The Weekly Focus

Throughout this month we will be focused on the work of the Holy Spirit in His people. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit manifests as “tongues of fire” over each of the believers. This image of God and the Holy Spirit specifically as fire repeats itself through scripture, so each week we are going to be talking about a different fire of the Holy Spirit.  For our first week we are focusing on the Holy Spirit as a Consuming Fire.

Consuming Fire: Read Hebrews 12:14-29

Hebrews 12:29 says “for our God is a devouring fire”; some translations translate this as “consuming fire”. Part of the idea that God as a consuming fire speaks to His holiness and how He consumes, or burns up, the things in us that are unholy. We will talk more about this next week when we focus on God as a refining fire.

The other side of the consuming fire of God is that He consumes us: our hearts, our loves, our affections. We are invited to live with an all consuming love for God. In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked “What is the highest/greatest commandment?”- in other words, what is the most important thing to do if you want to be truly holy? Jesus answered “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength”. Love God all the way, with all the parts that make up you. Be consumed with love for God.

Let’s be praying this week that God would make us- you individually and all of us at Deep Water- people who are consumed by love for God. After all- Jesus said if we start there, the rest of the things God has asked us to do will flow naturally out of our love for Him.