Recently two friends who had given their life to God and were regularly attending church fell off the map. I finally
was able to track them down and was given a similar story by both of them. They had slipped back into their
addictions and felt that they’d let God down to the point that there was no hope for them. What a devious liar Satan
can be!
Let me share with you a word of encouragement that God gave me for these two individuals. “Our God is a
consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.”
Let me show you what that means to someone who has slipped or fell in their Christian walk. As we go through our
daily routine we encounter situations where we don’t always make the right choices. Let’s face it, we slip. Sometimes
we fall hard. Consider these slips or falls as a sticky note that our enemy, Satan, has written your sin on and posted it
somewhere highly visible on your body. Now think of God as “a consuming fire”. Imagine the Sun. The closer you
get—the hotter it gets. Finally you get so close that the sticky notes ignite and burn off leaving no trace. Soon all
that is left is good. That’s called a refining fire. However, this does mean that you have to draw closer to God, then
where you were when you noticed the "sticky note."
Malachi 3:2 “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like
a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness.”
Unfortunately though we’ve somehow ended up broadcasting a church atmosphere that isn’t conducive to
someone who is in a fallen state. That’s like a hospital that turns away the sick and dying, only inviting those that
have a clean bill of health to come inside. That’s just crazy.
That leaves the fallen individual backing away from the consuming fire, thinking he must first clean up his life
before he can get closer to the “all consuming fire” which is really the only thing that can purge him. Kind of
backwards isn’t it?
We need to do a better job witnessing about this “Good News”. The news that gives hope to those who are
struggling. The news that tells an addict to “quit trying to quit and just get closer to the one who can take it away.”
God bless, Rocky Sandberg and the Kingdom Power Now Team
was able to track them down and was given a similar story by both of them. They had slipped back into their
addictions and felt that they’d let God down to the point that there was no hope for them. What a devious liar Satan
can be!
Let me share with you a word of encouragement that God gave me for these two individuals. “Our God is a
consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.”
Let me show you what that means to someone who has slipped or fell in their Christian walk. As we go through our
daily routine we encounter situations where we don’t always make the right choices. Let’s face it, we slip. Sometimes
we fall hard. Consider these slips or falls as a sticky note that our enemy, Satan, has written your sin on and posted it
somewhere highly visible on your body. Now think of God as “a consuming fire”. Imagine the Sun. The closer you
get—the hotter it gets. Finally you get so close that the sticky notes ignite and burn off leaving no trace. Soon all
that is left is good. That’s called a refining fire. However, this does mean that you have to draw closer to God, then
where you were when you noticed the "sticky note."
Malachi 3:2 “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like
a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness.”
Unfortunately though we’ve somehow ended up broadcasting a church atmosphere that isn’t conducive to
someone who is in a fallen state. That’s like a hospital that turns away the sick and dying, only inviting those that
have a clean bill of health to come inside. That’s just crazy.
That leaves the fallen individual backing away from the consuming fire, thinking he must first clean up his life
before he can get closer to the “all consuming fire” which is really the only thing that can purge him. Kind of
backwards isn’t it?
We need to do a better job witnessing about this “Good News”. The news that gives hope to those who are
struggling. The news that tells an addict to “quit trying to quit and just get closer to the one who can take it away.”
God bless, Rocky Sandberg and the Kingdom Power Now Team
| Newsletter for 6/26/09- Falling Down |
