Come Fire Of God!

I am crying out for the fire of God to fall on His Church - and in our hearts. Here in Colombia there is such a hunger - I am looking for His glory and His fire. Please continue to pray for the supernatural, manifest presence of God - we are waiting...

Pray for the fire of God in our hearts and lives

Fire, like all heat, rises...but on these occasions, the Lord caused a descending fire to fall on His people - it was always on a prepared sacrifice - during times of great consecration:

• Gen. 15:17 - when the Lord sealed His covenant with Abraham

• Ex. 13:21 - when the Lord hovered over His people as a fire when they walked through the wilderness

• Ex. 19:18 - when the Lord drew near to Moses in a fire. He was calling Israel to be a people of His presence. He wanted to meet with them face to face, but only Moses, and later Joshua, drew near to the Lord

• Lev. 9:23-24 When the Lord sent a supernatural fire into the tabernacle that Moses had built - He started the fire on the altar and just like now, He requires that we keep the fire going

• 1Ki. 18:38 Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and the Lord responded by sending a supernatural fire on Elijah's sacrifice.

• 1Chron. 21:26 After David sinned, he made an altar of sacrifice and worshiped the Lord. God sent His fire upon David's sacrifice and his sins were forgiven

• 2Chron. 7:1 Solomon consecrated the temple and offered great sacrifices to the Lord. God responded and sent a fire from heaven and His glory filled the entire temple

• Acts 2:3 The disciples waited before the Lord and the Holy Spirit was poured out on them as tongues of fire

Pastor Andrew McMillan from Medellin pointed out to me that the 120 in the upper room heard the sound of God's wind before they saw the fire (Acts 2:2). This sound caused the people to gather (Acts 2:6), and then they saw and heard marvelous things. I am thinking about this sound - the sound of wind and fire that impacts everyone around us!

Join me in prayer for God's presence to come upon us in these days as a fire of passion and cleansing of our hearts.

A photo from the meetings

a couple of nights ago in Cali, Colombia

Prayer To Start The Day

I just want to share with you how I start my day – as I open my eyes and have my first conscious thoughts, I just yield all of myself to the Lord. I surrender every part of myself to Him - slowly and deliberately. I am submitting this so that you can consider giving yourself to the Lord in a similar way:

• Father I give You my mind – I want to think Your thoughts and have the mind of Christ today

Phil. 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus

• Father I give You my ears – I want to hear Your voice and obey You in every detail. I will follow You today

John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

• Father I give You my eyes – I want to see Your glory and be changed into your image throughout every moment

John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

• Father I give You my tongue – I want to taste and see that You are good so that I can speak and sing of Your wonders at every opportunity

Ps. 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

• Father I give You my heart – I want to know You more and more and love Your presence above all things

Ps. 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

• Father I give You my hands – I want to touch You by faith and minister Your grace and power to this broken world

Matt. 14:36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

• Father I give You my feet – I want to walk in Your righteous paths and follow wherever You lead

Ps. 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Lord - make me innocent of evil; deaf, blind, and mute to the world; broken and soft-hearted like David, kind and compassionate to others, and swift to run after You.

I use this prayer to prepare for meditation times. My silly brain is like a 2 year-old and wanders off when I am trying to focus on the Lord. Praying through these things can slow everything down and bring focus. Some people call this "centering" - a similar concept to "focusing."

The Anointing 10

It is important to know that the Lord desires to anoint all of His servants. As we have learned, the anointing is Christ Himself – it is all of Him covering all of us as we yield all of ourselves to all of His grace. The greatest way to obtain this anointing is to abide in Him, walk alongside Him, overcome through Him, change to be like Him, surrender to Him, and live for Him. Our everyday choices to walk in holiness and victory produces a nation-changing anointing on our lives.

The 3 anointings that we must apply to our lives are:

The anointing of water, which is His Word living in us

The anointing of oil, which is His character smeared on us

The anointing of blood, which is His death and life abiding in us

John uses the word “anointing’ 3 times in 1John 2:20, 27 as he admonishes us to abide in Him as He teaches us all things.

Here are the things we need to do in order to live in the anointing. This is an anointing that no one can give you – we walk in this anointing as a result of:

• Consecration – each of us as believers are set apart to minister as consecrated, passionate God-lovers. It is out of relationship and imitation of His character that we have layers of anointing in our lives. Set your life apart from all other things and run after God with all your heart.

• Word – You cannot have an anointing outside of your relationship with the Lord in His Word. The Word washes and instructs, it brings you face to face with the Lord and provides you with a powerful anointing.

• Receive – the anointing has been freely offered – we need to receive what He has made available to us. Put off all your old ways of thinking and acting – put on Christ and His nature. “Wear” His anointing as a beautiful cloak.

Psalm 133 (Message)

1 How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
2 It's like costly anointing oil flowing down the head and beard, flowing down Aaron's beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
3. It;s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes. that's where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.

The Anointing 1: HERE

The Anointing 3

Lev. 10:7 – the priests were not allowed to go out of the presence of the Lord with the oil on them. However, we do minister with His anointing and presence wherever we go. God’s presence and anointing go together – we cannot have His anointing without His presence

The anointing was placed on the priests:

—Ex. 28:41; 40:15; Lev. 7:36; 8:23-24; Num. 3:3

And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to Me as priests. Ex. 30:30

All ministers in the Church need to have an anointing on their lives. This is the authorization and sanction of the Lord for our ministry. It involves the call of God to particular ministry; the spiritual authority to minister in His name; and the spiritual power to follow our calling.  Most of all, the anointing is the expression of the presence of the Lord in all we do.

There are three anointings that the Old Testament priests applied to their lives by placing these three things on their:

• right ear - means we will always listen to God's voice 

• right thumb - means we will serve God with power and authority in all we put our hands to 

• right toe - means we walk in service wherever we go:

In each of these, we see our lives called to obedience and separation. Yielded lives are the foundation for a powerful anointing.

—The anointing of water

—The anointing of oil

—The anointing of blood

The anointing of Water—Ex. 29:4; 40:12–13

The water anointing came first to prepare for the other two. The oil anointing was not often applied without some sort of washing first. For the believer, the first anointing is the washing of the water of the Word.

The Word of God cleanses us and prepares us for the presence of the Lord.

When we read the Word of God, we are anointing ourselves for all forms of ministry.

Eph. 5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her (the Church) with the washing of water by the word

His Word abides in us – 1Jn. 2:14

His Word heals and delivers us – Ps. 107:20

His Word strengthens us – Ps. 119:28

His Word saves us – Ps. 119:41

His Word revives us – Ps. 119:107

His Word washes us – Eph. 5:26

His Word sanctifies us – 1Tim. 4:5

His Word prospers us – Pr. 16:20

His Word feeds us – 1Pet. 2:2

His Word directs us – Ps. 119:133

His Word comforts us – Ps. 119:50

Tomorrow I will continue with the anointing of oil and then follow with the anointing of blood.

Anointing 1: HERE
Anointing 4: HERE