The attached photograph is of a matapalo, as it’s called in Spanish–which means ‘killing stick’.  I keep a picture of one like this in my Bible that another missionary once gave me after he took a picture of it in Ecuador.  

When I do a Google image search in English, I find something similar called a “Strangler Fig Tree” which is a name I like because it accurately describes what this thing does:  it’s like a virus that grows onto the tree, usually in the roots when the tree is young or little.  As the tree grows, so does the matapalo.  It appears on the surface somewhat like it’s actually a part of the tree, but don’t be fooled–it’s not.  This is made obvious by the pictures provided.  In fact, they are sucking the nutrients out of the ground that the tree could use, and so the tree is not capable of producing the right amount of fruit that it should.  If a tree grows really large for years and years, so does this virus, and its false branches, which strangle the life of the tree.

Let me ask you and challenge you, dear saint: what are you feeding your tree?  Are you producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life, or are you feeding the stranglers instead?  The devil always comes that he may steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). It’s harder to steal a tree than it is to steal the seed of that tree in its early form.  That’s why he sends things like these viruses to attach themselves early on in the process, because that’s the easiest time in our lives–during our formative years.  This is why the tobacco companies target young people in their advertising, and why pornographers aim campaigns like e-mail spam and buy the web domain names former churches or toy companies’ websites–to ‘accidentally’ have young people stumble upon them.  It’s a psychological fact that the earlier in life a habit is formed or a thought process is established, it’s much harder to destroy these stranglers later on in life.  The devil knows this better than most Christians do.

Separating Wheat From Tares

This is very similar to the concept of the wheat and the tares, where both grow together after an enemy has gone in and scattered seeds throughout the soil, and it’s only obvious over time that there are weeds and such that are taking the life from out of us.  We all have some level of matapalo in our lives, wasting our time, wasting our energy such as–but not limited to–sinful lifestyle habits, or lies we may be believing that hinder the production of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Even though the wheat and the tares are talking about people, there’s still a principle demonstrated there, about needing to make sure we are separating the wheat from the tares in our lives, so to speak.

If you look at a matapalo in peoples’ lives and not just our own, you may find that they may be LOOKING spiritual, but really it’s poisonous and hindering the actual work of God in us.  This is why discernment is necessary, and making sure our own connection to Jesus has no hindrances in the way. But the thing about this type of virus, is that it’s so wrapped up and close to the tree itself, it appears like it actually is supposed to be there, and the tree itself is accommodating this.  In the wheat and the tares, removing the tares would have damaged the wheat also.  That’s how integrated their roots had gotten in the soil, and both needed to be left to grow together.

It’s this same effect as cancer on the body, sucking life for its own purposes and destroying the body.  We’ve developed lifestyles to accommodate the patterns we’re used to living in.  It’s like a man with a broken or injured leg, learning to walk with a limp or a cane. The longer we have accommodated such lies, the harder it is to break them through renewing of the mind–but it’s not impossible to be done–take courage, dear saint!

May I challenge you dear friend, to let the light of the Holy Spirit shine in your life, and in the deepest recesses of your heart and mind, to show you what these things are. Ways of thinking for years and years might not even seem wrong to you, but they are hindering you.

What may be impossible to fix in the natural, God can fix in the inside of you.

Related Posts:

Separating Seeds of Righteousness & Wickedness From Our Lives

How’s Your Connection?

Counterfeit Mixed In With the Genuine (Matthew 13:24-30)

Don’t forget to check out an old podcast episode with Dave Edwards and Steve Bremner called “Keeping Ourselves From Idols”

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Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

Is grace really a license to sin?  Is it “sloppy agape”?  Where does the grace of God truly fit in the believer’s life and ability to live a holy, repentant life?  Join us to find out as we have a fun and insightful discussion!

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Visit Gregg’s site One Heart International Mission

Relevant Articles:

Sipping Saints – Christians and Alochol,

It’s All Grace? both by Steve Bremner

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes, or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

All too often I feel that as Christians, we base our relationship with God on weather or not we were able to follow what we perceive to be His commandments. I know one of the things I used to do was to ask forgiveness of any sins that I may have committed, both knowingly or unknowingly, before I would proceed into my other “prayers.” It was a real difficult time because I knew I was saved but felt so inadequate in my relationship with God when I fell, but I would feel awesome when I did not. Does His love change based on how well we performed that day? Should we related to Him this way at all?

