NEWS True Fire
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.'"
(Matthew 16:24-25)
I was meditating this morning and came across something from a book by T. Austin-Sparks that hit upon a theme that has been running through my blog posts over the past month. I wanted to share the passage from Sparks' book that I thought was insightful.
I would like to preface the discussion of what Sparks says with something I noted last week in a previous blog post. As I noted, there is a direct link between brokenness and receiving the Spirit. The Cross is where we are broken. It is through the Cross - where we go from being natural and earthly creations to spiritual and heavenly creations. The Cross is not optional for this transition. It is CENTRAL to walking in love and entering into eternal life. The Cross is what separates the old from the new, the earthly from the spiritual.
With that context, let's look at what I came across while reading Sparks. He says:
"It was something which looked like the true, but it was false, and the Spirit of God knew the difference. We have to be very careful that we do not create false fire, for that is the danger of strong personalities. Do you notice how many of these things which look like life have come from strong personalities? They are uncrucified Christian men! Is that a contradiction in terms? No, the Cross has to divide between soul and spirit, and if you see the fire coming from strong, forceful soulish men, you have reason to doubt the reality of it. When the true fire comes, it is always through crucified men.
I think the Apostle Peter could have created a lot of false fire. He was a man who was always trying to get things going! He would rush in in front of someone else, and would even tell the Lord Jesus where to get on and where to get off! It would have been a poor lookout for Christianity if it had come through Peter! But Peter had to go to the Cross, and the true fire of the Holy Spirit did not come until he was an utterly broken man."
There is much light in these two paragraphs, as is often the case with Sparks' material. I would like to focus on the the two sentences in bold above. First, there is the concept of "true fire" which is in contrast to what Sparks calls "false fire." True fire comes through crucifixion - through the Cross. Not sometimes or most of the time, but ALWAYS!
I wonder how many people have asked their priest, pastor or minister if he or she has been crucified? And, of those that have asked this vital question, I wonder what percentage of the responses were truthful? There is nothing like being in the presence of true fire. Sadly, I think there is a great deal of false fire in Christianity today, which would explain the global cooling of love we see in the world (more on this topic in the future).
The second point, which goes to the heart of one of the main issues we've been discussing recently, is what Sparks has to say about the disciple Peter. Sparks notes that Peter was capable of creating a great deal of false fire before his personal revelation of Christ. The true fire of the Holy Spirit came when Peter went to the Cross and was utterly broken. Please go back to the last sentence of the Sparks material above and re-read it. When I re-read that sentence, the words "UTTERLY BROKEN" leap off the page.
The Holy Spirit comes via the Cross when we are utterly broken. Does this resonate with you? Do you see the connection?
Oh, how the Lord broke me! My whole world collapsed within a span of a year. It was as if I had fallen into a giant black hole. It was so painful (there are no padded crosses!). Through the pain, I sought love. I had been seeking true love my whole life. In a moment of great desperation, as I was intensely seeking true love, the Lord awoke me at 3:45 am and revealed Himself to me.
"I am Love," I heard Him say.
(For more on my revelation, see my blog post "I Am Love" in the June 2007 blog archives).
Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, was broken. Mary, John, Thomas, Peter and all of the other disciples were broken. Stephen was broken (and later stoned to death by Saul of Tarsus and his religious clan). Barnabas and Timothy were also broken. T. Austin-Sparks and Oswald Chambers were broken. The list of broken men and women goes on and on (and it's a beautiful list, indeed!)
Brokenness is painful, but through this pain we receive the true fire of the Holy Spirit. Brokenness emerges out of darkness. But it is in the darkness that we see the Light. That is the purpose of darkness - to provide contrast to the Light. Without the darkness, it would be very difficult, perhaps even impossible, to see the Light. I once heard a spiritual man put this way: God uses black chalk (the darkness) to illuminate His white chalkboard (His Love and Heavenly Kingdom).
I've been wondering why it is so difficult sometimes for darkness to break various people. I know quite a few people that refuse to be broken. It doesn't matter how dark it gets in their life, they just refuse to go down. Instead of being broken, they become very angry and are frequently upset. Sometimes they get violent. Apparently, the Cross may be too painful.
The Lord knew that many people would not be able to take up their crosses and follow Him. He said:
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
(Matthew 7:14)
Only a few find it. If you listen to the chatter coming out of organized Christianity, you would think that many have found the road that leads to life. But this contradicts what the Lord says. Only few find it.
Why only a few?
I think it is because many people refuse to take up their crosses and be broken. That would certainly seem to explain a lot of what we see in organized religion - uncrucified men and women - false fire. Many people refuse to lay down their lives, they refuse to give up things - their religion, their many earthly possessions or whatever else they may be clinging to in their lives. But give up we must, if we wish to walk in love follow the Lord.
There is a wonderful passage of Scripture in Paul's letter to the Philippians. It goes right to the heart of being utterly broken and giving up all things to enter into Christ. Here's what Paul wrote:
"If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:4-11)
Paul gave up his proud religious past to gain Christ. In fact, as a Hebrew of Hebrews, he says he counts all those things as rubbish. RUBBISH! Everything that Paul once treasured, including his Judaism, was now rubbish.
That's precisely what happens on the Cross. The past burns up and becomes irrelevant. All one can see is Christ.
How do we lose all the baggage of the past that is keeping our spirits held hostage by our souls and our flesh? Through the Cross! It is where we are broken and the baggage gets left behind. Our spirits then soar with the Spirit!
May you be broken through the Cross and may the true fire of the Holy Spirit come upon you.
