Consuming Fire

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, good morning, good morning, happy Sunday, happy Sunday, happy Sunday. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad, glad, glad, glad, and rejoice in it, amen. This is a glorious day. This is a beautiful day. This is a powerful day, amen. I pray that when you go to church this morning, you don't have no ordinary service. I pray that God comes in like a consuming fire, takes over, and has his way, amen. I am so glad that you all are here this morning. I'm grateful that you tuned in this morning, amen. Because I want us to slow down for just a moment, to talk heart to heart and breast to breast about something that I'm preaching about today, amen. And that heals the consuming fire of God. Hebrews 12 and 29 states, for our God is a consuming fire. Amen. May the Lord have a blessing to the hearing and the reading and the doing of his word. When we hear the word fire, we usually think about heat, power, light, or even danger, right? Fire can warm a house, but it can also burn away what does not belong. Fire can give comfort, but it can also purify. And when the Bible says that our God is a consuming fire, it is not just ascribing his power, it is revealing his holiness. Amen. His presence, his touch, his desire to make us more like him. I want you to think about that for a moment. God's fire is not only about judgment, it is also about transformation. It is the kind of fire that burns away sin and pride and fear and compromise and comparison and everything in us that keeps us from walking closely with our God. Amen. Sometimes we ask God to bless us, but he wants to refine us. Sometimes we ask him to open doors, but he wants to cleanse our hearts first, right? And sometimes we ask him to change our situation, but he wants to change us from the inside out. And honestly, that is where real growth begins, right? Let me ask you all something. What in your life right now feels like this being tested by fire? Maybe it's your patience, your faith, your character. Maybe it's a relationship, a habit, a hidden struggle, or even a season where you feel stretched beyond what you thought you could handle, right? If that is you this morning, I want to encourage you. Not every fire is there to destroy you. Some fires are there to refine you. Here is another question. You know, we love questions around here. If God were to search your heart this morning, what would he need to burn away so that more of his son, Jesus Christ, could be seen in you? Right? Amen. That's a very powerful question because the goal of God's fire is not only to empty us, the goal is to leave us pure, surrendered, and full of his presence. In the Old Testament, God revealed himself through fire. He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He led Israel by a pillar of fire. He answered Elijah by fire on Mount Cormel. And in the New Testament, he baptized his people with the Holy Spirit and fire. The same God that did all of that is still the same God today, working on working on us, working on our surroundings, working on our hearts, and working on our spirits. Amen. So maybe today is not just about asking God for relief. Maybe today is about asking Him for refinement. Maybe today is about saying, Lord, if there is anything in me that does not honor you, burn it away. If there's anything in me that is cold, awaken it. If there is anything in me that is distracted, bring me back to you. Because when God's fire falls, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, things got to change. Hearts have to soften. Faith has to rise. Sin loses its grip, right? All because of God's fire. Prayer becomes real again with God's fire. Worship becomes alive again with God's fire. And the believer begins to walk in a deeper level of surrender and power because of God's fire. So as you listen today, I want you to open your heart, open your mind, your listening, your ears, your eyes. And don't just hear this devotion, but I want you to respond to it. Let God speak to you this morning. Let God search you this morning. Let God refine you this morning. And if you are ready, because I know I'm ready, because y'all know I'm always ready to pray. I want us to go to the Lord together and ask him to consume everything in us that does not look like him. Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, in the mighty, mighty, mighty, mighty name of Jesus Christ. We humbly bow to your throne this morning, full of grace and mercy, oh God. Just saying thank you. Thank you for last night laying down and this morning waking up. Thank you, oh God, that we woke up this morning and you're going to give us traveling grace to get to and from. And we are praying that you'll let us make it back home safe and sound today, Honey Father. God, we praise you this morning. We love you this morning, and we honor you this morning for being a God of a consuming fire. Honey Father, we come before your throne this morning with reverence, surrender, and expectation. Honey Father, we know that you are holy, we know that you are righteous, and we know that you are sovereign. The God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the God who led Israel by a pillar of fire, and the God who baptized your people with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost with fire. Honey Father, in the name of Jesus today, we're not asking for ordinary. We're asking for your holy fire. Holy Father, we're consuming right now that you will give us your consuming fire. Consume us with your word. Consume us with your joy. Consume us with