I haven’t lived that way in a while but I was considering it lately.  I often see post and hear comments by people who either relate to God in this way, or they’re trying to set others free from this mindset. Where does this pattern come from? Why is it such a struggle? Many call this ‘the cost’. But, that always seems to end if someone who is good has an evil struggle exposed, then they are of course called heretics by the church–which by the way has its origins in a system of religion and not in the heart of God.

The Tree Gate

I think it comes down to the way sin entered the world; it was through a tree. Remember in the garden, Adam was commanded not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What was so bad about eating of it? Obviously, it was disobeying the direct word of God. God didn’t want us to eat of it because that knowledge would skew our relationship with Him. Once it was eaten, they could no longer come to God freely in the life that He had given them. They now had to come to God through the lives of some other living thing, which was sacrificed. The relationship with God was based on a system of “Do good, get to God,” and “Do bad, be removed from His presence.” Their life was now bearing the fruit of that which they had eaten.

Relating to God through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means we base our relationship with Him on weather we did “good” or “bad.” Why? What did Jesus do? Jesus was crucified on a tree, breaking its curse over us by becoming a curse for us. Sin entered the world through a tree and exited the world through a tree as well. What was that tree? The cross.

Here’s a thought: the cross is two pieces of wood. Could it represent two trees? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life? Sin left through the cross and eternal life came through it as well. Through Jesus, we have eternal life, like eating from the tree of life. We should be bearing the fruit of this tree in our relating to Jesus.

When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden of Eden an angel with a flaming sword was there to guard them from eating of the tree of life, so that they would not be eternally stuck in a state of relating to God based on good and evil and performance.

Relation Based on Life

Now we relate to God from the tree of life. Before Adam and Eve fell, there was not a worrying about sinning, they did not know it even existed. Have we not been restored to this state? I would say so, I mean if we have Jesus, who came to restore all things, right? Are we not restored?

I think Paul challenged this way of thinking in Romans chapters 6 through 9. He was trying to say that we aren’t who we used to be, we have grace. There should be total freedom in our lives.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 ESV)

Remember that the word “repentance” means to change the way that we think. Jesus changed the way that we think about relating to God. The way of relating to God through what we’ve done is now changed to relating to God through what He has done in us. That’s the only way to truly overcome sin anyway. We are set free from “sin” and “death,” from “good” and “evil” as it pertains to our relationship or right standing (righteousness) with God.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. ‘By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(Rom. 8:3-4)

We are made righteous. We walk in the Spirit. Sin has been condemned by Jesus who became the eternal sacrifice. There is now no need for the life of another to be given on behalf of our sins. If our sin remained, then there would still remain the need for a sacrifice. But as it is we have been restored.

Does this mean we never sin? I am not saying that. It means that our sin is no longer a positional barrier in our relationship with God. We are in life. Our sin is destroyed be the ever-present testimony of Jesus. Jesus! What he has done in us, for us, and what He is now doing through us!

Live from the Tree of Life

We are eternally His through grace. We are on the ship built from the wood of the tree of life. The ship built from the wood of the tree of knowledge, He has sunken. Why would we jump off the Life ship and try to cling to the remains of the death ship? Why would we try to relate to God in this manner ever again. WE ARE FREE!

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 ESV

The cloak of bondage and separation has been ripped from our lives. The presence and manifestation of God responds to those who love Him (see John 14). To enter His presence, all we have to do is believe what He did and said about us.

It’s not an “earn me system.” It’s a “love me family.” We’re positionally and relationally in “Life.” The faith that we have in Jesus has “indeed” done this. He rescued us and brought us aboard His ship. Once you eat of the tree of life, you’re in life forever. Don’t undermind your position in Christ by jumping overboard. Relax and relate to God from life and not from how good or bad you’ve been.

