Being on Fire for Jesus

Jesus wants us to be on fire for Him. In Revelation 3 Jesus tells the Laodiceans "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. This is not a condition that I would want to found in. How can you know if you are hot for Jesus? Let’s take a look at a fire to start with. I remember when I had a wood stove, and I would get up early in the morning to get the fire going. There would usually be embers smoldering from the large chunks of wood that I put in the night before. I would take the stove poker and move all of the smoldering embers to the middle of the stove. When the embers got close to one another they would start to light up and eventually they would erupt into flames. The lesson I learned from this was that we need each other in order to keep the fire burning. God created us to be in relationship, it is his very nature to be relational. It is when we isolate and get off by ourselves that we start to lose our heat. The next thing I learned from the fire is that it needs fuel. Even if you scrape all the embers together without fresh wood they fire will eventually go out. Fresh wood in the sense of community would, of course, represent new converts. New converts are not just necessary to keep the fire burning but are also evidence of an actual fire burning. Once the fire is stoked then air flow is essential for a strong burning fire. Just the right amount of air flow will create a vacuum that will actually suck more air into the fire. Air being representative of Holy Spirit one can say that hot embers coupled with fresh wood and the right airflow creates a perfect environment for fire. Air flow is allowing room for Holy Spirit to move among the people. In our personal lives we need to burn hot for Jesus as well as in our public meetings. Being on fire in our personal lives requires sacrifices of time and treasure. Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The bible declares that where a man’s treasure is there his heart will be also. There are people who are called to be intercessors that have a gift for praying deep and long for certain people places and things. I confess that I do not have this gift. I am a man of prayer, but that has come from being committed to developing my prayer life. Jesus told the disciples to tarry with Him for one hour that they fall not into temptation. Mat 26:40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." This is a good point to start. Each of us should spend one hour a day in prayer as a base line for not falling into temptation. If you will do this, you will fall in love with His presence and it will become the greatest desire of your life. But you will have to fight the desire of the flesh to do it. You can be taught on prayer and read books on prayer but at the end of the day you just have to do it to develop a prayer life and a love for communion with Jesus. The issue of treasure I find to be one of the most difficult areas for people. The issue of tithing gets people all stirred up. Mammon is one the most powerful demons we deal with. Jesus made it clear that you cannot serve God and Mammon. Mat 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Mammon convinces us that God cannot be trusted as provider. God promises to provide for His children, one of His names is Jehovah Jireh which means God is my provider. Where people put their time and treasure tells you were their heart is. Anyone who I have ever known who was on fire for Jesus had two characteristics that stood out. They had a vibrant prayer life, and they supported God's Kingdom with their treasure. God created us and knows what makes us satisfied. I have learned to trust Him even in the darkest valleys I have walked through. In all of my trials, I never stopped calling on Him in prayer to deliver me, and I never stopped tithing and trusting Him for provision. When you get to know Him, you realize that even when you are failing in parts of your life, He is still breathing on you. Being hot for Jesus is not being perfect, it's having faith that if you keep showing up for prayer, keep giving your treasure and stay around others that are hot, you will make it through to the other side of the trial and find that you are on fire for God.