The HOLY FIRE of GOD

THE HOLY FIRE

Commentary by Samson7able

One receives the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT when one repents and is Baptized.  It burns within the person as a HOLY FLAME which gives Light and Life. 

As one walks with The LORD JESUS CHRIST, obeying His+ Voice and keeping His+ Words, this HOLY FLAME burns brighter and brighter. 

Fussing About Our Circumstance(s)...

Or

~ The "Grace" We Never Consider ~ 

The LORD our GOD tailor-makes each circumstance in our individual lives. 

DO we believe that? 

We credit The LORD with bringing good things to us. Do we thank HIM+ when hard, frightful, and grievous things to be borne come our way too? 

Many... yes, even most... of those grievous and injurious things come about due to our own head-strongness and our own fault: 

• for ignoring HIS+ Word, 
• for running after the world,
• for indulging ourselves with foods that are not good for the human body 
• for indulging ourselves with "good" distractions of this life which actually work a distance between us and GOD,
• for ignoring His+ Truth in all areas,  
• for not listening to His+ still, small voice. 

We ignore the checks in our spirit that HE+ sends telling us to quit eating ( etc.), or not go out to the store, or quiet down with HIM+ ... instead of filling our hours with endless "good" activities.   

We refuse to deal with our pouting spirit, our self-pity, our tiny secret grudges... and they eventually show up in our words and attitudes. 

Of course, we may not PLAN to talk in a derogatory way about him/her... but it pops out of us unexpectedly when someone gives us the least amount of sympathy, or shows us any concern.  

Thus, we end up in a mess of our own making. 

Some of these circumstances can be altered; some cannot and are irrevocably in place for as long as we live on planet earth. 

But, do we realize that these "circumstances" are permitted to occur ... for weal or for woe ... SO THAT The LORD can bring our attention to the areas in which we ourselves are weak ?.

If we wallow in self-pity and smart at being rejected, The LORD ... in HIS+ Divine GRACE...  allows that to happen to us to show us our weakness in HIM+. 

HE+ uses this to show us WHERE we are weak  and vulnerable to the enemy. 

HE+ wants to show us WHERE to focus "our work" in the inner man, to become strong in CHRIST. 

 It is not pleasant. 

THAT is GRACE 

that we receive from HIM+ 

which we never consider as "grace" 

... because we do not like it.

HE+ allows these messes to occur in our lives UNTIL... when  ?

• UNTIL we learn to respond in a CHRIST-like manner to that particular besetting circumstance. Loving. Kind. Gentle. Teachable, teachable, teachable.   

• UNTIL we learn to respond to the Adamic nature in us ( that nature which should have died out in the waters of Holy Baptism ) by refusing to wallow in the "old man's" way of responding. 

• UNTIL we learn to fight against our OWN NATURE instead of somebody else's behavior and nature.
• 
  
•  
• UNTIL we learn to face the family spirits that have controlled each of our family lines for years and RENOUNCE THEM SOUNDLY, saying, 

"NO, you wicked spirit, I do NOT belong to you; I belong to CHRIST JESUS.  I will NOT listen to your lies any longer. I am free to be controlled by the Spirit of CHRIST JESUS and NOT by you . "  

These irritating, vexing, grievous, un-ending trials of rejection, hatefulness, and even sickness are allowed to beset us UNTIL we learn to overcome them. 

By faith? 

Yes, but not the "rev-yourself-up-to-believe-it" type of faith. 

.
Rather...

.

the faith that comes from STANDING against our own ways, our own paths of thinking, our own paths of self-indulgence, our "pet" comforts... and fighting the GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH in the Spirit against our own, old Adamic nature. 

Not one of us 

should be the target 

of the spirits of rejection. 

Yes, we may   

indeed be rejected,

   

but it should not affect our inner man. 

It should NOT change 

our Christ-like manner 

or affect our thinking...

about ourselves or others.  

We MUST fight the GOOD FIGHT of FAITH and stand on HIS+ Truth: HE+ loves each one of us dearly. 

