The Fire of God!

Where is the Fire of God in the Church?

 How can one come to a place of really knowing the Lord?  How do we drill down deeper to move from a surface relationship to heart seeking intimacy with Him?  Here are six keys to intimacy with the Lord.

(1)

Hunger and Thirst for Christ!

 Jesus said:

Blessed and fortunate

and

happy and spiritually prosperous

(in that state in which the born-again

 child of God enjoys

His favor and salvation) 

are those who

hunger and thirst 

for righteousness

(uprightness and right standing with God),

for they shall be

 completely satisfied!

Matthew 5:6 (AMP)

In the above verse we discover some clues to our questions above.  Note the phrases or words in blue.

Hunger…..for what? For His righteousness – to do what is right, act right, possess a godly attitude, and walk a path of righteousness at all times in a world that is upside down.  Hunger not only for His righteousness but hunger for His Word (Food) – to eat, know, and apply His Word in the mind and heart and with one’s relationship with others. A must for the hungry saints of God who want to walk in the supernatural things of God.

Doing what is right comes from knowing what is in His Word and receiving His revelations from reading and pondering on His Word.   One’s hunger for Him should be like one’s hunger for food after fasting for a day, week, or month. Starving for His Word should be ongoing.  It is the only way to reach a deep intimacy with Christ.

Thirst…..for what?  For His Holy Spirit – to call for Him to empower in the Fruit and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who leads, guides, and empowers the disciple of Christ to preach/teach/testify/ and witness the Word of God firmly placed in the heart.

          The Holy Spirit works alongside the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher and His disciples as they continually thirst after Him to anoint the Word and to confirm the Word with signs, wonders, and miracles. The Word without the Wonders is only half the Gospel of Christ.

Result:  Those disciples who hunger and thirst for Christ at all times become the spiritually satisfied ones, the blessed ones, the favored ones, and the ones who possess a right standing or relationship with Christ. 

(2)

Seek Christ!

But

 seek

(aim at and strive after)

first of all

His kingdom

and

His righteousness

(His way of doing and being right),

and

then all these things taken together

 will be given you besides.

Matthew 6:33 (AMP)

  Seek…..for what? For His Kingdom and His righteousness – the Kingdom of Heaven or the

Kingdom of God to come and counteract the kingdom of the world, which is unrighteous, evil, corrupt, and opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven/God. 

    It is a kingdom under the control and power of the evil one – Satan and his demonic powers. Thus, one must continually be seeking and accommodating His (Christ’s) Kingdom which is a righteous and Holy Kingdom – a Kingdom of Light and Salvation.. 

    Result: This hunger, thirst, and seeking for His Word, His righteousness, His favor, His salvation, and His Kingdom will manifest (“will be given to you”) as He promised in Matthew 5:6; 6:33.

(3)

Faith in Christ!

……so that Christ may dwell in your hearts

 through

faith;

          Faith….. for what?   For Christ to be the centrality of one’s walk with  Him.  Without His faith growing,, maturing, and indwelling in the heart it becomes impossible to please Christ as the writer in Hebrews 11:6 (AMP) pens:

But

without faith

it is impossible to please

and 

be satisfactory to Him.

For whoever would come near to God

 must [necessarily] believe that God exists

 and

 that He is the rewarder of those

who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

Note the word “impossible.”  Everything in the life of the Christian depends on faith – not faith in self, abilities, education, talents, degrees, experience, etc. But faith in Christ and what He accomplished on the Cross – salvation for all who turn their life and ways over to Him.

 In other words, call on Him, confess sin to Him, accept Him, and live for Him.  Thus, the person is born again and inherits eternal life with Christ in heaven. This is a basic step in drawing near to God and His Christ – faith in Christ.

Result,,,,,The presence of growing and maturing faith in the believer pleases the Father and His Son and they reward those who walk in faith.  The writer of Hebrews reinforces that “earnestly and diligently seeking Him…”  is an absolutely necessity to know and be intimately acquainted with Christ and His Kingdom.

(4)

Love Christ!

……and

 that you, being

rooted and grounded in love,,,,.

Ephesians 3:17 (NASB95)

          Love…..How? The verse above stresses the importance of love (agape) which is the fourth key to growing an intimacy with the Lord. This is not human love which can be unstable, fickle, and insincere. This love is part of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.  It is the first of the nine Fruit mentioned by the Apostle. It is a supernatural love as opposed to a soulish love.

           It is the first fruit of the nine mentioned by Apostle Paul in The Book of   Galatians.  One can exercise faith and hope but without love, faith and   hope will not spring forth.  Love is the greatest above faith and hope.   We might also say that one can love but be short on faith and hope.  Love   feeds faith which produces hope in Christ.  

