Heart Tracks - Forgotten Fire?

"And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability." Acts 2:2-4...."O I never shall forget how the fire fell, How the fire fell, how the fire fell. O I never shall forget how the fire fell when the Lord sanctified me."......."You never have to advertise a fire........If we really knew God, we'd set the world on fire." Leonard Ravenhill

As we stumble about in the church today, looking for "new" and "relevant" ways to reach a lost, mostly disinterested world who see us as very irrelevant to their lives, how can we miss what is most lacking in all of our attempts? The holy fire of God. The church is not lacking for money, methods, or even men (and women.) But I think we are lacking that holy fire. When I first came into the church, I remember often singing the above hymn. I wonder though; how many sitting (or standing and singing) in our churches have any memory of any fire falling upon them? If His holy fire has fallen, is it falling still?

I heard evangelist James Robison, now in his 70's speak of his call to preach, of how as a shy, unsure boy of 16 he came to an altar of God, and in the midst of all his unanswered questions, gave himself fully to His God, and how, in that moment, the fire fell, filling him with His anointing and presence, giving through him, a message that drew thousands to the heart and life of God. In talking of this, Robison said that today, if the church could move, minister and preach in this kind of holy power, then we wouldn't have to worry about what message we bring to millennials, Gen X's, or folks from the north, south, east, or west. His Word, proclaimed in such power and fire would, as it was to those many thousands in Jerusalem that day, be heard in a manner that could be understood by all. Such is the power of our God. A power that we have somehow become mostly, if not completely disconnected from. Disconnected because we are disconnected from Him. As Ravenhill said, a fire need never be advertised. People are drawn to it, and when His church is filled with such fire, it will get the attention of an unbelieving world. Oh that God would raise up a generation filled with such fire from above. In the Bible, a generation does not refer to any one age group. It defines all who are presently living at the moment. Old, young, and everyone between. Such a generation, filled with His knowledge, life, and yes, His fire, will, just as they did in Acts, turn the world upside down. His Word tells us He is a consuming fire. Has He consumed us? Has He consumed you and me?

Ravenhill also said that "The Church of Jesus Christ needs a new revelation of the majesty of God." That can happen at only one place. At the altar of God, which is found at the foot of the cross....where His fire falls. Has the fire of God fallen upon you? Or, has it become forgotten fire? Has it ever fallen at all.....on us?

Blessings,
Pastor O