LET THE FIRE FALL 

The scene is Mount Carmel, near the coastal region of northern Israel. 

The date is somewhere after 900 BC. 

The central figure is the Old Testament prophet, Elijah.

Elijah had challenged 450 of the prophets of Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel, to see which of the deities could and would answer by fire.

As the events unfold in 1 Kings, chapter 18, we see the prophets of Baal sacrificing a bull, then calling upon their god from morning to noon with no response. Elijah is seen mocking them because of their failure to elicit a response from their deity, by fire to burn up the sacrifice. They then continued to "prophesy" and to petition their god until the evening sacrifice - again with absolutely no response from Baal.

Then it was Elijah's turn to demonstrate the reality of the One True God. He called for the altar to be repaired, setting up twelve stones to represent each of the twelve tribes of Israel, then cut the sacrificial bull up and had the pieces placed upon the stones. He then called for water to be poured out over the sacrifice and to drench the surrounding of the altar. 

As recorded in 1 Kings 18:36-39 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again."

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"

In this instance, we see that the LORD God did answer the challenge to prove He is the One True God by FIRE!

JESUS -THE BAPTIZER IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE! 🔥

In the New Testament of the Bible, in two of the four Gospel accounts, those of Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist, the prophetic forerunner to Jesus the Messiah, stated clearly to those gathered to hear his words: "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

We are living in desperate times, friends. The time for just dipping your toes, spiritually in the river of God's present day moving of the Holy Spirit is rapidly coming to a close. This is a time when there is and there will be a clear line in the sand drawn separating those whose lives are shallow in their commitment and their holiness and their surrender to the Living God - and those who are willing to count the cost of being "all in" for  Jesus, and who are prepared to leave the past behind with all the baggage that contains, and boldly and joyfully yield to the Master in full surrender - nothing held back. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight , and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2

In the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we read the seven letters of Jesus to the churches of Asia Minor. In the letter to the church of Laodicea, Jesus upbraids them because of being lukewarm in their love and commitment to Him, saying: " I wish that you were cold or hot, but because you are neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." Not many of us really, if we are honest, enjoy a barely warm cup of tea or coffee - or food for that matter, which is meant to be hot, but barely warm - or food that is intended to be eaten cold, but is warm.

In this passage from Revelation, Jesus is not really saying He would be happy if we are cold towards Him, but at least our position would be then totally clear. He desires Christians, and indeed the whole Church of Jesus Christ to be white hot for Him, in love and zeal for all things related to the Kingdom of God, and in proclaiming the life-transforming power of the Word of God.

The times we are living in demand that Christians step up and stand up, wholly surrendered to the will of God, and positioning ourselves to allow the purifying work of the Spirit of God to burn up the dross of sin and dead works that will prevent us from walking in white, shining brightly for Jesus, who alone will receive all the glory.

Zechariah 1:9a says "...I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold."

The old Brian Doerksen song "Refiner's Fire," says it like this: "Purify my heart. Let me be as gold and precious silver." Just as in the refining process of precious metals such as gold and silver, intense heat is applied through fire, and the dross or impurities come to the surface where they can be removed, leaving pure metal, so the Lord will cleanse and purify us with the fire of His Spirit and the cleansing of the Word of God - to bring forth a people who will praise Him out of pure hearts.

In Hebrews 12, we see the Lord saying that there will be a great shaking of everything which can be shaken, so that the things which cannot be shaken can remain. Verses 28, 29 read: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

ON FIRE FOR JESUS

When we speak or hear about Christians being "on fire for the Lord" or "on fire for Jesus," we usually think of them as being totally sold-out to God, fully committed to following Him, standing firmly on the Word of God, filled with the Holy Spirit's mighty power, motivated by God's love, and shining brightly for Jesus with a passion that is unstoppable, and tangible! These Christians are also people of prayer. They know their God, and are in position to do great exploits for their God! (Daniel 11:32).

In a day and an hour in which we are living, the Church of the Living God is being placed under pressure to be silent and to be contained, even physically limiting of brothers and sisters in the family of God being able to freely meet together - in many parts of the world, the reason given being to prevent further spread of the COVID virus and its variants. It does seem as though the enemy, Satan, has been using this virus as a perfect vehicle to cause governments to exercise oppressive control and restrictions upon people in democracies - such control and oppression as has not been hitherto seen in Western nations, probably since the times of the Great Depression and the Second World War. 

THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR THE CHURCH TO COWER IN FEAR AND BEWILDERMENT

The Government of New South Wales is giving increased powers to the Police and also increasing Australian military presence on the streets of Sydney by another five hundred personnel, added to the already three hundred being deployed. That repressive, fearmongering political leaders and medical bureaucrats are shutting down the ability of Australians in their millions to carry on normal lives - with onflowing massive society disconnect is, in my opinion, demonic in origin. The thief comes not but for to steal, kill and to destroy, as Jesus states in John 10:10.

That being said, all that is happening has not taken God by surprise. He is not sitting in heaven wringing His hands in anguish, wondering what on earth He can do. 

Just, as in the Book of Esther in the Old Testament, when the Jews were under serious threat of being annihilated because of the edict of the wicked Haman, there arose a deliverer in the person of Queen Esther, who Mordecai encouraged with the words that "she had come to the kingdom for such a time as this" in order to expose the enemy's plans - this is a time, like no other time in recent history when the Church of Jesus Christ, those who are fully committed to Him, who truly are "on fire for Jesus" to "Arise, and shine;

                                                                For your light has come!

                                                                And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.

                                                                For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

                                                                And deep darkness the people;

                                                                But the LORD will arise over you,

                                                                And His glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:1,2

IT IS TIME FOR THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT TO ARISE AND SET ABLAZE NATIONS WITH THE FIRE OF GOD'S AWESOME PRESENCE TO BRING FREEDOM AND RELEASE TO A PEOPLE LIVING IN FEAR AND DESPAIR FOR ALL THAT IS HAPPENING IN A WORLD THAT THE BIBLE SAYS LIES UNDER THE SWAY OF THE EVIL ONE!!

JESUS IS LORD! The End Time Scenarios spoken of in the Bible are looking much closer to being fulfilled than any time I can remember in my lifetime. The antichrist spirit is certainly at work in increasing measure, but the Bible assures us that JESUS will wear the Victor's Crown, and He will one day return to rule and reign on Earth from Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Before that occurs, He will return for His church, in what is known as the Rapture or the Catching Away of the saints. Does this all sound far-fetched? Well, it is all in the pages of the Word of God, the Bible. I challenge you to read up on this for yourself. Google the relevant topics e.g. Rapture of the Church, End-time prophecies etc. 

If you have read this blog, and would seriously like to know how you can become a Christian, and be assured of eternal life in the presence of the Living, Loving God, one resource I can direct you to is: www.vision.org.au This is the online home of Vision Christian Media in Australia, which includes Vision Christian Radio broadcasting to well over 700 big cities, towns and villages across every state and territory in Australia.

Click on the "Grow your faith" tab near the top of the page, then from the dropdown menu, click on "Looking for God?" God Bless!