     Apostle Paul talks about being “rooted and grounded in love (agape).” Why?  Because advancement in the Christian life and in drilling down to have an intimacy with Christ depends on the manifestation of His imparted love to Him and to others. 

Love is greater than faith but faith enriches love and love enriches and grows faith. Faith and love are like the two sides of a coin. They depend on each other. To have only love and no faith, love is weak.  To have only faith and no love, faith is weak.  To have both in operation gains the attention and favor of Christ.

But now faith, hope, love,

abide these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NASB95)

              The verse above contains the phrase “….but the greatest of  these is love.”  Love is greater than faith and love is greater than hope! The perfect balance of walking with Christ is that the disciple of Christ is not only grounded and rooted in love, but also grounded and rooted in faith

and hope. Faith in Christ, hope in Christ, and love Christ.  All three points to Christ.  There is no faith, hope, and love in anything else but only in Christ and what He accomplished by sacrificing His life on the Roman cross.

If you keep My commandments

[if you continue to obey My instructions],

you will abide in My love

 and 

live on in it,

 just as I have obeyed

 My Father’s commandments

 and

live on in His love.

John 15:10 (AMP)

     The verse above contains the phrase “…..  If you keep My commandments” …….you will abide in My love and live on it….”  Lack of obedience to His commandments means one is not abiding in loving Him.  We might say that the greater one abides in and obeys His commandments, the greater one is abiding in His love – His imparted and continual imparting of His love.

     It is interesting to note in the Amplified Bible translation there is attention to (1) Christ commandments, and (2) the Father’s commandments. Obedience to Christ’s instructions means abiding in His love and obedience to the Father’s commandments. Christ was perfect in His obedience to the Father’s commandments and in abiding in those commandments.

    Jesus mentioned the two great commandments:

You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, and with all your soul,

 and with all your mind.’

This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is like it, ‘

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

On these two commandments

depend the whole Law and the Prophets.

 Matthew 22:37–40 (NASB95)

When one truly loves God above everything else and loves one’s neighbor’s as themselves, then one is in total compliance with His two great commandments.

       It is also interesting to note that if His disciple is not in alignment with His commandments than His love will have a difficult time taking root in his/her life.  Thus, faith and hope will wane because of the absence of love for Christ and love for others. 

      Result…..The take-away from the above is that growing and maturing in intimacy with Christ depends on one’s obedience to the commands of the Father and to the instructions of the Son (Christ). One can think they possess faith and love but not to obey the commands of Christ means faith and love are just words on paper with no substance in the life of the believer.

“This is My commandment,

 that you

love one another,

 just as I have loved you. 

John 15:12 (NASB95)

      The last verse….. “Love one another” is perhaps the supreme command of Christ besides loving the Father and the Son. We are to love others because Christ first loved us. Our degree of loving others will be our measured love for Christ.  Much love for Christ should be translated to much love for others.  Little love for Christ means little love for others.

Finally, we need to observe the following of how Jesus responded to a Pharisee lawyer who came to Jesus and “…..asked Him a question to test Him.”

 Teacher, which kind of commandment is great and important

 (the principal kind) in the Law?

[Some commandments are light—which are heavy?]

 And He replied to him,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

And

 with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).

This is the great

(most important, principal) and first commandment

 And a second is like it:

 You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

These two commandments sum up

and

upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 22:36–40 (AMP)

Result…..One could sum up all the commandments in the two great commandments Jesus told the Pharisee – basically LOVE GOD AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.

 (5)

Servant

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,

 you and your colleagues who [usually]

sit before you—

for they are men who are a sign or omen

 [types of what is to come]—

for behold, I will bring forth

 My servant the Branch.

Zechariah 3:8 (AMP)

But stripped Himself

[of all privileges and rightful dignity],

so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave),

in that He became like men and was born a human being.

Philippians 2:7 (AMP)

And the

 servant of the Lord

must

not be quarrelsome

 (fighting and contending).

 Instead, he must

 be kindly to everyone

 and 

mild-tempered

 [preserving the bond of peace];

he must be a skilled

 and

 suitable teacher,

 patient

and 

forbearing

and 

willing to suffer wrong.

Throughout the Old and New Testament, God called those he chose tobe in leadership – servants.  This is the only title God used from Abraham to Apostle Paul and beyond.  They were all servants of the Lord.  God even called Jesus a servant – “I will bring forth My servant the Branch (Christ).”

          Even Apostle Paul penned that Jesus “….. stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave),”  If one is to have an intimacy with Christ and walk closely with Him, then one has to perceive themselves as only a servant without some earthly title. If Jesus saw Himself as just a servant of the Father in heaven, then His called ones should also be called servants.

