KEEP THE FIRE BURNING

So I'll be speaking on a verse I came upon in Leviticus

Leviticus 6:12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.

Here, the Lord gave Moses instructions on how the priest should conduct certain sacrifices

But what I'm particular about is the part where it says the fire should not be put out

The priest must add wood to it every morning

Day and night, the fire must be burning

Two things I got from there

1. The continual burning of fire is integral to the priest's relationship with God

2. The job of fueling the fire with wood is the priests job. God won't come down or send angels to do it.

Leviticus  8:36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Here, we see the priests abiding with the instructions.

So, how does that apply to you and me?

To us, the fire is not physical. We are not expected to make a physical fire unto God

The events in the Old Testament are shadows of what's expected in the New Testament

The fire, to us, is the fire of the Holy Ghost

The fire, to us, is the fire of the Holy Ghost

I'll share some Scriptures

Matthew  3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

That's John speaking to the children of Isreal

Acts  1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth

That was Jesus Christ, right before he ascended into Heaven, promising the baptism of the Holy Ghost

Acts  2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Right there is the fulfilment of prophecy.

Hallelujah. The promise of the Holy Spirit has been fulfilled. The Holy Spirit is God resident in us. God living in and through us.

That means we have a whole lot of work to do.

As it is in the days of old, so it is now. The fire has been initiated in you. You are you keep it burning

Dormancy is not expected of you as a child of God

You carry something in you that needs to be nourished at all times

Oh...you might say shebi it's the job of priests to keep the fire burning.  🤷🏿‍♂

You are a priest fam. And it is *mandatory* to keep the fire burning

Revelation  5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

So what do you do? How do you go about it?

For fire to keep burning, it needs fuel. Mainly wood and oxygen

How do you maintain the fire of the Holy Ghost in you?

1. PRAYER

Let's talk about Jesus for a minute

Before we do that, we've established two things...

. The continual burning of that fire is important to our relationship  with God

2. To ensure that fire burns continually is your personal responsibility

There must be a deliberate, consistent, daily stocking of the fire with fuel.

You don't wish it. You don't imagine it. You don't aspire to perspire to acquire it. You stand up and get your hands dirty

It is hard work. Day by day. Consistent. Doing what is needed. Keeping the fire burning

The Holy Spirit can prompt you. But He won't carry you to do what you need to do

Lemme give an example

We are coming back to this soon plis 😁

Acts  8:26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.  8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,  8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.  8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.  8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

The Spirit told Philip: Go near

And what did he do? He ran

To keep the fire burning, you have to do the work

Be involved. Be deliberate.

So let's talk about the first fuel

1. PRAYER

Luke  6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Jesus understood what needed to be done. And he did it 🤷🏿‍♂

If Jesus did it, I should did it. You should did it. Everyone should did it.

Don't joke with prayers.

If you want to remain on fire for God, you must pray

Look at Jesus again 👇🏿

Matthew  14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

Matthew  14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Loool. Jesus sent the disciples and  multitudes away. He SENT THEM away. Because he wanted to pray. He shut out all distractions. He knew the fire ought to be kept burning.

He forced his disciples into a ship and sent the multitudes, so he could pray

Some of us, our phones are by our side when we want to pray. TV on. Zlatan Ibile is playing on the radio. Food is cooking. We are even expecting visitors

Shut out all distractions and pray

Prioritize spending time with God in prayers plis dears

2. Fuel number 2, STUDY

Do you spend time with the Word?

Lemme give you a hint of what the Word does to you...

Let's talk about the guys on their way to Emmaus.

Luke  24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.  24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

That's what the Word does to you

Opens your eyes

Sets fire in your bones

Scatters your dada

The Word of God..

Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. Turn it over in your mind. Fill your heart with it. See the fire burn

2nd Tim 3:16-17 MSG - There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

See what you miss out when you don't study 🤷🏿‍♂

John  6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life

Hebrews  4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Are we following? 🤔

3rd fuel, FELLOWSHIP

There's strength in numbers. Corporate anointing. If you can't pray for 30 mins on your own, it's very possible to hit that target when you are in the midst of people that pray for 2 hours regularly

Hebrews  10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Don't forsake fellowship

What you lack, someone else has and can help you with and vice versa

Whether online offline, church or just a small group, as long as the central authority is Christ, please partake

Personally, it's very hard for me to pray for an hour on my own. I know I'm getting there though

But I can't count how many times I've  prayed for an hour on Zoom.