Agape,
Steve
(Matthew 16:24-25)
I was meditating this morning and came across something from a book by T. Austin-Sparks that hit upon a theme that has been running through my blog posts over the past month. I wanted to share the passage from Sparks' book that I thought was insightful.
I would like to preface the discussion of what Sparks says with something I noted last week in a previous blog post. As I noted, there is a direct link between brokenness and receiving the Spirit. The Cross is where we are broken. It is through the Cross - where we go from being natural and earthly creations to spiritual and heavenly creations. The Cross is not optional for this transition. It is CENTRAL to walking in love and entering into eternal life. The Cross is what separates the old from the new, the earthly from the spiritual.
With that context, let's look at what I came across while reading Sparks. He says:
"It was something which looked like the true, but it was false, and the Spirit of God knew the difference. We have to be very careful that we do not create false fire, for that is the danger of strong personalities. Do you notice how many of these things which look like life have come from strong personalities? They are uncrucified Christian men! Is that a contradiction in terms? No, the Cross has to divide between soul and spirit, and if you see the fire coming from strong, forceful soulish men, you have reason to doubt the reality of it. When the true fire comes, it is always through crucified men.
I think the Apostle Peter could have created a lot of false fire. He was a man who was always trying to get things going! He would rush in in front of someone else, and would even tell the Lord Jesus where to get on and where to get off! It would have been a poor lookout for Christianity if it had come through Peter! But Peter had to go to the Cross, and the true fire of the Holy Spirit did not come until he was an utterly broken man."
There is much light in these two paragraphs, as is often the case with Sparks' material. I would like to focus on the the two sentences in bold above. First, there is the concept of "true fire" which is in contrast to what Sparks calls "false fire." True fire comes through crucifixion - through the Cross. Not sometimes or most of the time, but ALWAYS!
I wonder how many people have asked their priest, pastor or minister if he or she has been crucified? And, of those that have asked this vital question, I wonder what percentage of the responses were truthful? There is nothing like being in the presence of true fire. Sadly, I think there is a great deal of false fire in Christianity today, which would explain the global cooling of love we see in the world (more on this topic in the future).
The second point, which goes to the heart of one of the main issues we've been discussing recently, is what Sparks has to say about the disciple Peter. Sparks notes that Peter was capable of creating a great deal of false fire before his personal revelation of Christ. The true fire of the Holy Spirit came when Peter went to the Cross and was utterly broken. Please go back to the last sentence of the Sparks material above and re-read it. When I re-read that sentence, the words "UTTERLY BROKEN" leap off the page.
The Holy Spirit comes via the Cross when we are utterly broken. Does this resonate with you? Do you see the connection?
Oh, how the Lord broke me! My whole world collapsed within a span of a year. It was as if I had fallen into a giant black hole. It was so painful (there are no padded crosses!). Through the pain, I sought love. I had been seeking true love my whole life. In a moment of great desperation, as I was intensely seeking true love, the Lord awoke me at 3:45 am and revealed Himself to me.
"I am Love," I heard Him say.
(For more on my revelation, see my blog post "I Am Love" in the June 2007 blog archives).
Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, was broken. Mary, John, Thomas, Peter and all of the other disciples were broken. Stephen was broken (and later stoned to death by Saul of Tarsus and his religious clan). Barnabas and Timothy were also broken. T. Austin-Sparks and Oswald Chambers were broken. The list of broken men and women goes on and on (and it's a beautiful list, indeed!)
Brokenness is painful, but through this pain we receive the true fire of the Holy Spirit. Brokenness emerges out of darkness. But it is in the darkness that we see the Light. That is the purpose of darkness - to provide contrast to the Light. Without the darkness, it would be very difficult, perhaps even impossible, to see the Light. I once heard a spiritual man put this way: God uses black chalk (the darkness) to illuminate His white chalkboard (His Love and Heavenly Kingdom).
I've been wondering why it is so difficult sometimes for darkness to break various people. I know quite a few people that refuse to be broken. It doesn't matter how dark it gets in their life, they just refuse to go down. Instead of being broken, they become very angry and are frequently upset. Sometimes they get violent. Apparently, the Cross may be too painful.
The Lord knew that many people would not be able to take up their crosses and follow Him. He said:
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
(Matthew 7:14)
Only a few find it. If you listen to the chatter coming out of organized Christianity, you would think that many have found the road that leads to life. But this contradicts what the Lord says. Only few find it.
Why only a few?
I think it is because many people refuse to take up their crosses and be broken. That would certainly seem to explain a lot of what we see in organized religion - uncrucified men and women - false fire. Many people refuse to lay down their lives, they refuse to give up things - their religion, their many earthly possessions or whatever else they may be clinging to in their lives. But give up we must, if we wish to walk in love follow the Lord.
There is a wonderful passage of Scripture in Paul's letter to the Philippians. It goes right to the heart of being utterly broken and giving up all things to enter into Christ. Here's what Paul wrote:
"If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:4-11)
Paul gave up his proud religious past to gain Christ. In fact, as a Hebrew of Hebrews, he says he counts all those things as rubbish. RUBBISH! Everything that Paul once treasured, including his Judaism, was now rubbish.
That's precisely what happens on the Cross. The past burns up and becomes irrelevant. All one can see is Christ.
How do we lose all the baggage of the past that is keeping our spirits held hostage by our souls and our flesh? Through the Cross! It is where we are broken and the baggage gets left behind. Our spirits then soar with the Spirit!
May you be broken through the Cross and may the true fire of the Holy Spirit come upon you.
Agape,
Steve
posted by Steve at
9:42 AM
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