A CONSUMING FIRE 2

"A FIRE GOES BEFORE HIM, And BURNS UP HIS ENEMIES ROUND ABOUT."
Psalm 97:3 (NKJV)

"FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE."
Hebrews 12:29 (NKJV)

• God would not be a consuming fire on your behalf when you live contrary to His Word, the principles spelt out in the Bible.

• People usually pray and shout that the Holy Spirit fire should consume those who are their enemies, but such prayers are not always answered. Because, the vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:17-21).
• If you are vengeful, you pray because you wanted to retaliate or fight back the person who offended you or did you wrong, instead of telling It to God and allow Him to decide on what to do to the person; such prayers might not be answered. And God would not destroy the person by fire either!

• The principle of the Word of God is, that you should pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:43,44). Do not avenge yourself (Romans 12:19).

• If you obeyed the Word, and live by it, God would move on your behalf to defend and fight for you, do to those who are against you and did you wrong, than what you could do to them by yourself.
• Being good to your enemies meant you are heaping coals of fire on their heads (Proverbs 25:21,22; Romans 12:20). The good you are doing to those who stand as enemies is a way of giving God a room or a chance to operate or defend or fight for you.
  THE good things that God says you should do to your enemies are weapons or arrows of Battle!
• The reason why He said you should not fight by yourself is that you might give Him a place or chance in your life. This principle might be difficult to practice, because the flesh would always want to fight back, get back at whoever offended you, when you are mistreated.
• And the system of the world wanted to believe that whoever lives Thus is a fool, that such a person is stupid. But the Bible says you should allow yourself to be cheated. Let others cheat and maltreat you (1 Corinthians 6:7).
• God's thoughts and ways are not like that of Man or humans:
  8 "FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS, NOR ARE YOUR WAYS MY WAYS," SAYS THE LORD. 9 "FOR AS THE HEAVENS ARE HIGHER THAN THE EARTH, SO ARE MY WAYS HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS, AND MY THOUGHTS THAN YOUR THOUGHTS (Isaiah 55:8,9).
• God's pattern is, let Me handle it for you. God does not want those who are His to live independently of Him.
• God works by principles. Thus, as a believer in Christ Jesus, you have to live by the biblical principles, in order to excel in life and see God fighting on your behalf.

• The foes.

• The devil and his cohorts are the foes as said earlier. Albeit, the devil and his demons being a spirit being, disembodied spirits, could not operate in the world without a physical body.
• Thus, they need the cooperation of humans, to have the legality of operating in the world. The rulership of the world was given to Man, humans, THUS, no disembodied spirit can operate in the world without a human's permission: "THE HEAVEN, EVEN THE HEAVENS, ARE THE LORD'S; BUT THE EARTH HE HAS GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN" (Psalm 115:16 NKJV).
• Even If God wanted to operate, do anything, on earth; He would work through a human being. The salvation of mankind was done or performed through a human, the person of Jesus Christ, God's incarnated Son (Philippians 2:5-8). His substitutionary death and resurrection reconciled us to God (2 Corinthians 5:18,19).
• Jesus Christ had to come as a human for Him to qualify or be able to stand in humans' place, or die for mankind. An angel could not do that, It had to be Man, a human being. So, Jesus was a full human, and God: "WHO, ALTHOUGH HE EXISTED IN THE FORM AND UNCHANGING ESSENCE OF GOD [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], DID NOT REGARD EQUALITY WITH GOD A THING TO BE GRASPED OR ASSERTED [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]" (Philippians 2:6 Amps).

"THOUGH HE WAS GOD, HE DID NOT THINK OF EQUALITY WITH GOD AS SOMETHING TO CLING TO."
Philippians 2:6 (NLT)

• So, those who have been taken captives to do the devil's Will (2 Timothy 2:26), those who yielded themselves to be instruments in his hand (Romans 6:13), are being used to oppose the believers and fight the Kingdom of God on the earth (Revelation 12:17).
• Such people are called the agents of the devil. They have demons attached to them, to work with them, to carry out the plans and Wills of the devil—their master or father (John 8:44; Acts 13:8-10).
• They are empowered by the devil to contend or fight or harm those who are of God.
• Your stand in God as a believer, and the walking in the light of God's Word and consistent prayers, give you the power to prevail over them.

• God and you—His child.

• If God through His written Word says you should not do a thing, keep yourself from sin; It is for your own good.
• Sin is the devil's property, and If sin is found in your life, there will be a place, an access, an opportunity; for the devil to operate in your life as a believer.
• If you claimed to be a believer in Christ and you are walking or living in sin, you give a license to the devil to access your life.

• When you live right, according to God's Word, you are not helping God; you are only giving God a place to help you and work in your life.

• God and His angels cannot work in an atmosphere of sin. Sin is an insulator, so to speak, that would hinder the flow of the power of God in or through your life.
• For you to carry God's presence that would cause the fire to go before you and deal with the enemies (Psalm 97:3), you must be Holy (Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:15,16).
  a. If you want God's presence and power in your life, live holy (Hebrews 12:14).
  b. If you want God's pillar of cloud and that of fire, which symbolizes His presence, to be with you, live holy (Exodus 13:21,22; 14:20,24).
• Holiness is not negotiable if you actually want to see God; fights and defends your cause: "WORK AT LIVING IN PEACE WITH EVERYONE, AND WORK AT LIVING A HOLY LIFE, FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT HOLY WILL NOT SEE THE LORD" (Hebrews 12:14 NLT).
  Thus, keep yourself from sin!

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

• Whatever is contrary to your health is rebuked and uprooted in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
• Hold of sicknesses is completely broken in your life in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
  Peace!

STEPS TO SALVATION
• Take notice of this:
IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).
a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).
b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, Thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).
c. As you took the steps A and B your name is written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).

• If you took the steps As highlighted above, congratulations, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!

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