“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11b (NIV)
Recently, Donna Rigney shared on The Elijah List, that she heard the Lord say I am releasing fire to come from heaven to earth, to burn up chaff. It is coming to the church, as well as the nation. God’s people will be like torches in My hand. They will go through this land bringing My glory wherever they go!
The world, and tragically, even much of the church is trying to extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit. Less than hot followers of Jesus fill most churches. And God cannot use the lukewarm ones to ignite fires in others! Only the flaming, burning ones can carry His glory and pass the fire to others.
We are so afraid of offending people. But actually we are to be afraid of offending our God. How serious do we take Paul’s warnings to not quench the fire of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), or to not grieve the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30)? One time when Jesus had just performed a miracle a demonized man who was blind and mute was brought to Him and He was set free (Matthew 12:22). The Pharisees present suggested that He drove out the demon by the prince of demons. Jesus responded that you can say all the bad things about Me you want, but to credit the work of the Holy Spirit to demons is a blasphemy that will not be forgiven (Matthew 12:31-32). Those are Jesus’ words!
Do you know what it looks like when you do that? Do you know when you’ve offended the Lord? Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a conscious and hardened opposition to the truth because the Spirit is truth (1 John 5:6). So if you are concerned about having done it, you probably haven’t! But to quench or to grieve Him is a whole other issue!
Ask God to let His fire fall from heaven, and ignite the hearts of His people that are currently just a flickering flame. Cry out for God to ignite a fiery passion for Him in you! Ask Him to cloak you in the fear of God. Ask Him to grant you a greater sensitivity to when you grieve or offend Him or quench the fire of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to show you any place you need to repent of having done so! Ask God to allow you to be one of His burning ones to take His fire to the world. Pray all this for your pastor, and church, as well as the other churches across our city.
