Baptist City Blog

Isaiah 44:16

One of the things that fire has symbolized is the power of God. Israel said in the verse above, “I have seen the fire.” The problem is they had seen the refiner’s fire, but the refiner’s fire was making idols. Instead of looking to see the fire of God, they looked for the fire of the false gods.

Instead of looking at the refiner’s fire of false gods, they could have looked to the fire that was sent down from Heaven to consume Elijah’s altar. They could have looked at the fire of the burning bush instead of the fire that led to false satisfaction. They could have looked to the fire of the burnt offering and see that Christ is the only way to have their sins paid for. They could have seen the fire of Leviticus 9:24 that consumed Aaron’s offering and the altar upon which it was offered. They could have looked to the fire that came out of the rock in Judges 6:21 at the time of Gideon’s call to lead Israel. We could go on about the fire Israel could have looked at, but they chose to look at a counterfeit fire that would do nothing for them but lead them into God’s judgment.

There are many Christians today who are looking at the wrong fire. They are looking at the fire that brings temporal satisfaction instead of looking for the fire that will bring eternal satisfaction. You can look to the feel-good preachers who give sermons that make you feel good, or you can look to the fire of God’s Word and find the right way to live. Worldly lifestyles are not right just because certain men of God have chosen the way of Balaam, followed the world and are living that way. You need to stop looking at the wrong fire and see the life that has been tested by the fire of God’s Word and live that life. Certainly, that life will be criticized by those who have looked at the wrong fire, but you must not let that keep you from doing what you know God’s Word commands.

Moreover, there are also those who have looked at the wrong fire to build their ministries and lives instead of looking at the fire of God’s power. Friend, you can always substitute God’s power with temporary results, but only the fire of God’s power will give you miraculous, lifelong results. Instead of going to the next conference to learn a new method of how to do something in the Christian life, you would be wiser to get alone with God and seek His power on your life. There is no substitute for the fire of God’s power. It is God’s power that saves the hardened heart. It is God’s power that builds a church in places where others have failed. It is God’s power that builds godly families in a defiled world. It is God’s power that brings the prodigal back home. It is God’s power that takes the person who seems to have no potential and do the miraculous through them. It is the fire of God’s power that can do something through you that you could never imagine.

Let me ask you, have you seen the fire? When is the last time you got alone with God and asked Him to empower and use you in a powerful way? This world is in need of people who see the right fire, and that fire is the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Let me encourage you to stop looking at the false fire and look to the fire that does the miraculous. That fire that I am talking about is God’s power on your life.