Fire On Your Head

“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants.” -Is. 44.3

Of this verse, the “good pastor” Robert Murray McCheyne once remarked:

There are no other words in the whole Bible that have been oftener in my heart and oftener on my tongue than these.

The passage applies directly to Israel, but the principle of the promise can be applied to all contexts where the Creator is active amongst men. Where the land thirsts for righteousness and mercy, and where men thirst for God in recognition of the dryness of their own hearts, the word stands true that He will “pour out water” from heaven, and His own interpretation of the image is that He will pour out His Spirit on our offspring, and his blessing on our descendants.

I would rather be found in the tension of spiritual thirst, without having yet seen the water to come, than to be drunk and satisfied with the wine of this age. I would rather be as a cracked desert ground, and aware of my dryness, than to be full of the delusion of self-satisfied living. To be able to thirst after God is a great gift from heaven. To yearn for Him in the barren wastelands is better than to be satisfied without Him in the man-made reservoirs of the city.

To be at ease and full without the outpouring of His Spirit is to live in a delusion. I may whittle away a lifetime without really thirsting, taking sips from fashion, swigs from sport, gulps from Hollywood, and guzzles from religion, and my life will end in deception. My children will have been robbed of a glory and knowledge of God that could have been theirs, had I been a man of thirst.

But I may live a life of thirst, and in my weakness, yearn for Him in the quiet places of the desert, and the promise will one day be answered. I know not when. I know not the hour of visitation. But the certitude cannot be shaken, for He Himself has declared it. He will “pour out water upon the thirsty land,” and my children will see something of His glory that they would have missed if I had settled for something less than God Himself.

If only the world knew of the glory of thirsting for Him! If only the Church weren’t so distracted and filled from the “buffet” that the world offers us and the busy mentality that modern “ministry” puts before us.

Though I have heard of His great love, and experienced it on many glorious occasions, it still staggers me that He longs to pour out His own Spirit upon us, and our children. It matters not that I’m a dry and cracked soul. In fact, that is the ground upon which He copiously pours out His holy rain. Oh, to live a life of anticipatory thirst. To ache for God Himself, until He comes and makes all things new. This is blessedness indeed.

Oh then wish more for God, burn more with desire,
Covet more the dear sight of his marvellous Face;
Pray louder, pray longer, for the sweet gift of fire
To come down on thy heart with its whirlwinds of grace.

Yes pine for thy God, fainting soul! ever pine;
Oh languish mid all that life brings thee of mirth;
Famished, thirsty, and restless, -let such life be thine,-
For what sight is to heaven, desire is to earth.

(Frederick Faber, as quoted in The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, compiled by A.W. Tozer; Christian Publications, 1963; pp. 56-57)

He will pour out water, dear soul. Thirst then! Thirst after Him…

I’ve noticed, in general, after talking to some Christians over the years of my Christian walk a general attitude that can really discourage me if I let it, and the more I burn for Jesus and read the Word of God, the more this general trend in the Body of Christ annoys me and I refuse to succomb to it like the myriads of other ‘balanced’ Christians out there.

I’m talking about apathy.

Now I am NOT taking the time here to say that you’re not saved unless you’re marching the streets in front of abortion clinics, or getting involved in political activism or anything of the sort, although I lean closer towards doing those kinds of things than not doing anything at all. I’m not saying Christians should be standing on every street corner preaching hellfire and brimstone; nor am I saying to boycott every single thing that upsets us, or picketing and protesting every time something or someone does something anti-Christian—although massive and widespread actions like that amongst the believers of the land have and can effectively make statements that alter the course of our nation or society. There’s all sorts of things we can accomplish when something ignites our hearts, however, I honestly think it’s easier to cool down a fanatic than it is to warm up a corpse. That’s to say, better to be “too extreme” than to be lukewarm.

