The enemy of conflagration is passivity and indifference. Many Christians are not actively involved in a life of sin, but are immersed in a life of routine. They live nicely while waiting for the Lord's return and are completely passive about the spiritually and morally degraded state of society. Their relationship with God is 'right' in their eyes, but without deep love and communion. The fate of the lukewarm is to be vomited out of His mouth.
Sometimes I feel like confession has replaced thirst. We confess who we are in Christ, we know a plethora of Bible verses that we recite easily, but our hearts are not touched. Yet, it is those who are thirsty who will be able to drink, and those who are hungry who will be satisfied. Sometimes we have to cry with desire, tremble because we want God and God alone, and we are dissatisfied with how well we know God and His power at work within us.
Many Christians are not actively involved in a life of sin, but are stuck in a life of routine. Share on XHunger and Thirst for God
We must hunger and thirst for God, yearn for the fire of His presence. And if we don't have the desire, we can ask God, and He will give it to us. We cannot be content with being a Christian who avoids sin as much as possible; we must be on fire for God.
Backsliding is not having sinned, it is having lost hunger and thirst for God.
The example of DL Moody
Let's take the example of DL Moody and his baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. It all started with two women who thought he needed the baptism of the Spirit and fire and began to pray for him. According to R. Torrey, the seventh secret that explains why God used DL Moody so powerfully is that he was empowered from on high, that he had the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He states that in the early days of Moody's ministry, he worked primarily through the energy of the flesh. And then something happened. Torrey writes that, "There were two humble Free Methodist women who attended his meetings at the YMCA. One was 'Auntie Cook,' and the other was Mrs. Snow. (I don't think her name was Snow then.) These two women would go up to Moody at the end of his meetings and say, 'We're praying for you.'" Finally, Mr. Moody became somewhat annoyed and one evening he said to them, “Why are you praying for me? Why not pray for the unconverted?” They replied, “We are praying that you may receive power;”
- Moody didn't know what that meant, but he began to think about it, and he went to these women and said, 'If you could just explain to me what that means,' and they told him about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then he asked to be allowed to pray with them, not just for them to pray for him." They prayed repeatedly, and he became more and more hungry, until he was crying out in agony before God. Moody's son, the author of his biography, quotes Moody himself regarding this experience: "A great hunger came into my soul. I didn't know what it was. I began to cry out like I had never cried out before. I really felt that I didn't want to live anymore unless I could have that power for service."[1]»
Backsliding is not having sinned, it is having lost hunger and thirst for God. Share on X
An experience almost too sacred
R. A. Torrey confirms this by saying that Auntie Cook once told him of the 'intense earnestness' with which Mr. Moody prayed. And he continued his prayer alone. And one day, God answered. When he went to New York following the great Chicago fire to solicit funding, God visited him. This is what he said about it: 'I didn't have the heart to beg,' he said. 'I couldn't ask. I cried out all the time for God to fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day in New York City—oh, what a day!—I can't describe it. I seldom speak of it; it's almost too sacred an experience to recall. Paul had an experience that he didn't speak of for fourteen years. All I can say is that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to tell Him to stay His hand. I went back to preaching.' The messages were no different; I presented no new truths, yet hundreds were converted. I will never agree to return to where I was before this glorious experience, even if you gave me the whole world—it will be but fine dust on a scale.
He felt he didn't want to live anymore if he couldn't have that power. That's how it goes. He was hungry, that's the secret. He wasn't at first, but as he prayed, the hunger grew, and God was able to answer his intense desire. He will answer yours. His heart yearned, yearned, and cried out, until one day, the answer came. The power of God came upon him on the street with such force that he retreated to a friend's room to pray for hours. From then on, everything changed. His preaching was transformed—the same truths, but different power. And his fire never went out. It set his homeland ablaze as well as the United Kingdom, and his legacy continues today.
[1] Moody, William R. The Life of Dwight L. Moody. Morgan and Scott, 1900.
This article is an excerpt from my new book The Fire of God: Understanding, Receiving, and Manifesting the Fire of God. Learn more Here
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