“I Love You, Lord…”

~Psalm 18.1

It’s a Friday night and five burning Gospel preachers are downtown to communicate and demonstrate the love of God to the lovers of this world. The smell of cigarettes, alcohol and perfumes mixed with the night air combined with the unique scent of cooling asphalt and car exhaust; this is the aroma of the city nightlife of downtown Orlando. Nearly every time we engage men with the Gospel we are met with that confused man leaning back on a concrete wall, lusting after passing dresses, smoking a cigarette with his friends, who says, “Jesus? I love Jesus.” He honestly believes that he loves Jesus. According to him, loving Jesus is the same as knowing who He is, and having nothing negative to speak about Him. Or due to the lack of looking into the Scriptures himself, there is a real disconnect between loving Jesus and obeying Jesus. Though he says he has nothing against Jesus, he must realize that Jesus has something against him, namely, the fact that he has rejected the rule of God in his life by ruling his own life. For the rule of God is received in our lives in exact proportion to our love for Him.

For most of us reading this article, this detailed scene has nothing to do with the way we are living. Let me describe another situation, with a vastly different backdrop, that can be–and in many cases is–just as corrupt.

I can hear the upbeat rock band skillfully playing the newest mainstream worship single. I can smell the new carpet and the electronic equipment heating up in the “life center” of the local successful church. I can smell the lingering of coffee from the foyer, very much like the local Barnes and Noble with a Starbucks on the inside. I can see the young adults smiling at each other as they socialize, wearing their modern outfits and holding their designer Bibles. As I indirectly eavesdrop on their conversations before the service starts, I hear passionate talk football and celebrities, the newest blockbusters and favorite stores or video games, only to then watch as hands are lifted high to sing, “Jesus, I love you. You are everything to me.”

In many hearts there exists an honest belief in God and a convinced mind that they are genuine lovers of Jesus. Not all of these believers, but many profess with their lives that loving Jesus is the same as knowing about Him and attending meetings in His name. Or due to the lack of looking into the Scriptures themselves, there is a real disconnect with the daily experience with the person of God in the midst of a form about Him.

Let me ask you a question; what does it mean to “love Jesus”? I intended to write to you concerning this question. Really…what does it mean to love Jesus?

I submit to you that a professed love for Jesus that lacks affection, desire, commitment, time and preoccupation is sadly lacking and is more likely than not, a product of having been misled into a shallow or even feigned connection with God. The first of these indispensable qualities of love that we will look into is affection. Affection by definition is inseparable from feeling. Desire is the next point; so let me make a distinction between affection and desire just to clarify how I will be using them to express my thoughts. Affection is a genuine feeling that rests deep inside of the emotions. It is so deep that the same word actually has a connection to physical results and actions.

How could anyone ever separate affections and love? Can two possess burning affection for each other and not feel deep inside of them the fire of such an internal emotion? It is an emotional connection. Exodus 20.5 and Deuteronomy 5.9 undeniably show us that God jealously wants our affections to be only His. Affection is very important to God. He wants you to have an emotional connection to Him. I tell you that He has an emotional connection to you (Philippians 1.8). Brothers, it is imperative that our God’s affection for us is met with an exclusive affection for Him. Love without affection is a farce.

The second point is desire. The difference between affection and desire as I want to present it is this; a man may have a desire for a donut and yet have no affection for that donut. He may have a real craving for a certain thing, yet if that thing was taken from him he has no emotional connection to it. Though desire can be had without affection, affection cannot be had with out desire. Everyone knows what desire feels like. From infancy we felt its yearnings; the convincing that we in fact need or extremely want something that we do not have. We must posses a desire for the Lord if we are to ever claim a love for Him. Love is the combination of emotional affection and our desire for something. Our God wants our affections to be His and our desire to be for Him.

The third point is commitment. If there exists no commitment to the Lord, how can a man actually claim to love the Lord? If a man says that he loves a certain woman, yet has no loyalty to her he is a liar. To not dedicate our lives to the Master and still profess a love for him is to live a lie. It is in our dedication, commitment and loyalty to the Lord that our love is made manifest. In marriage, part of the culmination of love, we give our lives to each other and each other only. “Only yours forever,” I am committed to you and no one else for the rest of my life. Love without commitment is incomplete if not a farce.

The fourth point is time. Time is the most valuable thing in the world, for once it is lost it cannot be recovered. Money cannot buy time. Gifts and favor are feeble next to the value of time. Time is the most precious thing to us frail human beings. In the giving of it, we give ourselves. To say that we are giving our lives to Jesus and spend no time with Him is absurd. To say that we love Him and yet give Him no time is just as absurd. You can tell me how much you love Jesus, but your time will tell me your values more than your mouth. When a man loves a woman, he has no greater desire in the world than to be alone with her. When I love Jesus, I have no greater desire in the world than to be with Him. Though He is with us all the time, the unbroken and intense attention of solitude is the craving of the soul for a lover of Jesus.