Sometimes even more than an hour

Just because I'm praying with people that consistently pray over that amount of time

That's the beauty in fellowship

We read the Bible here and share. You receive revelations of your own. Then someone shares and boom!!!! You get hit with another rhema

From the same text

Beauty of fellowship

Pray. Study. Fellowship. Keep the fire burning

As I conclude...

Guys, this calling we have as Christians is bigger than most of us see it. It is work. No be play play matter

See Jesus. See the Apostles. See Paul.

Look at how they prayed. How they studied. Look at how they worshipped together. Even hiding in the upper room. They understood the assignment. They knew that they needed to be deliberate about it

We can't afford to be lazy. We can't afford to wish the fire to keep burning. Or faith the fire to keep burning

You have to do the work fam

Consistently and deliberately

Keep the fire burning

God bless us 🙌🏿 May the Lord bless his Words in our hearts

I'll leave you guys with this

James  1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

INTIMACY

Today and for the next couple of weeks, we will be talking about something.

Something very important to our walk in Christ

It is actually our walk in/with Christ: INTIMACY

What is Intimacy?

To be intimate with someone is to have a certain closeness with them.

It's the experience of knowing another truly and being known by them also.

Intimacy goes both ways.

It is mutual knowledge in a deep way

Have you ever felt intimate with another person?

If yes, what did you think made you feel that way

For all the answers we will come up with, some things are underlying :

friendship, closeness, spending time together, trust, getting personal...

Which brings me to us and God's desire. A lot of us have impersonal relationships with God

We are His children but everything is just there, out of duty and obligation. We read our Bible, pray, go to church but that's just it, nothing special, nothing deep, all ritual.  f most Christians are asked to describe their relationships with God, intimate might be the last word you will hear. You'd hardly hear someone say I'm a friend of  God. 90% of those that use that phrase say so cos it's normal to.

In reality, no friendship with God.

We know the Lord

We've given our hearts and lives to Him

We spend time praying and studying everyday

But...

Our "thing" with God is a big chunk of obedience

For some worship, Others service, Some even fear.

 But very few will say intimacy.

All these things are good, But it's not where it ends. It's not even where it starts. God created us to not just fellowship with Him but to experience Him, to know Him intimately.

And He wants this experience to be daily, every minute, every moments of our lives.

One would say:

"Oh! But we already have a relationship with God. We are sons"

Well, you have a relationship with your dad, he is your father

I have a relationship with Oyin, she is my sister.

Does that translate to Intimacy? NO.

A lot of us read the bible, we study everyday to learn some truth, understand biblical principles, probably fulfill all righteousness and tick of our daily bible reading or to truly gain insight.

Of course, we will leave with knowledge.

I leave with something every time we come together to share, even when I study personally.

But something is missing: Our knowledge is increased but there is nothing deep going on.

We read about Jesus daily but here is a bigger and better offer.

We know the book, we take time to learn what is written in the book daily but we miss out on the chance to be with the author and focus of the book.

Here is God calling us, every one of us His children, to walk with Him (as Enoch did), to know Him truly, to share something really deep with Him.

God wants to pleasure us as much as we want to pleasure Him.

He wants to delight in us and us to delight in Him also. And this intimacy goes beyond our normal activities.

“You are busy analyzing the Scriptures, frantically poring over them in hopes of gaining eternal life. Everything you read points to me,  yet you still refuse to come to me so I can give you the life you’re looking for—eternal life!

John 5:39‭-‬40 TPT

We stay studying and searching about Christ yet we have an opportunity to actually get to know Him directly. Everything we read, from Genesis down to revelation points to one person: Christ.

And here is a free opportunity to actually know Him.

Imagine writing a dissertation about someone as a student. All the time and research put into it, then you get a chance to meet the person you are writing about

Not just meet, but fellowship and you pass.

How does that sound?

Now here is the thing, the problem is not that we don't want intimacy with God.

