The Holy Spirit Fire

The Holy Spirit Fire
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ( Luke 4:18)

Monday, January 22, 2007

A Light in the Darkness


Steven could feel the weight pressing down upon him. He had his eyes closed and suddenly opened them only to find that he could not see in front of him. He turned to the left. Then turned to the right and could see nothing. Desperately he grabbed in the darkness hoping to clutch an object, to grab a hold of anything that he could feel within his hand, but found nothing. He had just been walking when he stepped inadvertently into a crevice and fallen into this dark cavern.
Desperately he tried to get his bearings but could not figure which end was up or down. The darkness seemed to have a life of its own. Soon he started to feel a sense of loneliness such as he had never felt. Steve wanted to see light of any kind, no matter how dim. Steve tried to call out for help but all he could hear was screaming from depths that he could never have thought existed. He tried to see where the screams were coming from when he suddenly realized that the screams were emanating from his own throat.

Steve is pictured here as a victim of the darkness. Without the light he quickly went into a mode of panic and felt overcome.

Man is a creature that was created to be dependent on the light.

• Light is the source of growth in the plants that we consume, (photosynthesis)
• Light is stored in plants and animals that we consume and stored for later use in our bodies, (glycolysis)
• Light is a source of Vitamin D, which is used in our bodies to counteract tumors and helps our bodies process calcium and phosphorous.

• Lack of light for our bodies can result in many health risks and can lead to SAD. People with this condition are diagnosed as having the “winter blues.”

Light is very important to our physical well being. However, it is equally important to our spiritual well being.

Where does our spiritual light come from? It comes from Jesus Christ. There are several verses in the scripture that refer to Jesus as the Light . . .



Jesus the Light:
John 1:4-5, 7
John 3:19
John 8:12
John 9:5
John 12:46

Jesus came as the light of the world so that all could see him and be in the presence of the Almighty. Through the Light of Jesus, mankind’s sins are able to be purged. The darkness within will be expelled and replaced with the Light of truth, emanating from the regenerated soul, of the born again Christian.

• The sin of man has darkened him so much that he cannot see that which was so plainly seen in Jesus Christ.
• When Jesus came healing the blind, I believe when sight returned to their eyes, they saw not a man but the Glory of God. It was this that compelled them to tell others or to follow him.
• Only by mankind seeing the Glory of God, can there be any hope of penetrating the darkness in men’s souls.

Jesus wept for his people because of their spiritual blindness. He spoke plainly to the pharisees and called them blind guides, the blind leading the blind. He condemned them for this. They knew all of the right actions and traditions to follow. They kept them diligently and yet Jesus proclaimed them to be blind.
In the eyes of Jesus it was not enough to just know what the right thing to do was. It was more important to live what you knew. This brings me to the next point I would like to make about light.

The Redeemed are Light

The bible is very plain when it calls the Born-again believer light.

Matt. 5:14- "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” (NIV)

Notice here that it calls us the light of the world. That is how Jesus sees us. He is no longer physically here so he is looking to the believer to be the light. Jesus wants us to be light and be the image of the Glory of God on earth. He goes on to liken us to a city on a hill.

When I was in a young boy in Puerto Rico, I can remember walking from my mother’s parents home in the country to my father’s parents home in the city. There where many homes that where very similar but the one thing that prevented me from getting lost was that their house was set up on a hill and stood above the other houses. I could never miss it and was able to see it from afar.
The light that we have should be the same way. The lost should be able to see it from afar because it glows so brightly. Our light should be so radiant that it cannot possibly be missed.

Luke 11:33- No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. (KJV)

Here Christ states something so obvious that it seems odd that Jesus would even mention it. However, just because something is obvious, does not mean that it is invalid. Remember Jesus knows the heart of men. He knows the natural tendency of a believer to lose their fire or get entangled in the things of life. He knows that we are frail beings and influenced by our relationships, circumstances, and conditions. Although we may not mean to intentionally hide our light or put it somewhere that makes it hard to see, we are all victims of complacency.
When we get to this place in our walk with Him we forget all that he has done for us and enter into a place where we become useless to the cause of Jesus. We are nothing more than empty vessels, good for nothing. We can look all pretty on the outside but are vessels emptied of the New Wine and Living Waters.
What an awful place to be in, to be hungry and thirsty and not able to be of service to him, who is deserving of our best. We need to cry out to God with fervency and a desire to be filled with His goodness. We need to experience the fullness of God and allow him to stoke the fire within us. We need to allow the spirit and the fire to overwhelm us so that we shine brightly. We can burn for Him who loved us so. When we do this, we can bring the Light of the glorious Gospel to this dark world. Healing and miracles can come forth, in His name. The lame will walk, the deaf will hear, demons can be cast out from those captive to them, and the blind will see. When we determine to walk in the overflowing of the Holy Spirit, we can accomplish great things for Christ. If we dare to be radical for him, He will radically use us to complete his Great Commission.
My desire would be that we would all determine to be Lights in this dark and dying world. Only be being a shining example of Christ can we hope to bring a great revival in this country and around the world. By our determination to be light we can hope to usher in the Lord Jesus Christ and that great meeting in the air.

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