Loving Jesus is not a matter of profession, but of genuine affection given to Him and desire for Him. Loving Jesus has to do with the commitment of your life and where your time is given. We must have a clear understanding of what it really means to love Jesus or we will fall into a delusion that stems from a cheapening of the word love and all that it means. Jesus wants our love. He doesn’t desire love according to our understanding of what love is, but what love actually is. To give Him our love is to give Him our hearts. It is to give Him our lives. It is to set our affection upon Him. It is to desire Him. It is to be committed to Him. It is to spend our lives with Him. In the church today we have made it comical, acceptable and assumed that men will have an affection connection to something other than God. We laugh at how much of a man’s emotions are moved by sport scores or stats. We assume a man is knowledgeable about some sport or entertainment, because all consuming love for Jesus in the church is foreign. We accept that people spend more time before a TV than before the Lord. This is a problem. This is not love for Jesus but the product and outcome of having assumed that people understand what is meant in the words “loving Jesus”. They don’t understand. They make up their own definition, but it is time to get back to God’s definition – all our affection, all our desire, all our commitment and all our time. It was A.W. Tozer who said, “Our lives should be an endless preoccupation with God Himself.”

We can throw out all hopes of ever being the Jesus People, if we are not in love with Jesus. As St. Victor said, “We look like God to the degree that we love Him.” Such a statement I believe is true and the state of the church today is an exposing of the fact that we have failed to love Jesus. Though every mouth will say it, how many hearts are it? Though there is a profession, where is the obsession?

Check out this stirring message on intimacy with Christ, Mystical Union:

Eric Gilmour is an Associate Editor for Voice of Revolution, overseeing Revival & Evangelism. Visit his website at agonypress.podbean.com

Outline and Notes from Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion

I propose to show:

1. Faith is an indispensable condition of prevailing prayer
2. What is it that we are to believe when we pray
3. When we are bound to exercise this faith, or to believe that we shall receive the thing we ask for.
4. That this kind of faith in prayer always does obtain the blessing sought.

1. Faith is an indispensable condition

To prove that faith is indispensable to prevailing prayer, it is only necessary to repeat what the apostle James expressly tells us: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:5-6)

2. What we are to believe when we pray:

We are to believe in the existence of God (Hebrews 11:6). There are many who believe in the existence of God, but do not believe in the efficacy of prayer. They profess to believe in God, but deny the necessity of influence of prayer.

We are to believe that we receive:

Some specific thing we ask for (Luke 11:13). With respect to the faith of miracles, it is plain that the disciples were bound to believe they should receive just what they asked for–the very thing itself should come to pass. That is what they were to believe. Now what ought men to believe in regarding other blessings? Is it a mere loose idea, that if a man prays for a specific blessing, God will by some mysterious sovereignty give something else, somewhere? When a man prays for his children’s conversion or somebody else’s children – is it altogether uncertain which? No, this is utter nonsense, and highly dishonorable to God. We are to believe that we shall receive the very things we ask for.

3. When are we bound to make this prayer?

When we have evidence of it. Faith must always have evidence. A man cannot believe a thing, unless he sees something which he supposes to be evidence. He is under no obligation to believe, and has no right to believe, a thing will be done, unless he has evidence. It is the height of fanaticism to believe without evidence.

Kinds of evidence:

1. When God has specifically promised a thing. As, for instance when God says He is more ready to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than parents are to give bread to their children. Here we are bound to believe that we shall receive it when we pray for it. You have no right to put on “if” and say “Lord, if it be thy will, give us your Holy Spirit.” This is an insult to God. To put an ‘if’ into God’s promise where God has put none is tantamount to charging God with being insincere.
2. When there is a general promise in the Scriptures which you may reasonably apply to the particular case before you. If its real meaning includes the particular thing for which you pray, or if you can reasonably apply the principle of the promise to the case, there you have evidence. For instance, suppose it is a time when wickedness prevails greatly, and you are led to pray for God’s interference. What promise have you? “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). Here you see a general promise, laying down a principle of God’s administration, which you may apply to the case before you as a warrant for exercising faith in prayer. And if an inquiry is made as to the time in which God will grant blessings in answer to prayer, you have the promise “While they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24).
3. Where there is a prophetic declaration that the thing prayed for is agreeable to the will of God. When it is plain from prophecy that the event is certainly to come, you are bound to believe it, and to make it the ground for your special faith in prayer (Daniel 9). Do not think, as you seem to, that because a thing is foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it, or that it will come whether Christians pray for it or not. God says in regard to this very class of events, which are revealed in prophecy: “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” (Ezekiel 36:37)
4. When the signs of the times, or the providence of God, indicate that a particular blessing is about to be bestowed we are bound to believe it.
5. When the Spirit of God is upon you, and influences strong desires for any blessing, you are bound to pray for it in faith. You are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire such a thing while in the exercise of such holy affections as the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit stirs up the very desires He is willing to gratify. And when they feel such desires, they are bound to follow them out till they get the blessing.

