We cannot be content with just coming to church to get warm for a moment, and live a life cold to God during the week. We must allow ourselves to get close to the All-Consuming Fire, and allow Him to spark a fire deep within our souls.
Psalm 84:1 says, „How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God”
I absolutely love this scripture, because it is the picture of a heart on fire for God. A heart that is longing and desiring God more than anything else, is a heart ablaze for God. It is also a picture of someone who has had an experience with God, and is hungry for more. So how do we, ordinary church people become like the person in Psalms 84? How do we get a heart on fire for God, and have a soul that longs for more?
I cannot only draw from my own personal experience, but the experiences of thousands I’ve seen. For a heart to be caught on fire by the presence of God, one most put themselves near what is burning. What is burning? The Lord God Almighty! He is an All-Consuming fire, and the desire of our souls. Standing by the light of a fire will only keep you warm for a moment. Getting close and into the fire will spark something that burns. We cannot be content with just coming to church to get warm for a moment, and live a life cold to God during the week. We must allow ourselves to get close to the All-Consuming Fire, and allow Him to spark a fire deep within our souls. We must personally experience being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being baptized with fire. We must have an encounter with God that re-arranges our lives, and puts a passion inside of us. Then it is our responsibility to fan that flame all week long, until we gather again with other believers.
2nd Tim 1:6 states that “we, not our pastors, are to fan the gift of the Holy Spirit.” When you fan a fire, it gets stronger. When a fire looks like it is going down, you add fuel to that fire. It could be if our fire is dwindling during the week, we need to see what other things are being fanned. Or it could be we are not adding fuel to our fire. After we have left church on Sunday and Monday comes, we can be doing things during the week that fans our desire for more of God. Meeting with friends and talking about God is a great way to stir up that fire on the inside. We can meditate on what we heard that weekend, and pray it. We can find moments in our day to cry out for more of God. I used to do that all the time on my lunch breaks. I would be in my car reading the Word, and fanning the flame of God on the inside of me. I know our spirit men are hungry for God, and we have a longing for more of Him. So even though we have a lot going on in our week, we can find those moments to hunger and thirst for God. By the time we come to the prayer service or church service, that hunger should have been fanned all week long. We when come into church hungry for more of God, it pulls his presence closer for the entire group. God’s eyes are searching for those people who are seeking Him, that want to know Him. He is looking for those who cannot live a day without him, and are wanting more. When you have an entire group like that coming to church, God is pulled into the service. When God comes, lives change for the better, and people can have hearts on fire for God.
It is fine to read Psalm 84, but it is better to live it! It is an adventure to live Psalm 84, and have burning desire for God on the inside consuming you. You can be at home, be at work, be at university, be a kid in school, and have a burning desire for more of God. I would encourage you to start fanning your passion for God, and your hunger for God this week. Watch what happens in your life, and what you can bring to a service. There should be a hunger in us, and a longing to be in the presence of God. You too can be saying, „better is one day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere,” because it is a reality in your life. It is absolutely true that one moment in the presence of God is far better than anything else we can experience. In fact, it can become an intense desire on the inside of us, but it is a fire within that we must keep ablaze. With God there are always new experiences to be had, and more that He wants to give us. So we will never be disappointed as we fan our desire for God, because he is ready to fill us with more of His presence.
