Consuming Fire

 Exodus 24:17 

The sight of the glory of The LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 

    The King James translates 'consuming' as 'devouring'. We know what it looks like when someone is devouring food or when a wildfire devours a landscape. The relentless pursuit of satisfying one's cravings or hunger tears a body up until that crave is satisfied. The terror if you are in the path of the wildfire fills you so that some come to a standstill and cannot move, while others flee to get away. This is the effect that the 'fire on the mountain of God' had on the Israelites who were following Moses. 

    Exodus 19:18

Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because The LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. 

    This consuming fire is the presence of The Lord God. All the human eye can see is smoke and fire and earthquake. I guess that would be terrifying, wouldn't it, if you can't see with the eyes of your heart or spirit. 

    But when the disciples experienced the fire of God, as God's Holy Spirit came down upon them, they were not afraid. They were ready because they were prayed up. After all, these 120 men and women had fellowshipped and prayed together for fifty days, not knowing when God would send The Comforter, but wanting to be ready when He arrived. 

    Are you ready for God to send His Holy Spirit to you? Are you prayed up? Are you eagerly anticipating His arrival? God cannot send His Holy Spirit to us if we are not ready to receive Him. 

    Let us come together in peaceful fellowship and pray together faithfully and sincerely that our Lord and Savior would make us ready to receive Him, that we, too, might walk in the power of The Holy Spirit of God. He Who fills us with Himself will Himself give us His strength to testify on His behalf of this wonderful gift of grace through Jesus Christ. 

HOLY SPIRIT RAIN DOWN - Alvin Slaughter

WELCOME HOLY SPIRIT - Hilde M. Bedsvaag

    

Preparing for Pentecost-Psalm 51

Psalm 51:1
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Colossians 2:14
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross...
 
Psalm 51:2
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Revelation 1:5
..And from Jesus Christ, who is The Faithful Witness, and The First Begotten Of The Dead, and The Prince Of The Kings Of The Earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Romans 5:8
But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Proverbs 31:21
She (the virtuous woman) is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
Isaiah 53:1-12
 
Psalm 51:3
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions unto The Lord'; and You forgave me the iniquity of my sin.
Romans 10:9-10
That if we confess with our mouths The Lord Jesus, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. For with the heart we believe unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Galatians 3:22
But The Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
 
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right (constant) spirit within me.
2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, says The Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
 
Psalm 51:11-15
Cast me not away from Your presence; and take not Your Holy Spirit away from me.
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation; and uphold me with Your free Spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; sinners will be converted unto You.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, You open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
2 Corinthians 3:17 
Now The Lord is that Spirit: and where The Spirit of The Lord is, there is liberty.
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power, after The Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judah, and in all Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 2:1-4
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with The Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as The Spirit gave them utterance.
Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in The Spirit, let us also walk in The Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

God has redeemed my soul from the snares and traps of Satan. I have been redeemed (bought back) through the blood of Jesus Christ, when He obediently surrendered His will to His Father's will and died on the cross carrying the weight of my sins upon Him. 
     When the spear pierced His side, and water poured forth, it was because His heart broke within Him. For when God had laid the sins of the world upon The Lamb whom God had chosen to carry the blood-guiltiness of our transgressions and iniquities, no longer could Jesus be in God's presence: for God is holy. Sin cannot exist in God's presence; God had to turn His face away from His only begotten Son and when that happened, Jesus heart broke open within Him. 
     Has your heart broken open within you to the point of submission and surrender? Truly? Have you put God's desires, God's needs, God's will, ahead of your own? Do not answer me. For as these questions are put forth to you, they have first been put to me. 
Paul was right when he said, "I die daily." For when we crucify our will and submit ourselves to God's will, it is then that the desires of our hearts and minds die. To be replaced by the will of God. 
    First and foremost, God's will for us is that we repent. Repent of our wickedness. Repent of our disobedience to Him. Repent of any wickedness we are aware of and know which resides in us. Repent means to turn back from; cease to do any longer. When we give God our hearts, He begins to clean house. He removes the bigger sins which are visible. But removing the roots of these sins takes time. It is just like gardening. Think of our hearts as God's garden. When God takes up residence in someone's heart, the light of God's holiness reveals sin, and in order for God to stay in us, the sin needs to go. So we repent.
    Secondly, God's will for us to be sanctified. Now that the surface of our heart is clean and shiny, the nooks and crannies need to be fully cleansed. So The Spirit of God begins to work in our thoughts and our minds. But to even get that far, we need God's Holy Spirit in us and on us. 
     Galatians 5:22,23 speaks of the fruit of The Spirit. There is only one fruit, but it has many parts, like an orange. The visible part is the rind, the outer rim if you will. We remove that and set it aside for future use. Next is the inner covering, which protects the individual slices of the fruit. That needs to be removed also, in order to reach the juicy bits of fruit.
The Spirit is all of these: outer rind, inner rind, slices of fruit, juice and seeds. Therefore, The Spirit of God can be seen as that which covers us, protecting us. The inner Spirit covers us inwardly, sheltering us from that which could take us apart. His fruit, His characteristics begin to flow within us. There is one Spirit, but many aspects of that Spirit can be seen, can be felt, can be heard, can be touched. "And where The Spirit of The Lord is, there is liberty." 
    We are able to come together as one in the bonds of fellowship because we recognize this Spirit in each other. Each believer in The Lord Jesus Christ has a measure of The Holy Ghost breathed upon him or her at baptism. As we walk in The Spirit and live in The Spirit, then The Spirit of God is with us always. 
     But daily we are tempted and daily the death of our faith is sought after by Satan and his spirits, and they are many. As the demon within the man spoke when questioned by Christ, "We are legion". Tens of thousands. And that was just within one man. Multiply that by the current population of this earth 6.9 billion and you can see that Satan's minions are not few.
     But of this population, perhaps, and optimistically on my part, perhaps 3 billion of these are Christians. In this smaller section the term Christian is broken down by denomination. But let me remind you: it is not denomination which God looks at to determine who will enter heaven for ever: it is the heart of the believer. But it is this heart, where The Spirit of God lives and works, that will be able to come against the many spirits of the enemy. 
     Once you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, a spiritual target is place on you. Whereas Satan once ignored you because you were already his slave, now because your heart and your mind and your will (desires, wants, emotions) are no longer directed on his lusts, you have become someone he desires to destroy. He will use every weapon at his disposal to throw against you, every wandering thought, every meditation of the heart, every person in your life to bring you to your knees and take you out. 
    Guess what? You who have chosen Christ as your own and opened your heart to God and The Spirit of God can overcome everything the devil will try to use against you. As long as you stay near God and in His protection, the devil cannot destroy you or your faith in God. As long as you read His Word and live in it and have it live in you, you win. Jesus Christ already beat the devil and won, when He died on the cross and rose from the dead; when every drop of His blood which flowed out of His body and onto the generations of mankind: onto you and onto me. 
     I have read the end of The Bible: we win. Rise up from where you huddle in fear and doubt! For Christ has set you free. You who were once dead in your sins are now alive in Christ. Rejoice! Be happy. Be joyful. Be aware of who you are now and where you stand. Watch and pray: be alert, be careful, be vigilant and diligent in your actions and activities. Prayer keeps us close to our God and draws us closer daily to His side. Prayer feeds our spirits. The Word of God, the written Scriptures, feeds our souls, our minds/thoughts, our bodies, our hopes/dreams/visions/goals. 
     And again, with much love in Christ and for you, I say Be blessed.