Lord, Send Your Fire!

My personal devotional.  Sunday 2-8-15 (Pleasant Hill, CA)           

Scripture reading:         Lev 7-9            Acts 15

S.  Lev 9:23-10:2  Next Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came back out, they blessed the people again, and the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to the whole community.  Fire blazed forth from the LORD's presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw all this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground.  Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over it.  In this way, they disobeyed the LORD by burning before him a different kind of fire than he had commanded.  So fire blazed forth from the LORD's presence and burned them up, and they died there before the LORD.  NLT

O.  Moses had called the people together at the entrance to the new completed tabernacle with all is ornate silver a gold trimmings.  He offered animal sacrifices and preformed a long, intricate ceremony for the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests.  Finally Aaron prayed for the people and he and Moses entered the tabernacle.  When they came back out and blessed the people a second time something powerful happened.  The glorious presence of the Lord appeared visible to all the people and suddenly fire blazed out of the Lord’s presence and consumed the fat that was on the altar.  The result?  The whole huge group of people shouted with joy and fell on their faces on the ground.  This incident is followed by another very sad one in which the details remain somewhat obscure.

A.  We Pentecostals say we want the fire of the Holy Spirit.  We pray for the fire.  We used to sing “Lord, send the fire.”  But we have also been warned to be careful not to offer “strange fire”, like Nadab and Abihu who did so and lost their lives.  So seeing the danger of “strange fire”, many of us prefer to distance ourselves from the “fire”.  So what do we get?  We get what we prefer, and too often it is no fire at all. 

Thus when our parent’s fire burns low, we are in danger of having nice big buildings with little or no spontaneous, God initiated, spiritual activity going on.  We are careful to prepare a good program including, praise and worship and the preaching of the Word… like we should… and we are very good at this.  We want the Lord’s presence, but if suddenly God’s holy fire were to blaze forth out of the Lord’s presence and interfere with our good program we might be terrified.  We might draw back in fear of “strange fire.”   Or more likely still, we might be fearful that even God’s genuine fire might scare some of our dear tithe-paying people away… which it might. 

So should we be praying seriously for the Lord to send the fire of His Holy Spirit into our personal lives and into our services?  If so, should we be fearful of “strange fire”?  I believe Jesus answers that question in Luke 11:11-13  "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" NIV  The question is, “Can we trust Our Heavenly Father, the Giver of good gifts!” 

P.  Dear Father in heaven, I am aware that there are many questionable things going on in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches around the world, and I believe that we certainly need to test them all by Your Holy Word.  But I pray that You would fill us with daring confidence in You, knowing that when we, in our spiritual hunger, ask you for a fish or an egg, You will not give us a snake or a scorpion.  So I pray that You would guide us within the parameters of Your Holy Word to seek and receive Your genuine fire without fear. 

My heart sings again, “Lord, send the fire, send the fire, send the fire.”  Set me ablaze for You!  And may the heat and light generated by Your presence in my life draw others into an intimate relationship with You!  Then I may shout with joy and like the Israelites I might fall face down on the ground in worship to You.  Amen.

Ralph