Apostle Paul says well that a servant of the Father and Jesus must not be quarrelsome, kind to all, possess a mild temperament, skilled perhaps in vocational as well as spiritual things, a good teacher, patient, forbearing, and willing to suffer wrong.

God’s servant is called to “ GO..D” and bear fruit, much fruit for the Kingdom of God (John 15:8, 16).  These kinds of character traits win favor with Christ and draws one closer to the Master in carrying out His Will and Ways.

(6)

Worship!

Therefore I urge you,

brethren,

 by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,

acceptable to God, which is your

spiritual service of worship.

Romans 12:1 (NASB95)

O come,

let us worship and bow down,

let us kneel before the Lord our Maker

 [in reverent praise and supplication].

Psalm 66:4 (AMP)

This is the seventh and last way of developing a closer relationship with the Father and the Son – heart worship.  Worship of the Lord should be worship from the heart – a heart longing to daily connect with the Father and Son – a heart bringing thanksgiving, praise, and adoration to the Father and Son, and a heart of humility and obedience to the Father and the Son.

True worship of the Lord requires or involves a continuing presentation of the whole person (body, soul, and spirit) to the Lord – a consecration, a holy sacrifice, and a dedication to the Lord because of His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love.  Apostle Paul says that this is one’s “spiritual service of worship” – a “worship acceptable [pleasing] to God.”

The Psalmist (David) connects worship to bowing down and kneeling before the Lord.  It is the utmost position of humility and seeking the heart of the Lord which draws His attention and can foster His answers to prayers and supplications.

Summary

The critical factors of going deeper developing a relationship with Christ….

(1)  Possessing a hunger and thirst for Christ and His Kingdom.

(2)  Possessing a seeker mentality for Christ and His Kingdom.

(3)  Possessing a faith centered in Christ and His Cross.

(4)  Possessing a love for (agape) for Christ and others.

(5)  Possessing a servant spirit.

(6)  Possessing a praise and worship position at all times.

With the help of the Holy Spirit these six critical factors can being one closer to the Father and His Christ.

 After I finished the above, the Lore spoke this word to me and those who read the prophecy below.

Hunger After Me!”

Retreat or go forward. 

Do you want to go forward?

  Then you need to hunger after me.

How hungry are you?

  Are you hungry enough to seek me earnestly? 

Are you hungry enough to believe for the impossible?

Are you hunger enough to lay down your priorities and accept my priorities?

Are you hungry enough to believe for restoration of individual lives? Your community?  Your neighbor? Your city? Are you hunger enough to move in the Spirit’s power, not your power, but I say the Spirit’s power?

It will not be by the arm of your flesh

that will bring refreshing

and restoration,

but my Holy Spirit moving in you -

My life in you -

My power working through you to bring

LIFE to those who are backsliding,

and

to those who are perishing. 

Oh, if you could only see what I see. 

Many cannot see because they do not hunger after me.

Yes, I call you to raise up a new and mighty work.

 You need to enter a season of hunger and thirst after me.

 For I say that your hunger for me

will usher in a fresh revelation to do My work. 

You can only lay and build on a foundation

through My revelation to you. 

Out of hunger comes revelation

and

out of revelation comes the call to do spiritual work

and

out of spiritual work comes spiritual fruit.

I have spiritual work for you to do

and

it is to be done in the

anointing of the Holy Spirit. 

Will you not hunger and hunger for Me

so I can draw you along side of Me

so I can lead you in My work?

 So I can anoint you with fire

and put My faith in you.

Again, My work will be spiritual work

which will yield spiritual fruit. 

I have much work to be done

and

I need hungry people to take My Kingdom

to alley ways, streets, avenues, sidewalks, neighbors,

and

places where darkness rules. 

Are you hunger enough to be filled

with my Light and Truth

so both you and I can dispel the places of darkness?

Only when you are spiritually hungry,

yes, I say spiritually hungry for me,

can I say to you “GO.” 

If you hunger for me, I will fill you.

  If you are not hungry for me,

I cannot fill you and if I cannot fill you,

I cannot send you. 

If I cannot send you,

then I will find those who are

hungry and thirsty for Me

and

I will send them to do My work.

Again, I say to you, to do My work,

not your work,

requires spiritual hunger to know me intimately

so I can fill you so I can say to you

go in the power of My Spirit. 

Where I send you you will see spiritual fruit come forth.

Too many are doing work for me

that I never called them to do. 

They do it to please themselves - they do it out of self

and

not out of hunger to know me

and

to be continually filled with my Holy Spirit

to go in the power of the Spirit.

Many wonder why they do not see

signs and wonders in their midst.

I tell you that even if the stones would seek and hunger after me,

I would come and confirm My word with Wonders.

Hunger, Hunger, and Hunger.  This is My call to you.

The flow ended here.

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adelaide Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold3@gmail.com

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