4. This kind of faith always obtains the object

The text is plain here to show that you shall receive the very thing prayed for. It does not say “believe that you shall receive, and you shall either have that or something else equivalent to it.” To prove that this faith obtains the very blessing that is asked, I observe:

1. That otherwise we could never know whether our prayers were answered. We might continue praying and praying, long after the prayer was answered by some other blessing equivalent to the one for which we asked.
2. If we are not bound to expect the very thing we ask for, it must be that the Spirit of God deceived us. Why should He excite us to desire a certain blessing when He means to grant something else?
3. What is the meaning of this passage: “If his son asks bread, will he give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9). Does not our Savior rebuke the idea that prayer may be answered by giving something else? What encouragement have we to pray for any thing in particular, if we are to ask for one thing and receive another? All the history of the Church shows that when God answers prayer He gives His people the very thing for which their prayers are offered. God confers other blessings on both saints and sinners, which they do no pray for at all. He sends his rain on both the just and the unjust. But when he answers prayer, it is by doing what they ask Him to do. To be sure, He often more than answers prayer. He grants them not only what they ask for, but often connects other blessings to it.
4. It is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the blessing, from the fact that our faith rests on the evidence that to grant that thing is the will of God.

What is our Bible good for if we do not lay hold of its precious promises, and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessings of God?

More Reading:

Finney on Intimacy With God

“You can’t patch up your prayer life when you get to the judgment seat”

~Leonard Ravenhill

“You can delegate many things, but prayer is not one of them.”

~A.W. Tozer

“Yesterdays praying will not suffice for today.”

~E. M. Bounds

“This period we are in now is a dressing room for eternity, that is all it is.”

~Leonard Ravenhill

“In everything by prayer.” ~Philippians 4:6

I intend to write to you on the subject of the significance of a life of prayer. This word can be taken as three things, an encouragement, a challenge or an offense. It has little significance to me, for “if you have the smile of God what does it matter if you have the frown of men?” (Ravenhill). I write to you in obedience to God. If you take it as a challenge, you can potentially lift the quality of your life above what it is now, as you rapidly move in time to that great day of accountability. If you take it as an encouragement, then most likely you are living for and in the means of prayer, effecting your circle of influence and empowering your pursuit of Christ’s kingdom in an honest and fruitful way. If you take this word as an offense, it will profit you nothing but merely add to your hardness of heart storing up for yourself more to give an account for on that great day of judgment. As I stated, all is well with me, for my heart is not to write for the profit of any other than he who desires to reach the heart of God and stand before Him unashamed and confident in the day of reckoning.

The sorrowful truth that such a spiritual employment is largely neglected has negative effects upon more than just our personal standing with God. It dampens what could have otherwise thrived in fire before the Lord. As intercessory prayer remains that which it has always been, we have been tremendously privileged to the ear of God having been justified, encouraged and empowered by His grace to live an obedient life.

The obedient life alone has access to God’s ear (Psalm34:17; Prov. 15:8; James 4:2, 3). Scripture, in no uncertain terms, vastly teaches us the power, significance and details of a prayer life that God acknowledges.

“All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our prayer closets” (E.M. Bounds)

King David overflowed with prayer in the Psalms he penned throughout his earthly life, seeing not only its privilege but also its importance by praying morning, noon and night (Psalm 55:17). He saw the connection between the enlightenment of the word of God and intimate pleading for the same (Psalm 119; 18, 19). The apostle Paul was moved by the same spirit encouraging us to pray “in everything” (Phil. 4:6). This would entail all our dealings in life, family, money, ministry, study and the like. This great privilege and importance wasn’t something to be active infrequently but rather “at all times”(1 Thess. 5:17). “All times” encompasses the positive, negative and mundane. Jesus encouraged us to not only pray, but to endure with persistence not giving up or “fainting” (Luke 18:1). Christ emphasized the importance of prayer by ignoring the potential of its absence in our life. He simply said, “When you pray” (Matt. 6:6). Christ also coupled enduring temptation with prayer (Luke 22:39-46). Scripture reveals to us the aid in our sufferings is prayer (James 5:13).

