more fire

Many of us can quote John 3:16, but how many can quote Luke 3:16? It reads:

“John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”

Because God is a consuming fire the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of fire. Jesus said, “I’ve come to bring fire on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” I believe the world will continue to be consumed by hell fire if the church does not kindle the Holy Ghost fire.

Between Malachi and Matthew there were four hundred years of darkness without any prophetic light. That’s four hundred years of silence without any prophetic voice. And then suddenly and unexpectedly this strange man, John the Baptizer, came blazing across a sky that was filled with darkness. The Word says he was a “burning and a shining light.” Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” The Baptizer appeared in the wilderness. It was not only a wilderness geographically, it was a wilderness morally, politically and religiously.

The Word says that John the Baptizer was in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey and wearing an outfit made from camel’s hair. And on the day of his showing forth he did so at the command of God Himself. He came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. He taught that repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry.” It’s not just repenting for the sins you’ve done. It’s repenting about the motive that made you do the sin. It’s going past the fruit to the root because if the root of corruption is there, the fruit that grows from it will be rotten.

Today the psychologists and therapists tell people that the problem most people have is a poor self-image. No, the problem is that people have too good a self-image! Turning from our self-centered, sinful nature towards a God-centered, holy nature is not easy. We have lived with sin so long that we like ourselves. But God long ago stopped liking us. The Scripture talks about the Word of God being a mirror. When the Spirit of God convicts He holds the mirror up and we see ourself. It is then that we decide whether we will conform to the image of God or if we will continue wallowing in our lustful, conceited, profane nature.

These days Christians think they have it all figured out. Christians try to devise strategies and study demographics in an effort to maximize church growth. Attendance at spiritual retreats and conferences is up, but the prayer room is empty. I am convinced what God is looking for is to take total possession of some men and women in their spirit, their mind, their soul and their will.

It’s not how many meetings you go to or how many gifts you have. Nor is it your level of education or the number of sermons you’ve preached. Ultimately, it is your availability. Are you spending time alone in the presence of God? Are you seeking Him first in all things? Are the eyes and ears of your heart open? Will you be ready to go forth when God calls?

Related posts:

• Finding the center
• Pray for fire
• Charge
• Fire in my bones

Greetings in the Most High! I’m now a married man. And already I’m back to the grind (i.e. work), the blogosphere and my daily routine. But not for long as my lovely new bride and I will depart for our Hawaii honeymoon on July 9. I’ll post some pics when I get them. Until then I’ll attempt to go about my daily routine like normal.

To start, I’ve been tagged by Susan over at Faithwalk to list 5 things I dig about Jesus and then tag five other bloggers who’ll be listed below.

Rules:

Those tagged will share 5 things they dig about Jesus.
Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers.
Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here with their name so that others can read them.

Here I go. I dig Jesus because…

1. It is in Him that my wife and I were united in holy matrimony.
2. He shed His blood so that I could be reconciled unto Father God and saved from sin.
3. He has given His followers the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
4. He gave us the Spirit of God to dwell within us, to teach us and to give us power from on High.
5. He is a radical who defeated Satan and gave the charge to advance His Father’s Kingdom.

Now, for my 5 tag-ees:

1. Farid at Loose Canon
2. Shanti at Astrowombat
3. Brad at BradEdwards
4. Shane at Wrath of McGrath
5. Nate at Bohemian Prose

Vonetta and Jason — June 23, 2007

This Marriage

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
May it be sweet milk,
this marriage, like wine and chocolate.

May this marriage offer fruit and shade
like the date palm.
May this marriage be full of laughter,
our every day a day in paradise.

May this marriage be a sign of compassion
a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
a sign as welcome
as the moon in a clear blue sky.

I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

-Rumi, 12th century Persian poet

Related post:

• An intimate engagement

Recently I’ve been doing a study of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. The second chapter of the Gospel according to John has many nuggets to be mined. I’ll share a couple of those nuggets here.

I was awed at the very first verse: “On the third day a wedding took place…” This seems to be a beautiful foretelling of the marriage that took place between Christ and his church at his resurrection, which happened the third day after his death by crucifixion. This is almost too beautiful to grasp. The wedding at Cana, like most wedding ceremonies, gives a glimpse of the spiritual union between the lover and the beloved.

