LET THE FIRE CONTINUALLY BURN

LET THE FIRE CONTINUALLY BURN

Leviticus 6:12 - 13, "And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out:  and the priest shall  burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.  v. 13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out."

Such a deep truth is found here for us to glean.  May we allow for God's Spirit to speak and reveal it to us.  Our service and devotion is not of ourselves, nor to ourselves.  As Christians, we are saved by the Lord for His good work in us and through us.  Our flesh and the world are opposed to this way of life in Christ.  'The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh:  and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.'  Let us seek the victory and its source of power in the fire of the Lord.

--The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out
The fire of the Lord, in Levit. 9, came from the Lord upon the sacrificial offering and consumed the offering.  That fire from the Lord, was continued on and burned the offerings day and night.  The priests were responsible for maintaining that fire.  A fire left unattended will burn itself out eventually.  The soul that has begun by the fire of the Lord, and left to themselves, will burn out.  It is a fire from the Lord that begins it, and we must rest in Him to maintain and continue in it. 

A false fire is to be guarded against.  Just as Jesus taught of 'wolves in sheeps clothing', so false fire may look like the fire, but is not accepted by the Lord.  A matter of fact to remember, is that when Aaron's son, offered strange fire on the altar, God's fire fell from heaven and consumed them - killed them, dead on the spot.  A trespass against the Lord is a high offence.  We regard sin as little to nothing; we forget that sin in God's sight is an abomination.  'The wages of sin is death' and we think we can sin and get by with it.  False religionists come along and fan the flames of deception, emotionalism and flesh.  These false fires enrages the wrath of God, that gives an accusation against His Holy Name and Spirit.  He will defend and protect the Holiness of His great Name.  False fire works against Him and His Divine will. 

The source of these false fires is to be considered. Two sources of false fires: 1. Satan, the devil comes in and manipulates truth to intentionally lead us away from Christ and His ways.  He takes half-truths and works off of that to lead astray.  He is the father of lies, and may begin with a half-truth but it leads to a whole lie.  This is the reason we are to know the Word.  'this is the way, now walk in it' is the voice of God leading us rightly.  Yea, though I walk through the paths of righteousness, not the paths of deception and ungodliness.  2. Flesh, mainly emotions of man, that are manipulated at times of created a deception that is sincerely perceived as God, but is simply emotionalism at its height.  And out of this can come all kinds of hellish practices and sin.  The flesh is weak, easily deceived.  I remember William Gurnall's statement, "If Adam fell at his perfect state into sin; how can we expect to prevail in our weakned state against sin."  We are to guard against emotions, and thoughts, and adrenaline, and things that cause our ways to be uncertain and unclear. 

It is reported by some that this fire begun by God in Leviticus 9, continued till the children of Israel were carried away into captivity by the Babylonians.  And so it is that for almost 900 years, the fire was continued, and maintained.  Despite the waywardness of leaders, of the sins of the people, of attacks, of failures on their part the fire continued.  Ah, is this not the faithfulness of God!  Is He not long-suffering, patient, enduring, eternal in all His ways?  Yes, we know Him to be.  Yet if a people continue in sin, the fire grows less and less and eventually, is exstinguished.  This only happens when we forget the upkeep of the fire and maintain its source of continuousness. 

The desire and success in the fire continuing to burn is life long pursuit.  It is not a one time event, it is a continual process of engaging the Lord for His help, knowledge and growth.  To retract from the Lord will lead to extinquishing the fire.  'But I have somewhat against you, for you have left your first love.'  It is the intentional leaving of God by His children that causes the fire to burn low and out .