Our aid in worthy living is prayer (2 Thess 1:11). Our aid in wisdom is prayer (James 1:5). Oh how our lives would be of such a higher quality if we lived in persistent, fervent prayer when trying situations occur instead of aimlessly roaming about! What greater impact would our counsel, words and life have upon those weak-hearted Christians who surround us, if our hearts overflowed with burdened persistent prayer for them instead of hidden gossip, jesting and squandering of time! Let us not take lightly that he who prays effectually has first lived effectually. In the words of E.M. Bounds, “He who prays must obey.” For the wonder of the availability of God’s ear to His people can be blocked by our living! (1 Peter 3:7; Psalm 66:18; 1 John 3:22). The effective prayer of the righteous man can effect much (James 5:16)! The availability of God’s ear is as glorious of a privilege, power and grace as it is a responsibility in our way of living and use of time.

Christ revealed that prayer for another can keep one “from the evil one”. Prayer can ignite a disciple’s life to be “separated by the world”. This reveals that merely hearing or reading the word may need the service of divine assistance in prayer to effect such a sanctification of a disciple. As well as the great ability to “keep” one “in His name”, prayer can effect unity amongst disciples (John 17:11, 15, 17, 21).

Christ having complete understanding of God’s sovereignty continually imposed upon Himself isolation for the purpose of prayer (Mark 1:35). Do you recall how Christ spent a night in prayer before choosing His twelve disciples (Luke 6:12)? The disciples at Christ’s side were interested in learning, not how to teach or heal, but how to pray (Luke 11:2).

Once the potential of true prayer is understood a man can never return, in right heartedness, to a prayerless life. Samuel connected prayerlessness with sin (1 Samuel 12:23). God Himself is seen in Scripture searching for a man to pray (Isa. 59:16). Where is the man who will stir himself to get a hold of God in prayer (Isa. 64:7)? “Oh, for determined men and women, who will rise early and really burn out for God” (Hodge). True prayer is not a light matter. Nor is it an exercise for the slothful. Christ Himself offered up prayers with loud crying and tears (Heb. 5:7). He burned in agony and fervency in Gethsemane (Luke 22:14). Christ taught us that prayer isn’t a weak hearted matter, nor an exercise for lazy knees. For the key to its effectiveness is importunity (Luke 11:5-13). Hezekiah’s prayers moved God to add fifteen years upon his life (Isa. 38:1-5). God hears. God listens, to the righteous (James 5:16; Psalm 66:18). He who has the ear of God and sincerely applies himself to such a divine employment has access to a fruitful ministry. The writer of Hebrews asked for prayer (Heb. 13:18). Paul asked for such a divine assistance to be added to his ministry (2 Thess. 3:1). Paul knew the power of true prayer could turn events in the spreading of the Word of God (Phil. 1:19).

He saw the aid to his ministry was none other than true prayer (2 Cor. 1:11). Prayer can open doors for uttering the word of God (Col.4:3-4). What a responsibility that will, without question, be one of many things we give an account for before the Judgment seat!

The recorded lesson from the apostolic Church was that dedication of one’s self should be given to the Word of God but equally to prayer (Acts 6:4). Just as Elijah in the Old testament prayed for eyes to be opened to see, Paul prayed for the enlightening of the eyes of our heart that we may see (2 Kings 6:17; Ephesians 1:19). Ignore not the radiant evidence of a praying life. It may well open and enlighten a man’s heart to see what he couldn’t by study alone. The hope revealed in the Scriptures is the anchor of our soul (Heb. 6:19). It must be the center of our life if we are to live a life pleasing to the Lord (Heb. 11:6; 10:39). At times and in many cases, we, dull of hearing, slow of heart people need the grace of prayer to quicken us with grace to walk out that which is currently in our mouths (Col. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:16-19; 3:14-20). The great protection to prayerless praying (a disease rampant amongst the unstudied) is first of all, the honest, humble and correct study of the Scriptures. For nothing else is a lamp unto our feet as we tread down the dark path of a deceptive world and religion (Psalm 119:105). Paul prayed according to God’s working (Eph 1:19; 3:20). Christ eclipsed His will with God’s (Matt. 26:39).

“Prayerless praying, how popular! Yet, useless” (E.M. Bounds)

The Pharisees prayed to be heard, seen and recognized with many words and a prideful disposition for the good they have done (Mark 6:5; Luke 18:10-14). Leonard Ravenhill said, “the secret of prayer is praying in secret (Matt. 6:6).” As the culmination of man’s day draws to a close, the sobriety of our secret place will be our secret to preparation (1 Peter 4:7). We must soberly strive in prayer and allow the Spirit of God to move us in intercession and personal longing for Him so as to sweeten the bitter areas of our lives and the lives of those that God has given us, knowing, at times only the Spirit will know the will of God (Rom. 15:30-31; 8;8:26).