This week we ask the question “revive what?”.  What is revival and what is being revived?  We cut through the buzz words and discuss what this is and what it looks like in the Scriptures. We get into asking these questions from the get go and dive into ‘outpouring’ versus discipleship.  If a real outpouring happened, would we be ready?  Would we even really want it?  What if God actually answered our romanticized prayers for a revival?  Would we be ready for it?

Join us this week as Steve Bremner has a sacred cow barbecue with a couple of insightful authors:  SJ Hill, international speaker and author of Enjoying God and previous recurring guest on the podcast, along with Dr Stephen R. Crosby, author of Revising Revival.

This week’s intro: Light Up The Sky by Thousand Foot Krutch

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Related Links:

Visit www.sjhillonline.com for more about SJ Hill’s ministry and resources

Visit www.goczn.com/srcrosby to download or order Dr Crosby’s books and go further into some of the stuff we only began to cover today.

Related Articles:

The Call For Revivalists – Dave Edwards

What Do You Mean by “Revival”? – Steve Bremner

Reforming Revival - Dr Crosby

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes, or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

At the most cataclysmic moment in all of history, time, and eternity, John the Baptist appeared on the scene. His was the arrival of a voice in a barren landscape starved for a transmission from heaven. His emerging was monumental and astronomical.

Why?  Who was he anyway?

Is he this crazy guy we always imagine when someone rattles off dictations about him from pulpits? What was the force of his ministry? Why would Jesus need someone to precede Him?

John’s ministry was marked by repentance. Often, when reading the passages in Scripture that describe these events, we picture modern day altar calls with people dressed in desert gear weeping over their sins. Repentance is a state in which your mind has changed. John’s preaching was the announcement of a new era, a new age, and a new beginning!

D you want to start a revolution?  Change the mind of the people. This is why his preaching invoked fear and wonder in the hearts of the religious leaders. Everything they knew and everything they were would be destroyed or overtaken by this new move, this new thought, this new “way.” The only option for them was to resist, to champion the old movement, and to slay the source of water infiltrating the age.

A spiritual father of mine often speaks of how John’s head was cut off because it was a prophetic picture of the removal of the previous way of thinking. And what does it say of Christ?  He is the head.

What I am trying to articulate is that to understand John is to understand the prophetic statement of his life. His was the voice that called to the gates to open for the King of Glory to come in.

He must Increase!

One of the most famous quotes of his life is this:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” ESV

“He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance.” God’s Word

“He must grow greater, but I must grow less.” Weymouth New Testament

“He must become greater; I must become less.” NIV

“Him it behoveth to increase, and me to become less.” Young’s Literal Translation

This is about every way I could find it translated. Most of us read this and think we can apply it to us dying to ourselves and Him increasing in us. Is this correct? I was challenged on it recently because I always viewed it this way. One of my favorite worship songs also reflected on it:

“More of you and less of me, More of You and less of me, More of You and less of me, Jesus.”

So when I first heard a teacher at my church’s view on it I was “taken aback.” He stated that this was not meant for us to model our lives after. We aren’t supposed to think this way.

This was new. Most who read this now probably feel the way I did when I heard it. And what I wrote here was actually toned down from the way he taught it. So instead of responding like I would’ve in the past when I heard something that I disagreed with, and getting angry, I allowed it to challenged my perspective. Responding this way either solidifies our beliefs or changes our paradigms.

I meditated on what he said and took a closer look at the passage and a broader look at John’s life and the implications of what he was saying.

John wasn’t giving us a pastoral way of cleansing ourselves from worldly desires and sins. In fact, if we were to truly grasp the enormity of what he was prophetically decreeing, then we wouldn’t even have to. He closed out an era by decreasing into the “revelation and increase” of Jesus!  In fact you could say that he was the watchmen signaling the dawn of the new age of Jesus in which heaven fills the earth. Through the One coming after him, sin would be destroyed and the heaven that a whole nation saught for would now come to the earth.

The In-Between World

Oh that we could capture this! Many fail to realize the significance of the New Covenant. They aren’t completely Old Testament either. Even though Jesus has come, many in the church are still living in the baptism of John. They try to daily decrease and increase the Jesus-ness in their lives. This is an in-between world.