your peace. Consume us with your direction. Consume us with your clarity, oh God. God, we want you to let your consuming fire fall upon our lives right now. Honey Father, in the name of Jesus, we're asking you to burn away everything that does not look like you. Honey Father, burn away every hidden sin, every wrong motive, every ounce of pride, selfish ambition, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, spirit, death, unbelief, compromise, comparison, complacency, and spiritual laziness, oh God. Honey Father, I pray that you will search each and every one of us this morning, oh God, and know our hearts. Honey Father, I pray that you will try us and reveal everything in us that is grieving your Holy Spirit. So you can work on us. That you could burn up things in us that need to be removed, oh God. Holy Father, we are warning you. We are willingly laying ourselves at your altar this morning. Holy Father, consume our flesh until your Holy Spirit remains. Burn away our will until your yours delight in us, oh God. Burn away every destruction that keeps our eyes from you, oh God. Burn away every appetite that competes with your presence, oh God. Burn away every relationship, conversation, opportunity, habit, and attachment that would quietly pull us away from your purpose, away from our destiny, away from your will, away from your ways, Holy Father. Holy Father, we're seeking to be closer to you this morning, oh God. So burn up anything in us that you don't want in us, oh God. Holy Father, let your fire purify our thoughts, purify our words, our emotions, our decisions, our hands. Holy Father, we're praying that your fire will purify the way that our feet are going, oh God. That it's going to purify our ears, our thinking, our eyes, oh God, and purify our hearts. Honey Father, in the name of Jesus, we're praying that you will ignite within us again a fresh hunger for your word, a fresh hunger to pray, a fresh hunger to be in your presence, oh God. Holy Father, we're praying that your scripture become alive in us again, oh God. Holy Father, we're praying that every page in the Bible will illuminate our path, oh God. We're praying that your strength, your truth will live in us each and every day, that your silence will live in us every day, that we would know that even though you're silent, that you're still with us, oh God. God, give us such a passion for your presence that nothing in this world will satisfy us more than spending time with you. Honey Father, I'm praying that you would consume us with your consuming fire and invade every room in our life, oh God. Enter our homes, enter our families, our finances, our ministries, our workplace, and our churches, oh God. Honey Father, consume every plan that was never authorized by you in heaven, oh God. Close every door you did not open, oh God. Silence every voice that speaks confusion. Destroy every assignment sent to distract, discourage, divide, delay, or deceive us, oh God. Let every chain, let every chain hidden in darkness, mint in the presence of your holy fire. Where there has been bondage, oh God, we pray that you will establish freedom. Where there has been confusion, oh God, we pray that you will establish wisdom. Where there has been fear, oh God, we pray that you will establish courage. Where there has been weakness, oh God, establish strength. Where there has been mourning, oh God, establish your joy. Where there has been emptiness, oh God, establish your overflowing presence, oh God. Holy Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray that you will baptize us again with a fresh fire this morning, oh God. Holy Father, not emotional excitement, but holy transformation. God, give us a fresh wind this morning, a fresh praise this morning, a fresh fire this morning, a fresh anointing this morning. God, we want to be in your presence this morning. We don't want to just have an ordinary day, oh God. We want to be in your presence this morning. Send your fire this morning, oh God. Send your fire of love. Send your fire of forgiveness, a fire to pray, a fire to worship, a fire to obey, a fire to endure, a fire to stand when others compromise. Honey Father, we want a fire this morning to speak truth with compassion. Honey Father, we want a fire this morning to carry your gospel wherever we go, oh God, without fear or shame, oh God. Honey Father, send your Holy Spirit to make us sensitive to your whispers. Holy Father, we pray that you will interrupt our schedules today because we want to hear what heaven got to say. Honey Father, if you got to wake us up in the midnight hours, oh God, we pray that you do so so we may pray and be in your presence. Teach us, oh God, to recognize divine appointments. We don't want to miss our appointments with you, oh God. We don't want to miss the wave of God this morning, oh God. So God, we ask you to have your way. Seeing your anointing fire upon us this morning, oh God. Let us never become so comfortable that we stop growing. Let us never become so busy that we can't hear your voice. Let us never become so familiar with ministry that we lose the wonder of your presence. