FIRE OF GOD- A SMOKING FURNACE AND A BURNING TORCH

THE FIRE OF GOD IS REAL

The fire of God is a term loosely thrown around!  Everyone talks about the fire of God but do we know what we're speaking of?  The fire of God is very real! There's no question that there is a fire that is very real and very tangible.  The children of Israel saw the fire of God in a pillar that gave them light in the night and separated them from enemies.  Ezekiel saw an enfolding fire.  John the Revelator saw fire and so did many Old and New Testament patriarchs. 

THE FIRE OF GOD COMES WITH A PLAN

Everyone wants to be touched by fire. They want to feel the very tangible, very real manifestation of the love and zeal of God.  But did you know that the fire of God always comes with a plan?  Did you know that to be touched by fire is to be made ready for assignment?  Virtually every person that encountered the fire of God was then put on assignment.  Look at Abram (Abraham), Moses, Gideon, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, the Apostles. 

Take the example of Abram found in Genesis 15 when God cut covenant with Abram (prior to having his name changed to Abraham,)  promising to give his descendents the land of Canaan (the promised land.)  God came to Abram with a smoking furnace and a burning lamp and God came to Abram with a plan.  He came to Abram with the plan of salvation that would start with a nation that would start with a man named Abram.  There was another man that would be an important part of that plan that would come on the earthly scene years later.  That man's name is Jesus and he was the central figure in this encounter between Abraham and God!  In this encounter, God shows up with this smoking furnace and burning lamp.

Genesis 15:12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amoritesis not yet complete.”17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

THE FIRE OF GOD- THE PLAN OF GOD

What is a furnace?  It's a fire pot! It's a pot for cooking and it's also a furnace for burning away impurities. The fire of God is a consuming and refining fire. It will burn up every plan and every part of you that is not like God. It will consume you but not destroy you.  God has a recipe for your life and to walk fully in the plan of God, you will have to be subjected to the fire where he refines and purifies you and brings your forth a  completed work, tried in the fire, like pure God. This involves his plan for your life and how you fit in the ultimate plan of salvation.  God's plan for you involves people.  Your life is important but God has created you with purpose.  It's a plan for your life but it's a plan involving a bigger picture that affects the lives of others.  To see that purpose fulfilled you must be willing to be refined in the fire.

He also came with a burning lamp.  A look in the Hebrew reveals the plan.  This word lamp in Hebrew draws a picture of a lamp despised.  The Hebrew Lexicon explains it further as drawing a picture of a man once held in high esteem but now despised!  Is that not amazing?  At the beginning of the plan when God calls a man, to make a nation that would bring forth another man that would be the savior of the world, God shows up with a burning lamp.  In this picture he draws for Abraham God hints of the man of the future that would be despised. 

Here Abraham had to realize more than ever that God was at work with a long term plan that would shape not only Abraham's life but the life of many generations to come.  God drew a picture of a shining light, that would be snuffed out; a man despised!  In fact, this plan is affecting Christians today as the nation Abraham birthed became the family of God we today call Christians.

The fire of God in this example truly came with assignment, came with a plan, and came with people in mind.  If you want fire, get ready to have your life change radically.  Get ready for God to shape you , make you, mold you, complete you!  Get ready to be put on assignment that involves God's plan for mankind.  Get ready to burn for him! Amen!