Matthew 6:22-23 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
You will recall that when our Lord Jesus appeared to the apostle John on the island of Patmos, that John described Jesus eyes as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14). So why would Jesus eyes be like a flame of fire? Jesus explained why, when He taught us in the above quoted passage of scripture that we can see the reflection of the spirit through the eyes. In this passage our Lord refers to the “light” that is in us. The light that He is referring to is the light of our spirit. That same word can also be translated “fire”. And so it is not unscriptural to refer to the fire of our spirit. In other words Jesus eyes of fire reflected the fire of His Spirit.
Luke 3:16 “John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture John the Baptist taught us that whereas he baptized with water, that our Lord Jesus would baptize His saints with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And you will recall the account of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time on the day of Pentecost. On that occasion, not only were they filled with the Holy Spirit, but also tongues of fire appeared to them and sat on each one of them (Acts 2:3). In other words they were baptised with fire. And so we see that just as the early disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire on the day of Pentecost, so it is that the saints today are also baptised both with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Proverbs 20:27 “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.”
So should we expect the fire of God to burn within our spirits today? The answer to that question is most definitely yes. God has not changed one bit since the church age began, and that which our brothers in Christ experienced in the early church, is exactly what our Lord Jesus wants us to experience today. Many believers on the earth today, have experienced their spirit burn within them as they listened to certain ministers preach and teach the gospel. Over the years in my walk as a believer, I too have had the same experience. It always occurred when the one who was preaching the word, was preaching accurately and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When there was no or very little anointing, then I would not experience any burning sensation in my spirit. And then in March 2014 the Lord Jesus set my spirit on fire. My spirit began to burn constantly. So much so, that it became alarming. I did not understand what was happening. There is not too much teaching in the church regarding this phenomenon. Prior to this, for a period of about six months, I had been growing closer to the Lord and spending more and more time with Him in prayer and the study of His word. Since March 2014 that fire has never gone out. I constantly have a burning sensation in my spirit. Most of the time however, it is like a warm glow in my spirit. None of this happens because I have a special anointing upon me that others do not. It happens because I never stop meditating on God’s word. I think about God’s word continually. It is the only thing that interests me. It does get stronger, particularly when I am spending time alone in His word and meditating on His word. We saw earlier that our Lord Jesus’ Spirit would burn hot within Him when He meditated on God’s word. The reason that I bring this topic up in this teaching, is because I have also found that the burning in my spirit gets stronger when I am doing things that are in line with His perfect will for my life. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord reveals to us that He enlightens us or leads us through our spirits. The word translated “lamp” in this scripture can also be translated “burner”. And so one of the ways that our Lord Jesus guides us, is to cause our spirits to burn stronger or weaker, depending on whether we are walking in His perfect will for our lives or not.
Michael E.B. Maher
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