“What baptism have we received?” as Paul asked the Ephesians. We would respond with the baptism of Jesus. Then why does most of the ministry to church does resemble the baptism of John? John’s heart would break at the notion. He stated clearly and irrevocably that he was not the Messiah. I know we don’t believe this in theory but in practice, it has become our theology.

Jesus baptizes with fire! Our main emphasis is with water. The water is a shadow of the coming fire. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it. But I tell you this, I’d rather be filled with God on the inside than splashed with water on the outside. The natural baptism is a prophetic demonstration of the spiritual one.

The Inauguration of a New Era

Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet. Why? Because all the prophets before him said “The Messiah is Coming! The Messiah is Coming!” John was able to say in one atomic bomb of an earth-shattering declaration, “HERE HE IS!”

This is the moment when the car turns into and airplane. When the water turns into wine. When death decreases into the increase of life. BAMB! Like a sledgehammer striking the cords of matter. This is where the sun rises for the first time. This where creation perks its ears like the doe in the woods. This is where we find we have been living in a cave when there is an entire world above the surface.

This was the reason for his being. He lived his life for this announcement. Like a speaker at a concert anouncing the performer, like the moon anouncing that his light is actually a reflection of the sun. This was the explosion that pronounced the new Jesus Age!

This was also the moment that John became less. The moment his voice began to fade. This was the moment of his decrease. He was the spark that lit the rocket, but now that it has blasted off there was no need for his flame.

This is both why he is the greatest prophet and the least in the kingdom. Everyone in the kingdom is on board the ship, but John is now at a distance waving goodbye as we fire into the atmosphere.

What did we leave behind in his world? Sin, death, sickness, diseases. Do they still exist? Yes. Are they supposed to? No. They are not meant to survive in this climate. In fact, they will not. They only survive off the nourishment given to them by creation that still believes in its bondage to the law of sin and death. But truly and eternally Jesus has overcome it!  The sun has set on an era. John both closed the door to that one and opened the door to a new one.

My mind is also spinning at what I have just written. This is a raw feed. I will go back and study out some of it, so take what you want from it. I am just scrapping my mind in the consideration of this and meditating on its revelation. As for me, I feel this one article is some of the most important words I have yet to write.

Good day…

“as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:20, ESV)

Last Sunday night I got to share–in Spanish–to our Oikos community, the one that meets on Sunday nights in Mark and Anna Burgess’ house, out of the twelfth chapter of Acts.  It’s a well-known story, but very sobering for me to read lately in light of facing eternity in different ways than I ever had before, and re-evaluating what I’m living for and how passionately I’m living for Christ, whether my life would be cut short, or whether I live to be a ripe old age.  

We begin the chapter with the notification that James had been killed with the sword–which usually meant someone had their head chopped off.  He is the first of the twelve who followed Jesus to be martyred, casting doubt on the idea that the inner 12 had some kind of special protection on them making them immune to this sort of thing.

The church has been on a “hot streak” up to this point, experiencing one exciting conversion after another; Saul of Tarsus, then the Gentile centurion Cornelius, then the mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles in Antioch.  Things had been going good for a while, and now a huge change.  Seeing his approval ratings rise in the polls when he kills James, Herod seeks to improve his ratings even more when he proceeded to go after Peter also, another figurehead of the Christian movement.  No doubt, this was done because it was politically popular for Herod and would have really dealt a blow to the early church to lose a prominent figure like Peter.  It pleased many of his citizens who didn’t like the Christians.

James is certainly not the first Christian to die in faithfulness to Jesus.  Stephen (Acts 7:58-60) was martyred before this, and certainly others were also under Saul’s persecution.  James was one of the three closest disciples of Jesus’ original twelve.  He and his brother John, as well as Peter who the chapter goes on to focus on, were the three who were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and saw him in a different light (pun intended) than the other 9 got to experience.

John and James, the sons of Zebedee, had come once to Jesus and asked to be considered His two chief lieutenants;

Jesus said to them,“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” (Mark 10: 38-40)

This was the fulfilment of that promise.  James truly drank that cup, while John, it’s historically believed, would go on to live to a ripe old age and die of natural causes–the only one of the twelve disciples to do so.

