Sunday, 12th December, 2021
Bible Reading: Matthew 3: 10-12
Memory Verse: John answered all of them: “I baptize you with water, but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Luke 3:16 (BSB)
The Church is full of Christians who are backbiters, backstabbers, haters, covetous, carnal, proud, boasters, murderers, etc. They come to Church day after day, week after week, and year after year practicing all wicked devices, and there is no transformation, not a smite of the spirit, not an urge for repentance, because there is no fire to convict them of their sins and burn away every work of ungodliness which will compel them to the altar of salvation.
Witches, wizards and occultist now come to the Church, sit down comfortably with us, sing hallelujah, and lift up their hands in deceitful worship, and even raise their strange voices in prayers. Ridiculously, they are not exposed, arrested, or set free by the fire of the Holy Ghost because there is no fire. They make a mockery of the God we claim to worship. I thought we say that God is a consuming fire, but has He stopped burning? Help us, O Lord. Some of we Christians are like, “Lord, you can dwell in me but don’t let your Holy fire burn in me.
I love my life the way it is, but do not alter my routine. Do not change my ways. Do not set me free from sinful tendencies. Don’t go near my negative addictions. Don’t even try to alter my dispositions and decisions”. Invariably, you are saying, “Lord, you can stay but be quiet”. This is wrong. Lord, bring us to our knees that we may know how wrecked and wretched we are without You. Enough of playing religion. Enough of the jamboree. We need real fire. There are souls to be won, lives to be reached, there’s much to be done. We cannot afford to do business as usual. We cannot continue in coldness and Luke-warmness anymore.
We are in a crucial time in history where prophecies are fulfilled and God is counting on us. We need the fire of the Holy Ghost. The dynamics of the fire attracts. Men can’t be attracted to the Gospel without the fire. The flame of fire attracts. Men will be lost without the fire of God to direct them to us. The fire purifies and consumes. Let the fire of God purify us and bring us forth as pure gold. Let it also consume every ungodliness and evil works. The world cannot feel the heat of the fire of God if we are not carriers of that fire. We need the holy fire of God in our hearts. We must take care lest we be consumed by the flames of the fire that should have burned within us. O Lord, set our hearts on fire for You.
Quote: The fire of Holy Ghost both refines and consumes. You will need both.
Prophetic Decree: Today, the Lord shall clothe His Church with the garment of fire, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus
1. Consuming Fire, I worship You.
2. O Lord, please forgive us of misplaced priorities, in Jesus name.
3. Father Lord, please take the Church back to Calvary, in Jesus name.
4. Refiners fire, please refine our thoughts and motives today, in Jesus name.
5. Unquenchable fire of the Holy Ghost, burn in our hearts now and forever, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Acts 20:4-38; Acts 21; Acts 22; Acts 23:1-35