt to value the power to speak LIFE, and healing, that Christ died to give me. 👋🏻

P 2356 We are filled with fresh oil, to burn.

/ DVH

Exodus 40:9-15 “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

“Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.  Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.’

Christians worship and serve our King in various ways, it is part of who we are now. Some of us have less seen roles —and others, just like Aaron’s oil-saturated garments, are more visible. It makes no difference – whether we are a utensil or a High priest’s tunic – like it was in the days of the Tabernacle – everything and everyone who serves Him needs His anointing. 

In the same way as the altar, the furnishings, utensils, Aaron, his clothes, and his sons;  WE need to learn how to live our lives in co-operation with His anointing. The oil mentioned here is a type or illustration of the Precious Holy Spirit – how He facilitates life and worship, repentance and celebration. We cannot possibly expect to live this new life God has given us, for free — without the Holy Spirit. 

The secret to living in His anointing is to live a life of totally yielded and surrendered love. There is no law against LOVE. You may need to read that last two sentences again – I know I did! That sounds and looks like this – ‘Wherever You want me to go, I will go, whatever You want me to do, Lord,  I WILL DO IT.’ But I won’t just accept every circumstance I find myself in, instead the Holy Spirit and I talk about everything together. Personally, I find that comforting not intrusive.

In Matthew 25:1-13 – in the parable of the Ten Virgins – we can see what happens when we treat the Holy Spirit carelessly. Some of those women did not value Him enough to be able to have continuous supply/fellowship with Him. What Jesus is highlighting here is our need to be ready whenever the Bridegroom calls us. – this parable is not just for the end times – we need to be ready day or night. That’s what it is saying. And to do that … we need to value Him more than our own convenience or comfort. 

The oil of the Spirit … how incredible is the fact that we can partake of such a wonderful Person! The same oil that flowed over Aaron and Co. plus all the utensils etc. in the tabernacle, is to be a part of our lives. And what a privilege we have to be able to know personally such a wonderful treasure. Because the Holy Spirit IS our ever-present treasure, He must not be taken for granted. That’s the point of that parable, the Bridegroom was so important to these five wise women they did whatever they could to be ready for Him.

Yet still every single one of those virgins also fell asleep. Where the foolish virgins fell down was that they did not allow for unforeseen circumstances. They had a shelf-life to their devotion. The wise virgins had the sense to understand that the Bridegroom will come whenever He comes! It was simply their responsibility to stay prepared.

Jesus is telling us here that we cannot make a last minute trip or effort to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, fellowship with HIM has to be our purpose. Staying ready and filled is our responsibility. Our hearts are meant to be looking for Him – no matter what time of the day or night. We need to do whatever it takes to keep our lamps burning with His fire and passion for Christ. Remember living in love with Him and others is the key to walking with Holy Spirit.

It is simplistic to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love each other with kind of a lovey-dovey hearts and flowers kind of love. Their love for each other is an overwhelming life-changing FIRE! And we’ve been asked to participate in that kind of relationship with all three of Them. Why would we ignore that kind of invitation? Don’t wait for tomorrow – our heart’s cry daily needs to be ‘fill me now, I need more! I need to burn!’ 👋🏻

P 2115 A word for thought.

/ DVH

 Many times in Christianity’s history, churches have prayerfully and sincerely slipped into the flow of what the Holy Spirit is actually doing and saying. We call that revival. I have seen a number of these revivals in my lifetime and they have fascinated me … because they rise… and then they eventually fade and disappear. I have a  theory about it to share with you this New Year’s day. 

The Holy Spirit loves the unity that is created by Him in these unfortunately, all-too-brief moments of heaven on earth. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit live in perfect unity in eternity and They love to see us live that way too. Sadly, I think that that is the place where we need to be more interested in loving and pleasing Him, than in the supernatural stuff that is happening. If we are not careful we can focus so much on the miracles etc. at those times, than we do on the One Who is touching us!  Man’s personal agendas creep in.

