“Living and Remaining in the Fire”
1 John 1
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Have you heard this message? Have you heard this message and maybe forgotten it or lost it on the way? Then you no longer have the testimony that you live in the light as He is in the light. Then maybe I testify about others that live in the light and I don’t have a testimony of my own.
“What I heard from Him and declare unto you”. Do I declare this message, even with my life? “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”. Is there no darkness at all in my life?
If I am busy perfecting my life I will not be busy with the sins in the lives of others. I will measure myself with God’s standards and not with that of my friends. I will not be busy discussing and criticising the lives of others. I will ask God to search me and show me if there is any darkness in me. The story was told of Corry ten Boom and her sister who visited a country in Africa where the Lord was working. As they arrived they were greeted with the words. “Do you live in the light as God lives in the light?” Immediately Corry ten Boom was convicted of a slight difference that she had with her sister and made right.
Walking in the light is not coming to church on Sunday neither is it being active in the church. Walking in the light means purifying myself from all darkness. Then we have fellowship without any hypocrisy or wearing a mask. Otherwise we only meet to have a social gathering. If I only come to make my presence known in the church for whatever reason I am not walking in the light. Walking in the light as He is in the light is true fellowship and His blood purifies us from all sin. Everybody want that but the recipe is to have no dark corners in my life. There His blood purifies.
Today’s fire service is where people have looked into every corner of their lives and have found things and brought them to the light.
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Mathew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world.
It is a pity if the church-goers are enlightened by the world. First they find something of the world interesting and eventually they are draw into it. Friendship of the world is enmity with God. Is there anything of the world in you?
5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Is it your heart’s desire for the name of God to be glorified? Remember the time when you asked Jesus to come into your heart and purify you?
Solomon saw his unworthiness, then he cried for God. Because he did not ask for riches God added even that to him.
I Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
10:7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
10:9 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.
10:24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
11:2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
How is such a thing possible? He could have justified himself and said that he was king and free to choose as many wives as he wished to have.
“For surely they will turn away your heart after their gods”
Is there anything in the world that you suddenly are inclined to love? It does not belong in the house of the Lord or in my heart. I say to myself that I will never do such a thing but it starts with a small thing that remains in my heart. Suddenly I am no longer purifying myself. I am trying to grab here and there. You think all is in order. Then my love toward the brethren changes, I see them as too extreme. My walking in the light is lost. No concern about the darkness in my life. My heart tells me all is ok but I am not worried about the aspect of His blood purifying me.
If I am purified my heart is full of thankfulness.
Does my shepherd know where I stand? Is my heart on fire? Do I offer my services to the Lord’s work out of thankfulness?
Bruno added:
Acts 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Uncle Waldemar added:
Is there anything in our homes that does not bring glory to God but rather to the Devil?