We want it, but most of us want it on our own terms alone.

We want to be friends but we don't want to make friendship sacrifices.

We don't have time

We are too busy

We are not ready to go all out

Friendship is not duty. It is never obligation. Imagine beings friends with someone out of obligation. Who has that time?

And this is why prayer does not equal intimacy.

We can read the word and pray out of obligation. It's the right thing to do as Christians. But you see intimacy, it is something we long for. It runs deeeeep.

Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.

Psalms 27:4 TPT

I ask only one thing from the Lord. This is what I want most: Let me live in the Lord’s house all my life, enjoying the Lord’s beauty and spending time in his palace.

Psalms 27:4 ERV

A lot of us know this scripture. I've known it forever but it hit me differently one day. This was David's prayer shortly before he was anointed King.

And you could see something in it.

David wasn't praying this out of obligation

There was  hunger for a conversation, friendship with God borne out of love and intimacy.

It wasn't a means to an end.

It wasn't so he could defeat nations or do ministry better.

It wasn't asking so God could give him answers he had been waiting for.

David was in love with God!

I could feel the butterflies in David's tummy that day

Here was David (translated in my understanding);

I long to be in the secret place, you and I alone. Have the privilege of living with you DAILY and communing EVERY moment. I want to find the sweet loveliness of your face, touch the fine lines on it, gaze upon your beauty, stay in awe of how wonderful you are. Delight in your glory, think of your greatness and just revel in it. I want to just ponder on your Grace and burst into tears at how amazing you are. I want to live so close to you that we both find pleasure in this friendship.

I cried the day I wrote this down.

David just wanted to BE in God's presence. 

Be here is not just stay, he wanted to just have his being there, his whole existence. He wanted to just marvel and stay enjoying God's beauty.

 This is love. This is intimacy!

Take me away with you! Let’s run off together! An elopement with my King-Lover! We’ll celebrate, we’ll sing, we’ll make great music. Yes! For your love is better than vintage wine. Everyone loves you—of course! And why not?

Song of Solomon 1:4 MSG

Look at the bride in this verse: Let's elope together

Do you know how love struck and lost in the sauce you must be to want to run away, to crave the presence of another only?  Just like a newly wedded in a hurry to go home to their partner.

We are the bride of Christ, this should be our outlook.

We should study the word

We should pray also.

Prayer is warfare, yes

But prayer is way more than that.

It is most importantly Intimacy

We are laborers in God's vineyard, the harvest is plenty so we have work to do.

But know this, Jesus didn't die just for you to become laborers or soldiers in His army, He died for us to become His bride.

Do you delight in the presence of your groom?

Next time you come to God, come as a Bride.

Come with/in love

Come with intimacy in mind

Forget the war,

Forget the battles, they've been won already!

Come and just BE in His presence.

Come gazing upon His beauty.

Don't look left, Don't look right. Just gaze upon Him.

Their faces looked like this: In front a human face, on the right side the face of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, and in back the face of an eagle. So much for the faces. The wings were spread out with the tips of one pair touching the creature on either side; the other pair of wings covered its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit went, they went. They didn’t turn as they went.

Ezekiel 1:10‭-‬12 MSG

They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Ezekiel 1:17‭-‬21 MSG.

Look at the creatures, their gaze does not shift from God. It is focused on the throne.

The elders, their focus is on one person only; The one on the throne.

Here is what God is calling us to, Intimacy with Him

And as I said this is borne out of love for God.

Love so deep we want to leave every other thing and run to our quiet place, just elope with God.

Gazing upon the beauty of His love and just being in it.

God wants us to meet with Him from a place of love.

Love fuels intimacy

Now, we can't love God if we do not come to a knowledge of His love for us.

Our love for God I creases as our knowledge of His love for us increases.

When the love of God hits you hard, the only way you can respond is by loving Him back

David knew the love of God, he came to an understanding of it and his only reaction was love.

Talk to God, allow Him show you His love in a way you've never known and watch yourself respond to Him.

Spend time with Him you bride, your marriage to the groom is kept alive here.

Just BE in His love!

I pray as we all dedicate time to God this way, His love hits us hard. It leaves us in tears. It ignites our relationship with Him. 

Amen