By: David
I have given this title to all our services in June. Pentecost Sunday was the 3rd Sunday in May, and the traditional church calendar sees the period all the way up to 9 weeks before Christmas as the season of Pentecost. That’s approximately half of the year where we put our focus onto the outworking through the body of Christ of all that Jesus did for us on the cross, both within our own spheres of influence and corporately.
What was it Jesus did for us on the cross that can have any influence through us into this world, and is it worth living in the fire for? What does living in the fire mean?
God made the world so that when He made us, we would have an environment we could live in. And God made us so that He could share who He is and what He is with others; He wanted to have a relationship on a wider scale than He had with Himself and the angels. And within our relationship, He wanted to help us grow up to be able to be like Him and do the things He does. The God who speaks stars into existence wants to show us how to do that! The God who has no worries wants to show us how to live worry-free (see Matthew chapters 5-7 particularly)! And so much more besides!
Living in the fire could be considered as keeping our minds stayed on Him, Isaiah 26:3. That is, allowing the life of Holy Spirit in us to burn up any thoughts, ideas, or words that don’t look and sound like God Himself would do, say, or think.
And why would we choose that way of living? Wouldn’t you like to live worry-free, for example? And when you do, aren’t your friends, neighbors, and colleagues going to notice and want to be able to do the same? Wouldn’t you like to breathe stars into existence? And so on and so on? Living in the fire is one way of considering how we live this abundant life right here and right now that Jesus affirmed was ours to live – John 10:10.
I hope we all want our lives to be more abundant than they are because I know Jesus died so that they can be, so if only to honor Him, it would be a good thing to do. And I hope we also want our lives to be more abundant so that others see how utterly amazing living hand-in-glove with God is and want what we’ve got and so become friends with God too. So then, can we all commit anew to being living sacrifices that never leave the altar, Romans 12:1-2, so that we can see His Kingdom come and His will being done more and more through us as the days go by?
With my blessings,
David