The Fire Of God

This bush should have been destroyed in less than 10 seconds flat, but the miracle here is not the bush but the fire. The fire of God kept burning and burning. It was an inexhaustible fire.

This blazing fire, that sets the bush aflame and kept burning and consumed it, but didn’t destroy it and then shone through it and distinguished it from the thousands of bushes around is a sign and symbol for what God wants to do through us and his church today.

He wants to set his church on fire; he wants his spirit to blaze through every area of our lives.

Ø He wants to burn within us a fresh passion for Jesus

Ø He wants to consume us with his fiery presence so we shine with his glory so that the world may know there is one God and none other.

Our God is a God of fire and he wants his people to be set ablaze with his glory. Our God is a

God who reveals and acts and rests and remains within his people by way of supernatural fire.

That’s why when we look at the Word we can clearly see that the very person, character and nature of the Godhead, father, Son and Holy Spirit are represented and revealed to us by way of fire.

Ø Moses when speaking of Jehovah after the burning bush later in his life, Deut 4:24 says “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

Ø John in his vision on the isle of Patmos gives a beautiful description of the beauty of the Christ when he sees him in all his glory and he says beginning in Revelation 1:14, “His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength, His voice as the sound of many waters, his hair was as white as wool and His eyes like a flame of fire.”

Ø John the Baptist when spoke about Jesus and his sending of the Holy Spirit said, “One is

coming who’s mightier than me, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Fire is an aspect of Gods presence appearing to his people. In the Word it was a sign of his approval, a sign that he lived and dwelt with men and women, his chosen people who he had called his own.

Ø To the children of Israel, God lived above then as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night Exodus 13:21–22.

Ø In the tabernacle when the Glory came the fire of God came and consumed the peoples offerings by means of fire which showed Gods favor, Leviticus 9:23–24.

Ø With Elijah his cry to the people of Israel was let the God who answers by fire let him be God 1 Kings 18 v. 24.

Ø With Jeremiah Gods word was like a burning fire shut up in his bones Jeremiah 20:9.

Ø On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came it was described as tongues of fire, that rested on each of them Acts 2:3.

OT or New, beginning or end, you’ll find traces of the fire of God burning brightly – not a flicker but a flame touching and transforming the lives of ordinary people just like you and me.

This is all good and right to know but how does this revelation of God as the God of fire effect our lives today. How can the God of the burning bush, the God who reveals and answers by fire change us by fire so we become more Christ like in everything we are and everything we do. We’ve got to know that because if we don’t this just remains a story I’ve read to you today, it’s just words on a page that remains in a book and has no effect or reality in your life.