Do you really think on Judgment Day Jesus will ever rebuke anybody for being “too on fire” for Him? Do you think when we all stand before the Father on Judgment Day, He’s going to say “Well done, good and faithful servant, however, you could have calmed down a little bit. You didn’t need to be so extreme—I could have touched those peoples’ lives myself without your extreme involvement.”

Do you really think Father God will rebuke anybody for going for it, and maybe they had some issues to work out, or lacked maturity or depth of character, but at least they were doing something? If you are waiting until you are perfect enough or knowledgable enough or whatever enough, then friend, you’ll never do anything because you never will be any of those things in this lifetime!

By listening to the way some people I’ve met pat themselves on the back for their lack of activity for Christ, you’d think that there’s going to be some big fat reward in heaven for the lazier we are!

“Better not share the Gospel with too many people, or people will think I’m a Bible thumper! Better not speak up too loudly (or at all) when someone mocks my Savior, or else they’ll label me intolerant, or a bigot. I don’t want to lose that possible promotion at my job—I know my boss is an atheist. Better not take too many stands that undermine the Bible or marriage or the family–or else people will think I’m a typical Bible thumping intolerant bigot.”

Friends, I’m not impressed with people who are so “balanced” they don’t do anything to ruffle any feathers or rock any boats. Then again, I’m also not impressed with persecution-seekers–the people so obnoxious they make trouble for themselves and then pat themselves on the back for the backlash they receive–when it’s backlash for their pathetic attitudes, not for righteousness’ sake at all!

Friend, lack of resistance in your life is not necessarily a good thing. If you aren’t facing spiritual opposition, it might be because you’re not a threat to any spiritual forces. I’m not saying that if you’re obnoxious, and you stand on street corners with a 20 pound King James Bible condemning everyone you see to hell, then you should be proud that everyone thinks you’re a moron! What I am saying, is if you start taking stands for righteousness, to not be surprised if you start experiencing demonic or spiritual opposition for no other reason than that you are a threat to the kingdom of darkness and are encroaching on its territory. Going the way of least resistance in your life is just a cop-out, and takes no guts.

And don’t be surprised if other Christians whose status quo you are challenging are the ones trying to stop you from making too much fuss, either.

By the way, this is not a defense about any backlash concerning the Madonna concert and my involvement in what has been called by others a “protest” (we didn’t protest anything—we handed out flyers, sang hymns, prayed around the building–and totally had nothing to do with the 63 year old priest who phoned in a false bomb threat to try to prevent the concert from taking place), because like I said, I haven’t gotten any nasty feedback. Rather, these things have been burning in my heart, and a few conversations have really motivated me to put my thoughts on paper–er, a computer screen. I have noticed, too many Christians pat themselves on the back for being “balanced”. When I listen to people talk about how balanced they are, I always ask them “yes, you are balanced, but according to whose scale, yours or God’s?”

Friends, what God calls normal, we call extreme. What we call normal, God calls lukewarm, and in some cases, even an abomination.

Friends, there’s only one temperature for a Christian, and it’s on fire. If you burn for Jesus, then there’s nothing extreme about that, you’re on the right path. And get ready to stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of a lukewarm and backslidden Church. The ones who stick their necks out for Jesus are the ones who are going to have their heads chopped off. I promise you that.

On a closing note, I remember when I first moved to Pensacola, home of the world-renown “Pensacola Outpouring [of the Holy Spirit]” or “Brownsville Revival.” When I first met people there and saw their lifestyles–the people who’d lived through the years of revival, and how their lifestyles were ones of holiness and prayer, I thought they were all insane and legalistic and even weird. But it gradually dawned on me that carnal Christians and apathetic lukewarm believers are NOT the ones seeking God night and day crying out for revival–and certainly not the ones seeing it happen either!The Jesus Revolution comes at a cost, and when revival breaks out, it will require extreme radicalness on the part of the ones who it lives through.

You will seem extreme and radical to others, but it will just barely be normal by the Kingdom of heaven’s standards.

The picture I selected for this entry is a CD cover I found on google picture search.