By the third verse the wedding party is already out of wine. (Must’ve been some celebration.) Jesus’ mom provokes him, “They have no wine.” Like the reluctant son who doesn’t want to take center stage he says, “Why do you involve me?” But he does get involved. He tells his disciples to fill the ceremonial jugs with water. The jugs were meant to hold water for the purification ritual.

When Jesus turned the water to wine at the wedding in Cana he did much more than a parlor room miracle. What he did was even more radical than changing water into wine. By drinking from the jugs that held water for purification he showed that purity was indeed to begin from the inside. The priests and rabbis encouraged people to wash their hands in an effort to be clean, but by drinking the water/wine from the ceremonial jug Jesus showed that purification begins from the inside.

This is put forth even more adamantly in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus says, “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ “

By turning the water to wine Jesus revealed his glory. Praise God for giving us a wine that makes us clean.

Related posts:

• An intimate engagement
• New wine
• Conscious water

During my devotional time this morning I came across the 17th century poet Richard Crashaw. In his poem, which appears untitled, he has a single verse that waxes beautifully upon the miracle of Christ turning water to wine.

“The conscious water saw its God and blushed.”

Please pray for Billy Graham and his family. His beloved wife Ruth has passed on.

I read this question on a another blog: “Would I really bother with Christianity if I knew for sure there was no life after death?” I was the only Christian to respond and the only one to say yes. Everyone else seemed to be agnostic. I commented:

“In a word: Yes.

Christ teaches how to take part in the Kingdom of God now. He gives broken people the power to be whole and haughty people the ability to be humble. There is so much depth, revelation and vision in the confession of faith taught by Christ (and his followers) that to abandon those teachings merely on the possibility that heaven does not exist would be to have never fully understood the cosmology intimated by Christ.”

I would like to hear what you think. Would you continue to follow Christ if there was no Heaven? You can either respond on this blog or at the other blog.

Related post:

• Where do you go when you die?

There is a new independent graphic novel (i.e. comic book) called Dust. I heard about it today while I was listening to the Mars Hill Bible Church podcast, which I highly recommend. The first issue of Dust, appropriately called “Fire from Heaven,” tells the story of Elijah from 1 Kings. The picture above is the last image from the first issue. It shows God accepting Elijah’s sacrifice during his battle with the false prophets of Baal.

Jewish tradition states that a lion is present in the fire of God. This reference can even be found in a popular song called “Fire of Heaven/Altar of Earth” by the orthodox Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu. The hook in the song goes: “Fire descends from on high in the shape of a lion. Burn the sacrifice of pride and ride on to Mount Zion.” Definitely check out the Dust Web site. You can download the first issue and, if you like it, order a subscription (I just ordered a subscription for my little brothers). More fire!

Sunday evening I returned from a men’s retreat to the Paradise Lake Retreat Center in the Pocono Mountains. The trip was organized by the men’s ministry at the Brooklyn Tabernacle and about 120 brothers made the weekend-long event. The theme was: The quest for godly character and integrity.

It was a great opportunity to make new friends and forge existing friendships deeper. I spent much of my time in a canoe and hiking the trails. Some brothers played volleyball and basketball, went fishing or simply relaxed along the lake. Saturday morning I awoke especially early, somewhere around 5:45 a.m., grabbed my Bible and hit the trail. I ventured deep into the woods, stopping occasionally to read scripture. I read Pslam 42, “As the deer pants for water…,” and soon thereafter I heard a rustling. I looked up and saw a beautiful, mature whitetail deer standing about ten meters from me. It quickly leaped away. I grew up in Wisconsin and have seen many, many deer, but it was still amazing.

I began to praise God aloud, alone in the forest.

During my walk back I continued praying, reading and rereading Psalm 42. It struck me how desperate David must have been to be in the presence of God to compare his soul’s longing for God to the dehydrated deer’s desperate need to quench his thirst. David writes ”my soul thirsts for God” and “my tears have been my meat night and day.” I’ve sung this song in church many times (it’s one of my favorites), but how often I’ve failed to consider the depth and desperation of the psalmist’s desire to be in the presence of his God.

Besides recreational activities, we spent alot of time listening to guest speakers, praying with one another and worshiping God. Saturday night we spent almost three hours just worshiping. It was a time of renewal and encouragement. I admit that in this blog I’ve stated that too many Christians are taking retreats when they should be on the advance. While there is truth to that statement, I must say that I was equipped, enabled and encouraged by my spiritual brothers this weekend. Coming from the retreat I have a renewed charge to continue advancing the Kingdom of God for Christ’s sake.