Fireproof?

 "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

The martyred missionary Jim Elliot once wrote, "God makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable?"

That's a piercing question. It cuts to our very heart, the seat of all of our motives and desires. 

Everywhere in the professing church there is much talk and seeking of revival. We're calling on the Father to send the fire of His Holy Spirit upon the church, and then through His church, upon the surrounding culture. The desire for Holy Spirit revival has always been present in His church to varying degrees and I expect to some degree it is present in us. How "present" is that desire today? How deep is the desire?

I am convicted by Elliot's words. If the Father makes His ministers a flame of fire, and all those who profess to follow Him are to some degree His ministers, then how "ignitable" are we? Are our hearts and spirits so thirsty for the water of His Life that we can "catch fire" when He comes upon us, or are we so soaked in the sewer water of this world that we have been rendered "fireproof?" The condition of our hearts gives the answer.

I think within the heart of the church and the individuals who compose it are two elements that render us fireproof. The first is pride and the second is its cousin, and unrepentant heart. We recognize that the church needs revival, that the surrounding culture needs His Spirit powered transformation, but somehow, we don't feel that we ourselves need either for ourselves. We're proud and we're arrogant. We know very little of what it is to humble ourselves before Him. In ancient Israel the people cried out for their God to come and save them from the chaos taking place all around, but when the prophets He sent to them called them to repentance, to a humbling of themselves before Him, they refused. They wanted change to what was happening to them. They wanted none for what was going on within them. How like them might we be?

Scripture says, "When My people, called by My name, will humble themselves and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will come....." We like to talk of how wicked and evil the culture has become but we have grown comfortable with that very culture in the church. If there is to be any hope for a world trapped in death, it is for a church that is alive in His Holy Spirit, bearing the light and fire of His Spirit to it. A.W. Tozer once said, "Modern Christians use the language of power but our deeds are the deeds of weakness." This is so because we lack the power of His Holy Spirit coursing through the heart of His Church. Through the hearts of His people.

Let us cease offering language. Let us draw near to Him as He surely draws near to us. Let us come with humble, broken hearts and spirit, seeking all the fullness of His Life and power. Scripture says that our God is a consuming fire. May our heart prayer be, Lord, consume me, consume Your church, consume a lost generation, desperate for Your life. May we be fireproof no more.

Blessings,
Pastor O