A burden is a revelation of a tremendous spiritual need, able to be satisfied by God alone, having no avenue where by it can be expressed, save, groanings which cannot be uttered, explained or understood. “Prayers that cannot be uttered are often prayers that cannot be refused (Spurgeon).”

Leonard Ravenhill challenges,

“No man is greater than his prayer life…let me live with a man a while and share his prayer life and then I will tell you how tall I think he is or how majestic I think he is in God…You may impress others but you can’t impress God. You can show off on the platform, singing, preaching and doing your stuff, but not in prayer…Praying men stop sinning and sinning men stop praying. A man first collapses in the prayer closet…Can he share His sorrow with you? Can you remember the last time you couldn’t go to bed because men were dying without Christ?

When was the last time you pushed the plate away and said, “No, I need more time with God?” God looks for a man, not a seraphim, not a cherubim, not a half man and half deity. God looks for men, not money, not methods, not machinery, not movements…Men! We need to say, “Lord I’m concerned, I am speeding up to judgment, look at my ministry, look at the secrets of my life, look at my fruitlessness, look at my dry eyes, look at my poor spirit that has no ache in it, look at me!” The great day of accountability alone will reveal all that could have been effected through a selfless management of your time to invest in prayer.

Beware to stand not ashamed. You cannot return to live the way you should have. Dr. Michael L. Brown urged us, “Are you spending your time, energy and efforts on things that are just going to burn?” I tell you after a diligent study of God’s Word you will find this common thread, that an obedient life lived in humble intercession avails greatly in the eyes of God. A.W. Tozer at the end of his life said this challenging statement, “I don’t think that I will be ashamed of the things that I have done in my life, but rather what I could have done.” Samuel Chadwick at the end of his life said this sobering statement,

“I have spent two thirds of my life in bible study and one third of my life in prayer. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would spend two thirds of my life in prayer and one third of my life in bible study.”

The Word of God should never be neglected or despised (thought little of), for without its direction, one will more often than not, spend his time amiss. They together constitute the whole of God’s assistance toward us.

Let us sincerely ask ourselves, in the light of Him who sees through the outward actions and into the motives and intents, (Rev. 2:23; Hebrews 4:12.); what does it matter if we boldly dance in the assembly, pray with eloquence and volume, shamelessly raise our hands amongst others or even speak the depths of the Scriptures if we are bankrupt before God in the quiet place? “The true test of a man’s soul is when he is alone” (Jeremy Taylor). Have you come to the face of others from the face of God (figuratively)? To truly know God is to truly share, in our small degree, His feelings, revealed to us in His Word, experienced by us in prayer. To share not God’s burden is to share not in His heart and He who is most dear to God is he who lays his head upon His breast (John 13:23, 25).

“Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christian life as the honest attempt to pray for others”(Andrew Murray).

“The men who have done mighty things for God have always been mighty in prayer, have well understood the possibilities of prayer, and have made the most of these opportunities… Men who know how to pray are the greatest boon God can give the earth-they are the richest gift earth can offer heaven.”(E.M. Bounds).

A disciple who will give himself to the divine preparation and work of a constant receiving and obeying God’s Word, soaked in personal and intercessory prayer will be more confident at the judgment. Knowing that he not only fed his spirit with the truth of God’s Word but he opened his spirit to share God’s heart. A disciple who will give himself to the divine work of pure ministry of the Word and prayer for others will effect greatly the course and pattern of living of these to whom he ministers (Col. 4:12). Of what greater significance can prayer be than that ministry which makes effective all else? The reward for a correct, sincere and fervent life of prayer will, more so than all others, be most significant in that great day.

“There is no alternative to prayer and obedience” (Ravenhill).

“For it is a great honor to speak to men on behalf of God, but an even greater honor to speak to God on behalf of men” (E.M. Bounds).

Let us not know the guilt of a life that chose to avoid the power, importance, privilege and responsibility of the availability of God’s ear.

Let us not forget that even He who was the Word made flesh lived a life of fervent Prayer. Let us plead for divine assistance for ourselves and others as we pursue the offered Kingdom through conformity to the image of God’s Son through nothing other than interaction with His Spirit!

Based in Orlando with his wife Brooke, Eric William Gilmour is burning with a burden to see a sleeping Church wake up and rise to her calling to prayer, purity, power and life together. He hosts all his compilation mp3s on a new podcast site, which can be found at agonypress.podbean.com.

One time Benny Hinn came to preach as a guest speaker at an Assemblies of God church in Orlando.  The pastor of the church got up to welcome the people.  His choice text was Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” As he read through the Psalm, people nodded their heads as they listened to that passage they had heard many times before.  It wasn’t long after he finished that Hinn took the pulpit.  He opened up his mouth and began to quote Psalm 23 to the congregation.  And though the words were so familiar to their ears and they had just heard the same passage read to them by their pastor, many people in the congregation began to break down in tears, as their hearts were pierced through with God’s love for His own people.

