This article is an excerpt from the book The Fire of God. It is an extraordinary exploration of the different aspects of the fire of God in the Word of God. This article focuses on the dimension of the fire of the Word.
The fire that illuminates
Yes, like fire, the Word of God illuminates! It brings illumination, direction, revelation, and clarity. This Word reveals the splendor and glory of God and draws us into His presence. It ignites hearts and transforms lukewarm people into flames of fire. The history of Christianity is full of examples of men and women set ablaze by their contact with the Word of God. Moses, upon hearing God's voice, was set ablaze. He became a devotee of God's glory, always wanting more revelation.
The Word is a fire, because it purifies hearts and lives.
So God declared concerning these false prophets that, if they had stood in His counsel and faithfully reported His words, they could have turned the people away from their iniquity.
Jeremiah 23:22
If they had attended my council, they could have conveyed my words to my people, making them renounce their evil conduct, the wickedness of their actions.
The Word of God is enough to lead people to renounce their evil ways. Like fire, it destroys sin, it purifies the heart, it ignites and provokes passion for God, it effectively accomplishes its purpose. As the prophet Isaiah so aptly puts it, it does not return to God void, without having accomplished what it was sent to do (Isaiah 55:11).
These prophets did not believe this, they announced their own words, added chaff to the wheat, they all said the same thing, they copied each other, they lied in their pride, they had not heard God.
If the fire of the Word is in action among us, our Hearts will be deeply touched by the Word that is proclaimed and lives transformed. Let us desire this fire. Let us have confidence in the Word of God to touch hearts and turn them away from sin. In this generation so perverse, the Word of God is a fire that will destroy all opposition to its spread and all hardness in the heart.
The Devouring Fire
The Word of God is a fire that will destroy the hesitations in our lives. It came to Moses from the midst of the fire and turned his life upside down. Through this Word, the encounter with God was decisive. God explained to him at length the meaning of his mission and the means at his disposal. At Sinai, from the midst of the fire, God spoke to him again and established him in honor before the people so that they would trust him. Throughout his life, the Word of God was crucial for Moses.
Another who had some reservations about accepting his mission was Jeremiah, mentioned above. However, he accepted God's call and walked in integrity, during a particularly difficult period in his people's history. Moreover, the message he was entrusted with was designed to please neither the authorities nor the people. Thus, tired of enduring mockery, ridicule, ridicule, and incomprehension, he considered saying nothing more, keeping the Word within himself without releasing it. But this was not the case, and through him we discover another characteristic of the Word of God: it is a consuming fire that cannot be contained.
Jeremiah 20:9
“If I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak in his name,’ then there is a burning fire in my heart, which is kept in my bones. I struggle to contain it, but I cannot.”
Do we still need to know if, despite all our preaching and Bible studies, we have not lost the fire of the Word? If we can so easily contain ourselves when the Word of life was given to us for our generation, do we have the fire? When the evils of our society no longer bother us, when the immorality of our society is easily passed over in silence, if not accepted, by the Church, have we not lost the fire?
In the face of widespread disbelief, we live, grow old, and say nothing. The work of evangelization suffers when Christians say nothing and feel no eagerness.
Our awareness of good and evil is far removed, we are comfortable with iniquity, and society no longer hears our voice. Worse still, like the people of Jeremiah's time, we persecute those who speak the truth, using the excuse that "God is love."
God declares judgment on false prophets who declare peace over people who despise God. This has become common in the Church today. We hasten to assure the enemies of the gospel that all is well, that our God has nothing against them or their behavior. May God give us the fire of the Word!
Learn more about The Fire of God.
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