“Just as Jesus stepped out of the river dripping the Jordan, we step forth into the world drenched in the Spirit of heaven. . . . Every part of us, top to bottom, is designed to be blessed by the Holy Spirit and with fire. The soul baptized in the Spirit is a soul ablaze.”- Max Lucado
“For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. That they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.”- Malachi 3:2-3 (NKJV)
In Chapter 8 (“Soul on Fire: The Spirit As a Flame”) of Help is Here, Max Lucado tells the story of smoke jumper Brad Haugh. One of forty-nine firefighters caught in a wildfire on the spine of Storm King Mountain, flames threatened to overrun them. Most significantly, Haugh figured the flames reached a height of three hundred feet.
Furthermore, the wall of heat required only two minutes to race a quarter mile up the mountain. And temperatures reached two thousand degrees. But Haugh raced roughly 150 feet over the top of the hill. Then he tumbled and rolled down the other side, one of thirty-five to survive.
For all of us, Max observes, fire is a part of life. So, we take note when fire and the Holy Spirit appear in the same sentence (Matthew 3:11). That’s how John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world. However, Pastor Lucado muses, take note that John the Baptist never said that Jesus will:
- baptize you in happy feelings
- lift your self-image so you’ll feel good about yourself
- make it easier for you to have friends and deal with conflict
Heaven, Max stresses, arrives packing heat. Above all, that heat is good for the heart.
Finally, enough air, fuel, and heat allow a fire to keep advancing. And if we let the Holy Spirit do His work, He won’t be set back, put-out, or quenched.
Today’s question: When do you feel drenched in the Spirit of heaven? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The crumpled areas of your life”