After the service, the pastor of the church took Benny Hinn aside and said, “Why, when I read Psalm 23 to the congregation they simply heard it, but when you quoted it, they were emotionally moved to tears?” Benny turned and looked at the pastor and lovingly replied, “You know the Psalm, I know the Shepherd.”

It is one thing to know the word of God and another thing to know the God of the word.  As Leonard Ravenhill would point out, “it is not written that, those that know their Bible that shall be strong and do exploits, but rather, they that know their God…”  It is commonly taught, “you must know your Bible.”  It is not God’s heart for you to merely “know your Bible.” It is God’s plan that you “know Him.”  He didn’t save us to be scholars.  He didn’t save us from not knowing about Him so we could know about Him.  He saved us that we would know Him. Really.  Eternal life is to KNOW GOD (John 17.2-3).

Though none of us are perfect nor will we ever be, we can know Him.

Michael Molinos said,

“You cannot be perfect nor understand everything, but you can love Him.”

We are to be led, not by things about Him, but by Him.  The Lord Himself wants to be the leader.  He doesn’t want you to distantly follow the things that you can find out about Him or what has been recorded about Him, He wants you to be led by Him. He is the guide, He is the protector, He is the comfort, He is the Shepherd.  Not His book.  The Scriptures are meant to illuminate Him to us. Knowing Him is everything.  Not knowing Him is worthless.  All the PHDs can collect their dust or shine away in a glossy frame for all I care, but I want to KNOW GOD.  I want Him to hear me and I hear Him.  The enjoyment of Him is everything!  I believe that the enjoyment of God is the only true opening of the heart to hear or follow Him.  Any following that isn’t issuing out of enjoyment of His presence above all things is tainted.

There is an inseparable connection of Lord and Shepherd.  To actually know Him is to be under Him.  There is no knowing of God, in any way, apart from submission to His Lordship.  If God was to allow us to go on forgiven only and not submitted to His Kingdom, then God would never have dealt with the root issue in the garden of Eden.

We must never forget that the “Shepherdship” of Christ is only a reality in the lives that have subjected themselves to His “Lordship.” For the Scriptures say, “THE LORD is my Shepherd…” The benefits and guidance in the life of a sheep are an experienced reality in the life of the one whose heart is subjected to the rule and reign of Christ the Lord.

Notice the word, “IS.” The wonder of the Shepherd leading and guiding, protecting and providing is current.  Just because He “was” your Shepherd doesn’t mean He “is.” Just because you have plans for Him “to be” your Shepherd doesn’t mean His “is” now.  Just because you gave your life to Him, doesn’t mean it is given now.  If we leave the Lordship of Christ and decide to guide and lead ourselves, we no longer are able to claim that, “the Lord is my Shepherd.” We have become our own Shepherd.

I believe many have fallen into this trap.  They cling to their lives and control their own destiny and religiously proclaim, “the Lord is my Shepherd.” This intimate reality with God is too precious to reduce to a “positional” state.  Some people believe, He is our Shepherd because we believed at one time.  Listen, if we choose to rule our lives, He is not ruling.  If we choose to shepherd ourselves, He is not Shepherd.

I submit to all of us a question…Is HE HIMSELF experienced and clearly leading our lives as we have laid our lives at His feet?   There are many wonderful evidences and promises in Psalm 23 of His wonderful Shepherding if He is in fact our Lord. “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.”

To rephrase that the way I would like, “The One whom I have given my existence to, and that I know and experience is, right now, this very day, my very own guiding, providing, lover and leader of my life.”

Since many people make New Year’s resolutions that involve weight loss or spiritual disciplines to fast more, we thought we’d tackle the subject of fasting. Join us this week as David Edwards and Steve Bremner continue their series on unpopular subjects in the body of Christ:

Is it really beneficial or even necessary for the believer in the New Covenant? What is true fasting? Do we have any commands in the New Testament that we’re to fast, or was that part of Jewish culture? Is it about abstaining from only food, or other things? In what situation did Jesus say “this kind only goes out by prayer and fasting?” You may be surprised, so join us in what is going to be the first in at least two parts on the subject. This week’s intro, “Fire To My Soul” by Demon Hunter.

Check out Steve’s exposition of Matthew 17:14-21 here in an article called “Because of Whose “Little Faith?“And visit here for David’s article on The Hidden Manna mentioned during the discussion.

Check out a great Bible teaching series by Dave Roberson, called The Basics of Fasting.

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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.