As I was reading this I couldn’t help but wonder; why did James get killed, but Peter escaped from prison?  Out of the inner three, why did John never face the martyrdom that his brother, and Peter later, both faced?  Only God knows.

A Serious Threat To The Enemies of God

Knowing that Peter (with other apostles) had mysteriously escaped from prison before (see Acts 5:17-21), Herod assigned a high-security detail to guard Peter.  Normally it was considered enough for a prisoner to be handcuffed to one soldier, but as a special precaution Peter had a soldier each side of him and both his wrists were manacled.  Not to mention he had four squadrons of soldiers arrest him.  This was no little security measure for Herod–this was a high-profile prisoner and he wanted nothing to go wrong!

That night Peter was sleeping.  The way the text reads, Peter shows no signs of anxiety.  He was able to sleep soundly on what probably was going to be the last night before his execution.  I can’t pretend I’d have had peace like that very often in my life.  For two nights after getting robbed at gun point recently, I couldn’t sleep well and had my thoughts running a mile a minute.  And I was now safe after the fact.  Peter was facing death.  Then, an angel “struck” Peter’s side and woke him up.  In Spanish the word used has the connotation of being hit.  I had never seen that before I shared this teaching–the angel really wanted Peter to wake up, and then they left.  They came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord.  The soldiers, the chains, the guard posts, the iron gate – are all nothing when God is with us and prayer is behind us.  Which leads to a change of scene in the narrative.

“No, it’s just his angel!”

Rhoda is so excited to hear from Peter at the door to the house where believers are praying for him, that she leaves him outside at the gate and runs to tell the others that he’s there!  We are comforted. and amused, by the little faith of these Christians.  Even while they are praying for Peter, they found it hard to believe God actually answered their prayer, while they were praying.  The Jews and early church believed in the idea of “guardian angels,” and it seems that they may have believed that one’s guardian angel bore some kind of resemblance to the human it was assigned to.

Then of course we’re brought back to Herod’s political agenda.  At this point, Herod proceeds to give a speech to the people of Tyre and Sidon, who were anxious to please Herod and he receives their overstated praise of the people–that he’s a god and not just a man.  and he receives the judgment of the God he refused to glorify.  In other words, his political aspirations backfire profoundly and he’s killed by the very God he’s trying to snuff out.

The contrast between Herod and the Church is clear.  Herod believed he had the upper hand against God’s people, but God showed who was really in charge – Herod is judged, the church is blessed.  The word of God spread and grew again more.  Through persecution and martyrdom, which is something by and large I think many of us in the Western world reading this blog are unable to say we’ve tasted.  Oftentimes I think many of us read this passage and it’s a story of an angel helping Peter escape from prison, but we easily forget he had just lost a close friend and ministry colleague, and he most likely was awaiting his death when this miraculous escape took place.  His friends and the other believers were praying earnestly for his release.  Death was a very potent reality they were facing, and I highly doubt this was just a 15 minute before-breakfast prayer meeting.

As for the disciples mentioned in this narrative, one of them gained more for the growth of the kingdom of God by death, while the other’s testimony of escape from death and living some time longer, proved to help spread the word of God further.

It’s my prayer also, that Christ may be honored, but also that the Word of God my spread through my life whether by life or by death.

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

“Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.  And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.” (Exodus 19: 18-20, English Standard Version)

It might seem like an obvious and easy choice that I’m writing yet another post about the fire of God on a site called “Fire Press.” This title may closely resemble a previous post of mine, but I’m in awe and seem to not run out of things the Lord reveals to me in my personal walk with Him. Sometimes certain catchphrases about God are so overused in modern charismatic-anity, and things are said so often about Him in the Scriptures, it can be very easy to lose sight of just how awesome something about Him really is.

Ponder for a moment that the first time the Lord revealed Himself to Moses was in a burning bush.  He could have done His appearing in any form He wanted to, but chose this method–a burning fire.  Likewise, the first time the Lord chose to come down and meet the people of Israel for the first time after departing from Egypt, he showed up as thunder, lightning and a thick cloud with a very loud trumpet blast, causing all of the few million men and women who heard it to tremble (see Exodus 19:16-24)  The mountain itself did not speak, but the voice in the midst of the fire–God, did.

