Fire and Oil

The truth I am continually reminded of is that we are to be burning ones.  That we were made to have the fire of God’s presence burning in us to the point that it is upon us and becomes a torch we take to the nations.  We are burning ones, sent out into the darkest places on the planet to bring the love and hope only found in Jesus.  Jesus Christ is the only one that can turn loss into gain, lack into abundance, negatives into positives, darkness into light, hate into love, bondage into freedom, failure into success, sickness into health, weakness into strength and evil into righteousness.  How are we burning and what are we burning for?  

Congo is five days away and everything in my core is burning to go.  That alone can only come from Jesus.  He is the one to set hearts apart and fire them up.  

“....He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11  

He doesn’t just give us a mission and mandate without the power of Holy Spirit.  

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit’ says the Lord of hosts. Zech 4:6

I just read from Reinhard Bonke that if we “Separate the commission from the enabling, then you either have power without purpose or purpose without power”.

And what a beautiful comfort to know He doesn’t just send us, but He goes with us and we go with Him!  

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you, even to the end of the age”  Matthew 28:20

Whew!  What a comfort.  Jesus is STILL with us... even to the end of the age.  That’s NOW!

So then I’m dwelling on all this and bam, it’s like a duh moment of him showing me a simple picture of a kerosene lamp which is a very common item to be used around here :).  We have several around our house for those rainy nights that often bring power outages.

In order to be burning and to be a light, we must have the oil (kerosene) constantly being poured in, to keep on burning.  The oil is His presence.  It is how He created us, to be in relationship with God and keep filling up with HIM.  His abiding presence.  (john 15-17)  (Also this is like the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25)

We can’t go out to a dying world empty handed.  We first must be so full of Jesus that the overflow is what we give out.  And the oil of His presence is what sets us ablaze.  That’s where passion and zeal are, in the fire.  I heard a song recently and not sure who is was or I’d be sure to reference them but I wrote down what it said.  

“God gives fire to his beloved.  Fire is what sets human life apart form all other life.  It’s God’s image and very nature in us.  We are living in fire.  You are walking, talking, fire carriers.  Jesus said you are the light of the world.  God wants to declare to you that it’s normal for you to be burning for God.  It’s the very energy of the creator of the world.  It’s what’s around his throne and it’s what’s burning in your heart.”

This oil and fire, it’s for us all but we must embrace it, we must embrace HIM.  It’s about Jesus.  He is the mission, He is the one who calls, equips, sets apart and sends out.  This isn’t for the faint of heart... and it also isn’t just for the wild ones sent to Africa.  It’s for ALL :).  So no excuses on where you are.  Get lit up by His presence today.  It just takes one encounter and believing that the fire never has to die down, He is faithful, you need only to believe.