Ablaze

 "John answered them all, saying, 'I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.' " Luke 3:16...."Men ablaze are invincible. Hell trembles when men kindle."

The need of the moment, the hour, and the day are men and women ablaze with the power and life of the Holy Spirit. Most know well the beautiful words of John 3:16, but somehow, the western church has drifted far from the power of John the Baptist's words and prophecy found in Luke 3:16. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin and the terrible consequences of them, but He also came to set us on fire. On fire with the purity, power, and witness of His Holy Spirit. That aspect of His purpose has been, if not lost, then certainly muted in the American church.

Leonard Ravenhill said that "you never need to advertise a fire." The American church has been in decline for some time now. Our response has been to form think groups, write books, read books, and go to conferences to discuss and hear how we can reverse this trend. We talk about how we can be more responsive to the culture, more welcoming to the lost. We've been doing that for some time now, and we've seen little evidence that this strategy is succeeding, at least as far as making true, spirit filled disciples of Christ. All of our ideas together are as nothing in comparison to the free burning flame of the Holy Spirit. Does His Spirit burn in us, our fellowships, His Church? Are we desperate that He should?

The great Welsh revival of more than a century ago began with two saintly women of God, dedicated to crying out to Him for the sending of His Holy Spirit upon His church. They would not be denied, and in His timing, the fire fell, and all of Wales was impacted. Hardened coal miners were converted. Donkeys, used to haul the coal wagons, had to be retrained because the only language they had known was angry cursing. Churches were built everywhere, so great were the numbers being saved. The move of God had no need of promotion. His Holy Spirit fire was all that was needed. We talk much of revival, but few of us have the heart to seek it with the fervency of those two saintly women. It's easier to have a meeting and share ideas.

In my particular segment of the Body, we have an old hymn with the lyric, "I never will forget how the fire fell..." Too few can sing that in truth, for the fire has never really fallen upon them. The need for His fire is beyond desperate. There is a growing movement in our surrounding culture to silence the church, to not permit it to proclaim biblical truth that clashes with its values and ideas. The church, doing "business as usual," will not be able to stand against it. We must have men and women of the sort Samuel Chadwick speaks of; men and women ablaze with the Holy Spirit, and made invincible by Him. Hell, and the world it operates through will tremble before such a people and church.

Many have remarked upon the decreasing emphasis upon water baptism in the church. This is a cause for alarm and correction, but even more so is the decrease in the preaching of the need for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where all that we are is consumed by all that He is. It is a definite work of grace, but it's message has been fading from the church for some time now. Our God is a consuming fire. May He consume us, His church, you and me. Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher, when asked why throngs of people came to hear him preach God's word said, "God sets me on fire, and people come to watch me burn." To watch, to be consumed with that fire. May He raise up such men and women, such fellowships throughout the land and earth. So ablaze with His holy fire as to set a culture afire. As Ravenhill said, you never need to advertise a fire.

Blessings,

Pastor O