The God Who Answers By Fire

It is interesting that significant times when God showed Himself to people–Moses in the bush, the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, and the believers in the upper room in Acts 2–He showed up in appearance of fire.   No, I don’t think I’m harping on this subject and imagery too much, for our God is a consuming fire!  It’s one of His many characteristics. In this instance, the Lord told Moses to have the people clean themselves and abstain from sexual relations for the first two days, and then He’d show up, in fire, on the third day, which would be the occasion Moses received the ten commandments and shared them with the people.  Of all the characteristics and symbols that accurately represent the Lord in the Scriptures, if a cleansing was what He was going to do, then He could have shown up as a huge torrent of rain with bars of soap.  He showed up in one of the most terrifying and destructive elements of our physical world.  Out of all the plagues the Lord brought upon Egypt, culminating in parting the Red Sea that His chosen people might walk through it, He had yet to set a mountain on fire.

Elijah would later stand at Mount Carmel, and in a very similar way, except in the latter instance facing the enemies of God rather than the friends God desired as his treasured possession–the God who is the real god would answer by fire to prove his existence and reputation.  While Moses and Elijah both were showing people the same thing, Moses was not bringing Israel into a confrontation like Elijah was with the Baal worshippers.

The author of Hebrews states about this incident after Israel came out of Egypt;

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.  For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,  and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”  This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:18-29, ESV.  Emphasis mine.)

Time would fail us to cover every aspect of what this unshakable kingdom looks like, and I’ve covered it in brief in previous studies, which keep in theme with what we’re meditating on today–that this unshakable and imperishable kingdom burns with fire but does not wither away, just like the bush Moses gazed upon.  Yahweh wanted to have a people to inhabit, but they wouldn’t have any of it and reacted the wrong way in the trembling presence of the Lord–instead of fearing him, they were afraid of Him.  In this new better covenant the writer of Hebrews mentions, that fire the appeared on the mountain top that day has come to live inside our regenerated ‘born again’ spirits.

Ponder that for a moment.  God does not dwell in a temple made by hands, nor does He float on a mountaintop the resembles and burns like fire.

You Are The Fire Of The World

You, dear saint, are the carrier of His presence, the fire of the world.  His Holy Spirit gives life to mortal bodies and raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).  You are the carrier of the fire that spreads, and the flaming fire of His Spirit melts the chains of bondage the captives are wearing, thus setting them free.  It burns the sickness out of peoples’ bodies.  Silver or gold, you might have none, but you can give what you do have–the spirit of burning that fries the infirmity out of the lame and weak person’s body.  You are an overcomer by the presence of all consuming fire that burns the sin nature out of your old man.  You can be holy as He is holy, because He enables you to live holy by His enabling Holy Spirit.

It all kind of makes “greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4) not sound so cheesy and cliche when we think of it that way, doesn’t it?

Related Posts:

All-Consuming Fire
Burning Bushes
The Imperishable Kingdom
No Perishing Point
Jesus’ Eyes of Fire

Related Topics: fire of God revival repentance holiness enjoying God Foundations

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

We shoot the breeze and discuss the differences between missional community and house churches.  Is it just an alternative to “big churches?”  What is a community on mission together?  When the writer of Hebrews talks about not forsaking gathering together, is this referring to attending a weekly service, or something more profoundly missed in our modern context?

Mark and Shaun also brought up some very interesting points in this discussion, about how there is no ‘magic silver bullet‘ to community, but it takes lots of time and hard work.  Are you willing to put in the commitment and sacrifice?  In launching missional communities, or in planting house churches, by and large, are we going to the pattern of Scripture for our foundation, or looking at the culture around us and mixing it in with our desires and preferences for what an MC is supposed to look like?

Recommended Books

Kingdom and Covenant,

Building a Discipling Culture and

Launching Missional Communities, by Mike Breen

Radical by David Platt

Don’t forget to check out www.audibletrial.com/FireOnYourHead to download a free audio book of any of these titles.

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes, or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options