“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
ROMANS 8:31-32, 35, 37-39
The Christian is not a weakling–a fragile species subject to the harshness of the elements and the brutalities of others. Like Esther, the most well-bred, royal and dainty of us is not to be trifled with (Esther 7:3- 10). The power of the Holy Spirit makes us as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). We roar as of the Lion of the tribe Judah, and why not? We are sons and daughters of God!
WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME UPON THE BELIEVERS, IT GAVE them more than the power to work miracles, signs and wonders. It also toughened them up for the challenges of the times and the persecutions they would face. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the apostles discovered a new resilience, a new strength within them and a power that operated in their weakness, sending them out into a brutalized, pagan world to demolish its idol establishment and change history. That is a true mark of “the Spirit-filled life.”
The Spirit-filled life is not an experience to be cultivated in special conditions, like indoor lilies. Christians are not flowers. The Holy Spirit makes believers tough specimens for all conditions. They carry perpetual springtime in their soul and are “winterized.”
YOU ARE NOT LIKE A PLANT CULTIVATED IN A GREEN HOUSE, only able to survive under special conditions and incapable of surviving on your own. The believer is planted by springs of living water. You carry a perpetual springtime; your leaves will not wither, no matter the external conditions or environment. Regardless of the circumstances, you will bear fruit for God (Psalm 1).
Without a fireplace, the nicest home can feel unwelcome in a cold winter. Like a stove, you are designed to bring warmth and comfort to a cold, dark and ugly world. Let the wind of the Spirit of God blow on your embers, blowing away the dust of unbelief and hopelessness. As you add logs of faith in the Word of God to your little fireplace, you will begin blazing hot with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
GOD CREATED THE HUMAN HEART TO BE A FIREPLACE. THE “mighty, rushing wind” had to come first to blow out all ash and trash, and then the fire followed (Acts 2:1-4). Real fire radiates heat. Fish has the same temperature as the water in which it swims, and some Christians are just like that. They have the temperature of godless entertainment and wonder what is wrong. When our fire grate is filled with fire, we are hot. We change the temperature of our surroundings.
The devil is comfortable where people are spiritually cold; he remains comfortable regardless of how religious they are. Get ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the heat will drive the enemy away.
A LADY SAID TO ME “I HAVE A DEMON SITTING ON MY HEAD.” “Are you a child of God?” I asked. She nodded. I was amazed. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and I asked her, “Do you know that flies love to sit on a cold stove, often for a long time? Get the fire and heat of the Holy Spirit into your life, and your devil-problem is solved forever.” When your “stove” is hot and some fly approaches, it suddenly senses the heat and sharply veers away. Praise God, we are protected by “a wall of fire”—the fire of the Holy Spirit.