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Why is it that so many Christians do not experience the GLORY in their life? There is no substitute for it. The more time you spend in the GLORY the more you will melt into HIM.

Notice the reason that God has, “made His light shine in our hearts.” The motive of God behind our divine enlightenment; “to give us the light of the knowledge of the GLORY…”

What is the GLORY? It is best described as the manifest presence of God.

God wanted us to know [be well acquainted with by experience] the GLORY.  His desire in our new birth is for us, individually, to know His manifest presence.  He created us to dwell in Him.  The GLORY of God upon us in the Earth today is the nearest experience and expression of the coming age of total realization of God’s perfection.  We experience His wonderful “pleasure and joy” (Psalm 16.11).  His incredible “peace” (Philippians 4.7) is HIM.  In a world full of depression and chaos, HE HIMSELF is our refuge (Psalm 61.3).  His glorious presence manifest in us wholly uniting us with Himself and simultaneously making us like Him.

How do I experience this manifest presence of God? It is, “in the face of Christ.” It is in fellowship with and worship of, the face (Person and presence) of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Beloved, do you know what I am talking about? Is your spirit nodding its head saying, “yes!”? Or do you say to yourself, “I am not quite sure what you are actually getting at?“

Let me tell you what I am saying:  As my heart is clean by His blood and my mind is set upon Him and I sustain my attention upon Him in worship and adoration, a sense of “other-worldliness” comes upon me.  It is at first an undeniable subtle peace and relaxation of my inner most being, beyond the relaxation of the body.  It is in the unreachable parts of me.  As I continue to remain focused upon worshiping God and opening my heart to Him in abandonment, I find myself saying within, “take everything I am, I am only yours FOREVER! I don’t care what happens to me, I just want you. My existence is yours.” The sense of Him deepens and things around and inside of me blackout and I enter into a blissful union that can only be described as the most wonderful and all-fulfilling pleasure that transcends all physical senses. His LOVE melts all I am and evaporates me into Himself.

Once this begins, my only objective is to cease everything in awful stillness and simply BE there.  Prayers of petition are forgotten–even worthless to me, worry is so nonexistent that I feel as if I have never known what it is to worry. I am abundantly and overwhelmingly fulfilled in every atom of my being.  It feels like I am actually in front of the GOD OF LOVE whose very scent and shadow overflow my personal capacity to enjoy an experience.  I simply do not want to even breathe.  And I stay here as long as I can or until He moves me to the experience of His voice in His writings.

This my friend is the GLORY of the Lord to the degree that I have been allowed to experience Him.  It is HIM.  It is His desire to  share this with us. He tells us that it is the very reason that He has shone in our hearts, that we might know this wonderful fellowship with Him through the Spirit in the face of CHRIST.

Teach us to live out of the GLORY! There is no place of abiding without the place of solitude.

I believe the victory in your life will be in exact proportion to your lust for and experience of His GLORY.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE YOUR PRESENCE ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE!

Have you backslidden? Has your heart grown cold? Do you burn for the fire of God’s presence less than you used to? We’re privileged to have Eric Gilmour on the show, and he talks with undeniable passion about these very things. Eric has been working for a number of years with Christ For All Nations, the ministry of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. He’s a graduate of the Brownsville Revival School of ministry, and if you’ve ever visited www.fireonthealtar.com, you’ve probably heard mp3 compilations he’s made of various revival preachers.

Listen in as we discuss these things and learn more about what God’s been putting on Eric’s heart lately.

This week’s intro: Fire On The Inside by Pillar.

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Don’t forget to visit his new podcast at agonypress.podbean.com.

Related Articles by Steve Bremner:

You Are The Fire of The World,

How to Catch The Foxes That Spoil The Vineyard,

Finney On Intimacy With God

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.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5, ESV)

In the beginning of John’s Gospel, we’re told how Jesus Christ had in Himself, life, and was the light of men. It does not say he was an incandescent light bulb. It does not say he was a battery-operated flashlight. Nor does it state the form of light He is can be relegated to any form of technology modern readers can put onto the text who have lived in the era after electricity had become a part of all our lives. In the time that the Apostle John wrote this, when he spoke of light he meant fire. This would be what the contemporary readers of the time understood him and our Lord Jesus to have been referring to when speaking of being light of the world. The lamps spoken of in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) were commonly large dome-shaped torches, fueled by rags soaked in oil and used for walking outside. With extra containers of oil, the torches could last for hours, and as a result they needed regular refilling.

