Transformation by fire

Luke 12:40 – 59

I apologize for this being so late today but sometimes life happens:)

Do you ever get frustrated when people aren’t hearing what you are telling them? I know many wives feel that way about their husbands. Men often, only half listen making assumptions about what their wives area saying, leaving them to miss the point. I don’t know if Jesus ever really got frustrated, if he didn’t this may be the closest he had gotten.

Jesus is obviously upset with the religious leaders who say they are godly, yet are not looking for the real messiah. They continue in their religious way ignoring the relationship that the Lord wants with His people. In Luke 3:16 John the Baptist says that he baptizes in water but Jesus is coming and will baptize with fire. The fire, as I mentioned Sunday morning in my teaching, is the Holy Spirit’s power to transform, not just change, not just wash clean, but to completely transform lives. We will tend to fall to the lowest common denominator if we are left alone. We tend to mediocrity if we do not have a hunger for the Lord burning in our hearts.

The division Jesus is talking about happens when people who begin to allow the Holy Spirit to transform them. When we begin to become whom God has called us to be it goes contrary to the world system. Add to that, people desire for all of us to not “rock the boat” thus we naturally engage in a battle. The really sad part is that the Lord does have great plans for us and He is constantly drawing us nearer to Him, if we accept His drawing then we cause division with those that choose to live a life of mediocrity but we also begin to fulfill our destiny and find the real joy and peace the Lord has promised.

God can do whatever He wants to do but He chooses to use us. There are so many lives in the balance, lives the Lord has called us to impact everyday. Unless we allow the “fire of the Lord” to transform us they will never be reached by us. We not only lose the impact through our lives but also potentially lose the fulfillment of all we are called to be.

Change is never easy. Staying where you are will never get you to where and who you want to be. The interesting thing is even if we do not want to change we will. If we do not listen to the Lord and allow Him to change us our hearts will change, they will continue to grow hard toward the Lord and it will become harder and harder to hear Him.

Allow the Lord to change you today. Allow His fire to transform you into who you are destined to be. It is not easy but it is worth it!