HE+ will fight the enemy for us ... and has already done so... and WON !  

We only need to stand in this Truth:

 "nothing shall by any means hurt us." 

That TRUTH will set us free. 

Free to be CHRIST-like.

Hear the Words of JESUS our LORD: 

All authority is given unto ME+ 
in Heaven and on earth.

Behold, I+ give unto you 
authority to tread 

on serpents 
(opheOn = sharp-eyed ones, not snakes, the reptiles)

and scorpions 

and over ALL the power 

of the enemy, 

and NOTHING shall by any means hurt you. 

~

LORD, I believe; Help THOU+ mine unbelief.

~

JESUS said: Woman, thou are loosed 

from thine infirmity. 

~

Rise up and walk ! 

The Difference between GRACE and MERCY...

The Un-merited Favor of GOD...

... is the common definition of mercy and sometimes, of grace, also. That definition, however, fits every dealing of Our LORD towards man. The baptism of the HOLY SPIRIT is the un-merited favor of GOD towards man. Salvation itself is the un-merited favor of GOD towards man.

+ + +

The difference between GRACE and MERCY has always puzzled me.

But recently, The LORD showed me the difference in a personal, peculiar way.

It happened like this.

During a recent trip, I briefly visited a cherished friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. We communicate frequently though and looked forward to this brief visit which I was able to fit into my schedule.

But when I arrived at her house, her welcome was much less than cordial. Her comments were sharp and her tone was abrasive. As a matter of fact, I assured her I had brought my own lunch and she wouldn't have to bother about my food at all!

As it turned out, we met a couple of mutual, old college friends who just happened to arrive in town the same time I did. I thought it was the hand of The LORD!

+ + +

After our pleasant repast together, our mutual friends left and my friend and I shopped for groceries.

Disastrous!

As she snatched my grocery list from my hand to "assist" my shopping, we nearly created an argumentative scene in the store . It was an unbelievably distressing situation for me, for it seemed whatever I did angered her.

With great effort, we parted civilly, but my... I had no burning desire to repeat a visit to see her again.

Yes, for weeks afterwards, I pondered what had happened ? I felt like I had stumbled into a hornet's nest. I pondered why those things happened. How was I to relate to this old friend of mine in the future?

Then she called. She called to tell me about a mutual friend being in the hospital. In the course of our conversation she started to cry about the elderly she knew who had died. No, she did not apologize about her behavior during our visit. She did not even think anything she did was wrong. And no, I did not confront her because earlier The LORD had showed me she simply didn't see what she did. In fact, she was totally ignorant of how she carried herself towards me. Worse, she would have been crushed to think I was upset with her or thought what she did was hurtful ! Thus, I set aside any thoughts of an honest confrontation, and tried to minister to her.

And that, dear friends, is GRACE.

GRACE covers us when we do things to hurt the LORD, in our ignorance.

GRACE takes the hurt we blindly dish out to The LORD.

But, if we walk in Truth and daily search our souls to see if we are pleasing unto The LORD, HE+ ... in due season... will show us our sins, our hurtful ways, our abrasive behaviors that do NOT reflect a CHRIST-obeying Christian.

So then, what is MERCY ?

Mercy is what HE+ extends to us after we see how we have acted.

After we REALIZE what we've done,

how badly we have behaved,

how we have ignored CHRIST JESUS and HIS+ Words...

in short, how we have hurt HIM+...

after we hang our hearts in shame,

then HE+ extends MERCY to us,

and we do NOT get

what we rightfully deserve

for hurting someone...

that SOMEONE+ being the ONE+

Who+ died for us miserable sinners.

Can we not imagine the punishment we should incur for hurting someone innocent, who never hurt us? Can we not imagine the punishment we should incur for hurting HIS+ Royal Person?

It is HIS+ Mercy

that stands between us...

and utter destruction.

+ + +

So foolish was I and ignorant; I was as a beast before THEE+. Nevertheless, I am continually with THEE+: THOU+ hast holden me by my right hand. THOU+ shalt guide me with Thy+ Counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Psalm 73: 22-24