We could more accurately read our text in John’s Gospel to say in Christ is the fire of men. This fire shines in the darkness, and darkness cannot overcome it. Darkness, simply put, is the absence of light (fire). It doesn’t put up a fight and resist it, saying ‘no, I’m staying.’ When the light of fire shines, it simply has to go. It cannot co-exist with the light at the same time. You can only have one or the other, but darkness is subservient to light. As soon as you light the fire, there is no more darkness in the room. The more fire, the brighter the light gets in the room where it’s burning. Note these words Jesus spoke about believers:

“You are the light (fire) of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)

Development of a Fire

A fire develops typically in four stages:

• First, is the incipient stage. There is no visible smoke, no flame and very little heat. A significant amount of invisible–but sometimes smellable–combustion particles may be created. This stage usually develops slowly.
• Second; the smoldering stage. There is smoke, but no flame and little heat.
• Then, the flame stage. There’s a visible flame, more heat, often less or no smoke, particularly with flammable liquids and gas fires.
• And ultimately, the heat stage. Large amounts of heat, flame, smoke and toxic gases are produced. The transition from the previous stage can be very fast.1

Simply put, fire is the state of combustion resulting from a chemical reaction that requires the presence of three elements in proper combination — a fuel source (anything that burns), oxygen (a component of air), and an ignition source such as heat or a spark — in order to begin and develop. This is often referred to as a “Fire Triangle,” as shown in the diagram below2

Extinguishing a fire (take note, reader!) usually involves removing at least one of these elements. This is why Jesus told us that a city on a hill cannot be hidden–not that it should not–but cannot, because you cannot hide a fire! To do so would be to remove one of the 3 elements that a fire requires. If you were to put a basket over top of your fire, the fire would be extinguished from lack of oxygen. It’s as simple as that. Jesus was basically warning us not to let our fire go out, or to let anything in our lives extinguish it. In the temple, the priests were instructed to continually keep the pure fire burning on the altar (Leviticus 6:12-13).

So friend, what type of fire are you? Is your fire invisible, yet giving off an odor? Are you properly adding fuel to your fire, and spending time alone in intimate fellowship with the Father? Are you fueling your life with the Word of God and the oil of His presence? Are you allowing fresh winds of the Holy Spirit to fan those flames? Or, are you dabbling with sin in your life so as to remove the oxygen His fire needs? I guarantee you friend, sin will put out your fire—you cannot serve both God and mammon, you cannot love the world and God. You may be able to continue operating outwardly in church functions and having an appearance of godliness, but everyone around you will know if there’s a real fire or not. Even if the sin is hidden (or so you think), for the fire cannot burn there without removing the dross, or burning the wood, the hay, and the stubble. One of the two things will extinguish the other; either sin will keep you from prayer and Bible reading, or prayer and Bible reading will keep you from sinning. But make no mistake: sin is a basket covering the fire, quenching the oxygen it needs to burn in your life.

Are you a smoldering wick, that even though of Jesus it’s said that He wouldn’t do anything to snuff you out (Matthew 12:20), but yet you still have need of more heat? Do you need more holy oxygen and fuel to burn a holy flame? Fan those things into flame that lay inside of you! Maybe you’re like most Christians—close enough to the presence of God to feel a heat, but not actually IN the fire of His presence. Jump in! Deal with sacrifices in your life you need to make and place them on the altar, for without sacrifice there is no fire of God’s presence in our lives and ministries.

Friend, if you throw yourself completely into the fire of His presence and let it consume you, then no earthly fire—no worldly shaking–will harm you. Learn from the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—they had been so purified in the secret place by a heavenly fire that they withstood the earthly flames they were thrown into when they would not bow to the idol the king demanded allegiance to.

The fires of this world cannot touch you when you’ve been purged by the fire of God.

Spread Your Fire!

Friend, fires consume everything in their path. Everywhere you go you should by nature be setting things ablaze, your words carrying power, for James 3:5 reminds us that “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.” If it can cause great destruction (vv. 6-9), imagine what good it can cause instead when speaking forth prophetic declarations that impact those you speak them to?  When you burn with this heaven flame your very essence is either bringing life to believers and destroying the works of the flesh and the world of darkness.

I think there is a profound reason, in this context of the day of the Lord being a day of fire as mentioned in the book of Malachi, that the hearts of the fathers are to be turned to the sons and the sons to the fathers–that they may stir one another up and out of such mentoring relationships encourage one another and fan into flame the purposes of God for this generation.  That we keep one another burning and putting fuel in each other’s fires.  Fire begets fire, but know that it just takes a small spark to start one, a small bit of the light inside you to bring it to flame, and spread the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.

Stir up the flames in yourself and one another that we may burn fully aflame for the Lord Jesus Christ!

1. Development of a Fire http://safetyguide.web.cern.ch/SafetyGuide/Part3/38.0Fire.html
2. The Canadian Conservation Institute http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/crc/articles/mcpm/chap04-eng.aspx, image also obtained from this site