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. We bless your name this morning, oh God. God, we pray that you will make our heart your sanctuary, make our life your altar, make our words your message, make our hands your instruments, make our feet to carry your good news, oh God. Holy Father, we pray that you will make our life a testimony of Jesus Christ and how he lived, oh God, and how he's still alive to this very day. Honey Father, we pray every place where you have answered in our life can be seen before other people, oh God. Every place that you have assigned to us, we pray that we will serve, oh God, in spirit and in truth. Holy Father, we pray that you will send your consuming for it to rest upon our churches this morning. Strengthen our power, pastors with supernatural wisdom, oh God. Encourage every leader in the body of Christ, oh God. Revive every weary servant this morning, that they may praise you, oh God, with a fresh fire upon their souls, save the lost, heal the broken, and restore the fallen, Heavenly Father. God, we pray in the name of Jesus' name, oh God, that our worship would be authentic this morning, that our unity will be unbreakable, oh God. That your glory would dwell upon us this morning, oh God. Holy Father, we refuse to leave this prayer the same way that we entered it, oh God. Holy Father, we refuse to not hear your voice in this very moment, oh God. We refuse not to praise you in this very moment, oh God. God, we are standing before you right now, sitting before you right now, bowing down before you right now, oh God, and saying, Let your power fall, let your wind move, and let your fire move in our hearts today, oh God. God, because we believe that you are here. We believe that you are listening. We believe that you are consuming everything in us, oh God, that is hindering us, oh God. We know that you are refining us and you're strengthening us each and every day, oh God. We know that when we leave this prayer, we're gonna have more power than we did before we came into this prayer. We know we're gonna have more strength than what we did before we came into this prayer. We're gonna have a fresh wind more than what we did before we came into this prayer. Oh, hallelujah. We bless your name this morning, oh God, because we surrender completely to you this morning, because we belong to you. Our life belongs to you, our words belong to you, our walking belongs to you, our talking belongs to you. We belong to you, oh God. So we say, help all of us this morning, oh God, because we belong to you. Honey Father, we know that you are worthy. You're worthy of all the glory, you're worthy of all the honor, you're worthy of all the praise, you're worthy of all the dominion forever and ever. So we bless your name this morning, oh God. Elohim, El Shada. God, you are my Jehovah, Jared, my Jehovah, Nisi. Honey Father, you are my omnipotent God and omnipresent God, and we thank you, oh God, for you alone are worthy, oh God, of all the glory and all the praise. God, we say hallelujah to the King of Kings. We say hallelujah to the Lord of Lords, we say hallelujah to the Prince of Peace. We say hallelujah to the King of Kings, because you are the King of Kings. We say hallelujah to the great I am. God, we say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We bless your name and we bless you, oh God, because you are holy, holy, holy. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. God, we say thank you. God, we bless your name. God, we anoint you, oh God, with our praise, oh God. God, we anoint you with our words, oh God. We anoint you with our praise this morning, oh God. We got a praise on the inside that we can't keep to ourselves. God, it's like fire shut up in our bones right now. We don't want to shut up because we want to glorify your name this morning. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We're blessing your name, oh God, because you are the great I am. You are the Alpha and the Omega, you are the beginning and the end. Honey Father, there is no in-between. You are the God of all gods. Honey Father, you own the earth. The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof, and everything that dwells within. Honey Father, you own every cattle on the hill, and we praise your name this morning, oh God, because you are our shepherd, you are our shield, you are our bridge over troubled waters, you are our wheel in the middle of a wheel. So we say thank you, oh God, for being the King of Kings in our life, the Lord of Lords in our life, we say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We bless your name, oh God. Honey Father, send your fresh wind, send your anointing, send your power this morning, so we may serve you all the days of our life. God, we want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life. Honey Father, we want to be able to see you again in eternal life. So, God, have your way this morning. Have your way, have your way, have your way. It's in your darling son, Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. I hope you felt the presence of God this morning. I hope you felt a word from God this morning. I hope God came in a room with you this morning. I pray that you're ready to praise him. I'm ready. I'm praying that you're ready to go to church and praise his holy name. I pray that you're ready to go into your prayer closet, your prayer room, to give him all the glory and all the honor. This is a day that the Lord has made. You better praise him. You better exalt his holy name. You better serve him in spirit and truth. This is our care. Let's pray. Ministries, have a blessed day today. And I pray that God will smile upon your soul this morning. I pray that God will uplift your spirits this morning. I pray that God will let you see his glory today. I pray that God would open up his hands of blessings and say, touch my hands, because these are blessings I'm wanting you to take out of it. This is the day that the Lord has made. This is our let's pray, ministries. Have a blessed and wonderful day. Amen.