45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. -Matthew 24:45-47 (NIV)
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25: 14-30 (NIV)
The Lord is not expecting us to do more than that which we are able. He just expects that we will have done that which we knew we could and should have out of the abundance of love we have for Him and our neighbor. He is coming soon. May you be counted amongst the wise and faithful when He returns! Be blessed!
Champ, a rescued kitten who survived being abandoned right after birth.
Over a period of time I have longed to see the Lord face to face, an experience that a few of our brothers and sisters in the Lord have had. At times I have prayed hard beseeching the Lord to allow me to experience viewing His actual appearance even at the very least in a dream. I would even quote scriptures to the Lord including Matthew 7:7: 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. – NIV
Yesterday I was riding my bike to run an errand and on the way I saw a kitten in distress. It looked like it was separated from its litter and was emaciated and in danger of being run over or crushed on the dirt road in my neighborhood. I passed it and I felt an intense sense of compassion so I picked it up and put it safely to the side determined that if I returned and found it there I would take it home. Lo and behold there it was and so somehow a few meters ahead I saw a cat with kittens sucking on it and concluded it could be the mother. Sure enough I put the cat there with its siblings and hopefully ‘Champ’ will have survived with its mom. I then realised that even it this little creature that God lovingly brought to birth was the expression of His presence in a small way.
To this very day I have not had that experience that I so long for, so I await the wedding feast of the Lamb and bridegroom, if I do not fall asleep before that day. Having said this, I must confess that I have experienced the manifest presence of God and have had one dream where I experienced an upward pull and flight towards an amazing and brilliant white light and when I woke up I knew it was the Lord and can only assume it was a picture of the rapture. I can remember the intense feeling of joy that I felt and woke up with. I must also confess that at one time in deep prayer I know the Lord spoke to me saying that I would not see Him for my awareness of Him was sufficient and He even gave me a scripture saying I was even more blessed because of this.
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20: 24-29, NIV
As you can see here, it is more about faith than sight, and there is no better illustration of this principle than 2 Corinthians 5: 7: For we live by faith, not by sight.
It is my prayer that you experience the manifest presence of God, and that Christ Jesus grants you the grace to see Him face to face in the land of the living but it is more so my prayer that you learn to walk by faith and not by sight, knowing that He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us. he is Emmanuel, God among us. the Alpha and Omega. Jehovah our salvation. Prince of Peace. Lord of Lords. Be blessed! Be of faith! Believe!
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”
14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.”
16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and [c]the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Before there was access to the throne of mercy by the blood of the Lamb, it was a terrifying sight to be in the manifest presence of God. Today we have direct access to our Father, through the Son and helped by the Holy Spirit. Blessed indeed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God! Be blessed as you answer the call of the Father and Son to dwell in us and in our midst!
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 NIV
On the day of Pentecost, a day that is commemorated each year as the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out and marked the beginning of the demonstration of the power of God in believers which enabled them to carry out the great commission as promised by Christ, we acknowledge the special place the Holy Spirit has in our lives as believers in Christ. He said that they should wait in Jerusalem until the promise of God to pour out His Spirit was fulfilled, and that He would not leave them alone but would send a counselor, a helper who would give them power.
What place does fire have in the operation of God’s will and His kingdom? Throughout the word we see examples of God sending fire to consume the sacrifice, or appearing as a column of fire, or even as fire in a burning bush that was not consumed. Let us look at the command of God to Moses when instructing Him on how the Israelites were to make a dwelling place for Him amongst them, which was called the Tent of Meeting. Also known as the Tabernacle, this housed the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. Look at what it says in Leviticus 6:8-13:
8Then the LORD said to Moses, 9“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
10And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside it. 11Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place.
12The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 13The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.
Is it not amazing to note that the fire was never to be extinguished but was to be kept burning? In the times of Elijah we see fire coming from heaven to consume the sacrifice, and that brought back the reverence of God among the people. A demonstration of the nature of God as being an all consuming fire. In Revelations we see fire in seven lamps, also called the ‘seven Spirits of God:
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits a of God. Revelations 4:1-5, NIV
The censers that are filled with incense which are linked to the prayers of the saints also indicate that there is fire, as incense requires to be burned to release its aroma:
3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelations 8:3-5, NIV
Now we can see the relation to fire and why there is a requirement for an altar which is on fire! Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Lord, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us with His Fire, for indeed our God is a consuming fire, but he consumes that which has to burn in order to purify it, a refining fire for the redeemed yet a destructive fire to the enemy and those who assign their lot with His by refusing to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and position as creator and Lord. The Holy Spirit is our fire and we turn our bodies into a temple that has the altar of heaven inside it. Indeed when Christ says He and the Father will come inside and dwell within, it is by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Today we have reduced our relationship of fire to one where we seek external fires of revival and moves of God in our nicely constructed buildings and organized worship that gently or even sometimes forcibly remove the Holy Spirit from our midst. We have succeeded at perfecting the religion but not the relationship. Jesus told us of a time when true believers would worship in Spirit and Truth, and that God is seeking for such. The hour has come when the outpouring that is beginning will cut through walls, borders, denominations, religious rites and practices, political systems and even enemy strongholds to reveal a bride that has a lamp trimmed with oil and burning, ready to receive the bridegroom.
May Yeshua grant you the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as you pray for the precious gift of fire that will restore the broken altar in our hearts and keep the fire burning until He comes! Be blessed! Believe!
