Welcome the Fire

Genesis 6-8; Luke 3

“…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Luke 3:16, 17

Jesus is the Lord of the harvest and his disciples have the privilege of joining him in harvest-mission assignments. We, too, need the ongoing filling, or baptism, of the Spirit to empower us to live on this mission with Jesus, just like his first disciples did. We, too, must be baptized with fire for the cleansing of sin. Without this, we will be unprepared for the testing, temptation, and schemes of the enemy to disqualify us from our mission assignments. Jesus will thresh the harvest to separate the wheat from the chaff. Willingly submitting our lives to the fire of the Holy Spirit’s presence enables us to pass through the fire.

Are we avoiding the fire of the Holy Spirit?

Are we asking Jesus for the ongoing filling and fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives and churches?

“Lord Jesus, consume my sin, flesh, and self with your fire of holiness, that your glory would be revealed in and through my life, for your glory.”