Holy Spirit Fire
“I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell
forever.” (2 Chronicles 6:2 NIV)
… “Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting
place, (2 chronicles 6:41 NIV)
And then in chapter 7,
we read that God came:
When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and
consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the
temple. The priests could not enter the
temple of the Lord because the glory of
the Lord filled it.
When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of
the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their
faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to
the Lord (2 chronicles 7:1-3 NIV)
Many
times I find myself worrying, trying to think of ways to fix various
problems. And God will usually stop me at some point, and remind me of a
better way.
In
Zechariah 4:6, God reminded Zerubbabel of a secret: it’s “not by might
nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” (NIV)
It’s not
by our might
It’s not
by our power
It’s not
by our intelligence
Or our talent
Or our skills
and abilities
None of
these things make a Supernatural difference.
Supernatural
differences come by what? His Spirit. His Spirit, and His
fire, flowing through us, will change the world.
Wesley
Duewel, in his book, Heroes of the Holy Life, tells a fascinating
story about a man named Dwight Moody.
The
story started out by saying that no one has ever been such an unlikely
candidate for God to use mightily than Moody. He was born into poverty
and there were nine children in the family. His father died when he was 4
years old. When that happened, creditors came to his house and took
everything out, even the stack of firewood. The children had to stay in
bed to keep warm.
When
Dwight was 10 he dropped out of school to work on a farm. He never could
read or write very well, and he was awkward around educated people. He stumbled
over his words when he tried to speak.
He got
saved when he was 18, and 2 years later he moved to Chicago.
In
Chicago he became a shoe salesman, but on Sundays he would go to street corners
and boarding houses and convince men to come with him to church. He would
also round up street urchins- little kids who roamed the streets- and he would
bring them to church. He started teaching a Sunday School to the kids and
the parents started coming.
Through
all this he still couldn’t speak. Once he stood up in church to testify
and a deacon later told him it was good that he brought so many into church,
but it would be better if he never tried to speak in public again.
Even the
street urchins thought he was uncouth. But somehow, he started a
church. He was extremely energetic; along with his preaching, he taught
Sunday school, held daily prayer meetings, and passed out tracks in the streets.
His
church became the largest in Chicago and could seat 3,000 people. It had
a prayer room that could hold 1,000 people. He thought he was a
success. But he had these two ladies in his church. And he could
see them in every one of his services, sitting on the front row, praying as he
preached. After each service they would say, “we’re praying for you.”
This
really bothered him. Yet they kept praying and praying until one day he finally
said, “why don’t you pray for the unsaved?”
And they
said, “we are praying that you may get the power.”
He
didn’t like that comment at all, but over the next few months he noticed that
he was beginning to hunger more and more to be filled with the Spirit.
He said,
“there came a great hunger into my soul. I did not know what it
was. I began to cry as I never had before. The hunger
increased. I really felt that I did not want to live any longer if I
could not have this power for service.”
One
night he prayed, “Lord, baptize me with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This, of course, was quoting a phrase from
John the Baptist. (see Matthew 3:11)
Two days
later, tragedy struck. The great Chicago fire of 1871 swept across the
city.
Dwight’s
church burned down, his home burned down, many people in his congregation lost
their homes. Dwight was devastated, but didn’t give up. He went to
New York City to meet with wealthy friends and do some fundraising.
While he
was walking down Wall Street, God suddenly answered his prayer for the baptism
of the Holy Spirit and Fire.
The
power of the Holy Spirit fell upon him and he ran to a friend’s house and asked,
“can I please have a room where I can be alone?”
He went
into the room and prayed for hours. The Holy Spirit flooded his soul with
power and joy again and again until he had to ask God to hold it back or he
would die from so much joy.
He went
back to preaching, and he said:
“I went to preaching again, my sermons were not
different, yet hundreds were converted. May God forgive me if I should
seem to speak in a boastful way, but I have not preached a sermon since where
God has not given me some soul. I would not be back where I was for all
the wealth of the world.”
By the
time he died, God had used him to reach at least 1 million souls. (Duewel 1995)
The
Bible talks about people with eyes that are blinded and can’t see, or ears that
can’t hear. (see Isaiah 6:10). And
it’s talking about a spiritual darkness here – the people aren’t physically
deaf and blind, they are spiritually deaf and blind.
Paul wrote:
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious
Father, may give you the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened (Ephesians 1:17,18
NIV)
So, Paul
prayed that God would send the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of their
hearts. He also said that God gave him the power that can open spiritual eyes. According to Paul, Jesus had told him this:
I am
sending you to them to
open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a
place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:17-18 NIV)
And
Jesus, in John 16, said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the
world of 3 things:
He will convict them of their sin
He will convict them of judgement
And He will convict them of righteousness
In other
words, people are blinded by their sin, but The Holy Spirit can open their eyes
so they can see. This is one of the most powerful things the Holy Spirit
does for us.
You may
have heard of David Brainerd, he was a preacher in the 1700’s who had a heart
to preach to the Delaware Indians. He wrote a journal that describes many
of his experiences and also his prayer life.
(Brainerd 2010)
In his
journal, David wrote that when he was a teenager, he tried to live a godly life.
He went out with his friends sometimes, but not too much – he was living better
lives than most of his friends were. But still he sinned, and that began
to bother him. So he began to try hard to get right with God, and to live
a holy life. He gave up all his friends and he only hung out with older
people or people who went to church.
He was
living a better life, but still he felt that something was missing. At
some point he must have read John 16 or Ephesians 1 because he wrote in his
journal that he prayed “that He would open my eyes to see the evil of
sin and the way of life by Jesus Christ.”
And for
several weeks he prayed this, until finally the Holy Spirit began to open his
eyes. The first thing that he saw was that he was a sinner standing the
Almighty Judge – a criminal who deserved to go to Hell for his
sins. (he was being convicted of his sin and of judgement in
Hell)
After
agonizing over this for weeks, he went into the woods alone to pray. And
this time, he saw the glory of God.
And he
said, “I had never seen before anything comparable to it for excellence
and beauty. My spirit rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a
God. And then, the way of salvation was opened to me and I saw it was
entirely by the righteousness of Christ.”
So now,
the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to righteousness. He saw his sins washed
by the blood of Jesus and because of the blood, he was righteous in the eyes of
God.
It’s
just like Jesus had said - when the Holy Spirit comes,
He will convict them of their sin
He will convict them of judgement
And He will convict them of righteousness
So David
became a missionary, and he went to the Delaware Indians. He was brave
for doing this, because they were known to be warlike, so there was a good
chance he would be killed.
But he
went anyway. And he found they were very stubborn; their hearts were very
hard. They were so stubborn that no matter how much he begged them they
would not turn to Jesus.
He
didn’t give up. Guess what he did? He began to pray that God would open
their eyes – just like he had prayed for himself years before. He prayed
every day, until one day, the Holy Spirit fell on just a few.
The next
time he preached, more started crying and soon they were having a great
revival. People were crying over their sins; some were crying so hard
that they would fall over, crying out to God for mercy.
And then
one by one, they began to receive forgiveness cry out for joy.
What
happened? The Holy Spirit had opened their eyes so that they could see
their sin,
their judgement (punishment in Hell)
and true righteousness by the blood of Jesus
When the
Holy Spirit comes with Fire, He opens the eyes of our heart.
References
Duewel, Wesley L. Revival Fire. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995 Print.
Brainerd, David. The
Life and Diary of David Brainerd: With Notes and Reflections. Place of
Publication Not Identified: ReadaClassic.om, 2010. Print.
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