Sadly, there are many needy people in this world, and it is easy to become enamoured with signs and wonders and start to try to benefit from His Presence. Things like the Lord blessing the flock, as well as the people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet. When these times of revival and refreshing occur maybe we need to carefully listen to what God wants to DO with what He created, when He brought this group of particular people together in the first place! He has a purpose for the fire that fell on them. It seems to me, that the leaders get so busy trying to spread what He is doing, they cannot see that they are trying to organise Him. And I don’t think we know we are doing it! 

Many wonderful people of God have been given a Grace to even know how to work together at those times. But that is still His Grace in action. We can only give away to each other what He gives us, in the first place. We are receivers first .. distribution happens almost as a secondary benefit – a bi-product … not the main event. On many occasions in church history the Lord Himself brought those sticks, and branches (the people) together to create His revival fire. 

At the same time, satan loves to create situations that cause the unity we have in His Presence to be eroded, broken, or displaced, and one by one those people that lived to love Him and each other, walk or drift away. Maybe they simply want to take the fire of His Spirit elsewhere. We need to remember … the Holy Spirit is the WIND. We cannot micromanage the WIND. You simply go along with where He is blowing! Persecution brought about the disciples’ dispersement in Acts.

At the same time, human beings also seem to be very fond of duplicating existing models that seem to be working. So they use this church’s model or that denominational theory to try to get God to do stuff. Their motivation is to bless people. But the root of God’s Vine is Christ Jesus – not us. Sadly perhaps we have not realised that revival happens in the first place without human help. Just because WE prayed, however we did it, that does not mean that is why revival is here. The thing is at those times of fire and blessing, it looks to me like the leaders try to take control of His fire – that’s when He will take His hands off – because He honours our choices, even when they are NOT GOOD.

And this leader goes over here to start another church – like that person had that fire in the first place! What do we have that was not given to us? Pretty soon, the lives that provided the kindling for that particular blaze – start to become separated. They try to repeat the pattern they thought brought heaven to earth in the first place. We forget that Father God takes the initiative, that’s what Christ’s coming shows us. We respond – GRATEFULLY. We are not the fire starters … HE IS. This is where I’ve seen many people come to a fork in the road. I truly believe it is possible to have two perfectly-right, God-kissed things in front of you… however, we need to know which one does HE value the most? 

It seems to me that we need to show the Holy Spirit far more honour and constantly look to His wisdom and guidance. He loves for us to pause and carefully wait for Him, and not run on ahead. I personally think pausing is extremely  powerful because He values US dying to self, our ambition, our hopes and dreams, above everything else. A  revival is a display of His love and passion for us. However, He is God, He can say more than one thing at once. We pray “Lord send the fire, please send revival” – because we want to see lives changed and souls saved. I think we need ONE aim – our singular aim needs to be to obey, please and follow Him in any season. Everything else, including signs and wonders, is secondary to that aim.

Jesus Himself did all kinds of unusual things in men’s eyes. Sometimes He told the people who were healed to tell no-one. At other times He disappeared whilst the fire of healing and change was burning brightly. WHY??? Why did He do what He did? I dunno, but I have a theory! However, we need to find out by leaning heavily on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. Personally I think He did those things because His primary aim was to obey and please His Father. Our Heavenly Father HAS LONG RANGE PLANS – we dare not run ahead of them.

I don’t think God cares if we have Mega churches or not – what He is looking for is a people who will take the time to listen to Him, love each other and follow Him in through all kinds of circumstances. It seems to me that He loves people who esteem His approval over everything else. The hallmark of people like this is best expressed by a man who had his head chopped off! John the Baptist said … in the middle of a booming ministry (!!) … “He must increase and I must decrease.” And then he died.

People who value the Holy Spirit like this, lack human ambition, and I am blessed to know them. They would rather someone else’s ministry prosper, because they feel the heartbeat of God on what the other people are doing. Revival does not capture God – HE CAPTURES US!! The Lord is looking for a people who want what He wants no matter what it costs them. These are my thoughts at the beginning of this New Year.  May the God of all hope be praised and glorified among us even more in 2023. 👋🏻