You Don't Want No Smoke
Yall, when I tell yall it feels like a fire has been set under me. I don't really know why now. Maybe it's because training is about to start in like 2 weeks (whew chile that's soon). We start at the top of the year. I'm not quite sure what it is. All I know is I've only felt like this 2 other times.
1. About 7 years ago, Prophet Cleveland came to my church and called me out and said that I have the David anointing. That night I went home, and it literally felt like I swallowed a cigarette. I was up all night fighting because my body was just going through it.
2. The other time was when God told me I had 6 months to move. As I've told yall, it was prophesied to me that God was going to deal with me. About 9-10 hours later, it felt like fire shot up my body, and He began to speak to me. When I got home, my auntie told me the Holy Ghost got a hold of me.
That's when it hit me---"God I don't want no smoke. I want the fire." So He started taking me to scriptures about fire. Even now as I'm writing this, He's still piecing everything together. So this is going to be a little unorthodox.
The entire purpose of our existence is to be a sacrifice unto God.
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice, but obedience may cause you to sacrifice. It's crazy that this is what God is saying to me right now because my obedience starting February 17th caused me to sacrifice everything. I had gotten comfortable living in Augusta. I loved loved loved my church. I was being considered for what would have been an ideal career for me utilizing both of my degrees. I had my own space that I had to give up. God knows how much I value my space. All of those things had to go because God had to deal with me.
I had to sacrifice. To be honest, it wasn't even about the sacrifice. It was about being obedient when He told you to sacrifice. You have to be willing. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son, it was about the fact that he was willing to sacrifice.
So when God has called you to do something you will have to sacrifice. We have to worship God with our lives-- be a living sacrifice.
Sacrifice by definition means the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage. So what does that mean? Sometimes you have to kill off things from your life so that you can be used by God. That's why baptism is so important. When you get baptized, you go down into the watery grave, and you are a new thing. The old you has passed away. It was a sacrifice. When you get baptized, you really are saying, "God, for you I live and for you I die."
When you came up, if you've ever been baptized, didn't you feel like you were on fire for God? You submerge yourself in Him and He consumed you. I remember when I got saved for real the 1st time, all I wanted was His word. I threw myself in head first. His word started to fill me, and I began to understand why Jeremiah said it was like fire shut up in his bones.
You become like that burning bush!
On fire, but not damaged. That's why you have been through hell and back and you're still standing. You don't smell like smoke and you don't look like what you been through. The bush was not consumed by the fire because God still had purpose for the bush. That's why you can be under the fire and not be taken out--God still have purpose!
Because you got God down on the inside of you, you survived stuff that would've killed somebody else. You survived the fire because you were already on fire. Nothing happens when you try to set something on fire that's already on fire. Trust me---I've played with enough lighters to know. Nothing happens because the fire that's already there is too great. Greater is He that is within thee! God's fire is greater!
That's why we've victorious people. God's word is down on the inside. You called on
1. About 7 years ago, Prophet Cleveland came to my church and called me out and said that I have the David anointing. That night I went home, and it literally felt like I swallowed a cigarette. I was up all night fighting because my body was just going through it.
2. The other time was when God told me I had 6 months to move. As I've told yall, it was prophesied to me that God was going to deal with me. About 9-10 hours later, it felt like fire shot up my body, and He began to speak to me. When I got home, my auntie told me the Holy Ghost got a hold of me.
That's when it hit me---"God I don't want no smoke. I want the fire." So He started taking me to scriptures about fire. Even now as I'm writing this, He's still piecing everything together. So this is going to be a little unorthodox.
The entire purpose of our existence is to be a sacrifice unto God.
Hebrews 13:16 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice, but obedience may cause you to sacrifice. It's crazy that this is what God is saying to me right now because my obedience starting February 17th caused me to sacrifice everything. I had gotten comfortable living in Augusta. I loved loved loved my church. I was being considered for what would have been an ideal career for me utilizing both of my degrees. I had my own space that I had to give up. God knows how much I value my space. All of those things had to go because God had to deal with me.
I had to sacrifice. To be honest, it wasn't even about the sacrifice. It was about being obedient when He told you to sacrifice. You have to be willing. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son, it was about the fact that he was willing to sacrifice.
Genesis 22:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
So when God has called you to do something you will have to sacrifice. We have to worship God with our lives-- be a living sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 New Living Translation (NLT)
A Living Sacrifice to God
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b]
Sacrifice by definition means the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage. So what does that mean? Sometimes you have to kill off things from your life so that you can be used by God. That's why baptism is so important. When you get baptized, you go down into the watery grave, and you are a new thing. The old you has passed away. It was a sacrifice. When you get baptized, you really are saying, "God, for you I live and for you I die."
When you came up, if you've ever been baptized, didn't you feel like you were on fire for God? You submerge yourself in Him and He consumed you. I remember when I got saved for real the 1st time, all I wanted was His word. I threw myself in head first. His word started to fill me, and I began to understand why Jeremiah said it was like fire shut up in his bones.
Jeremiah 20:9 New Living Translation (NLT)
9 But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord
or speak in his name,
his word burns in my heart like a fire.
It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
I can’t do it!
or speak in his name,
his word burns in my heart like a fire.
It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
I can’t do it!
You become like that burning bush!
Exodus 3:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.
On fire, but not damaged. That's why you have been through hell and back and you're still standing. You don't smell like smoke and you don't look like what you been through. The bush was not consumed by the fire because God still had purpose for the bush. That's why you can be under the fire and not be taken out--God still have purpose!
Daniel 3:22-27 New Living Translation (NLT)
22 And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in. 23 So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames.
24 But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did,” they replied.
25 “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god[a]!”
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27 Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!
Because you got God down on the inside of you, you survived stuff that would've killed somebody else. You survived the fire because you were already on fire. Nothing happens when you try to set something on fire that's already on fire. Trust me---I've played with enough lighters to know. Nothing happens because the fire that's already there is too great. Greater is He that is within thee! God's fire is greater!
Zechariah 13:9 New Living Translation (NLT)
9 I will bring that group through the fire
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
That's why we've victorious people. God's word is down on the inside. You called on
Comments
Post a Comment