Fire in the Hole

 

For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?   Matthew 9:5

It seems that the scores of people that I meet generally fall into three categories: “really-saved”, “think they’re saved”, or “hungry-saved”.  This isn’t like the 5 people you will meet in Heaven; this is more like the 3 people you will meet here on Earth.

True born-again Christians can pop up anywhere.  They look like regular guys, so you never know if the person next to you is saved or a sinner, but every once in a while you will see a face stand out that has a certain look of peace to it.  There’s a kind of feeling that surrounds real Christians that makes them stand out in the crowd – it’s the Spirit of the Lord, and it speaks louder than words.

A much larger group of people that I meet are those who think for some ungodly reason that as long as they believe that God is up there, they are going to Heaven, but to me, that is the epitome of stupidity.  If you’re going to blow off something just to twist things to the way that you want them, then choose something other than the thing that will decide your eternal destiny.  And yet, so many are cavalier about the only thing that is really important in their lives.  Hell burns forever.  If you’re going to make a mistake in Life, don’t make it about Death.

Then there are those people I meet who are starving for the Truth, many of whom attend churches but can’t get fed there.  I hear that over and over again, and my heart breaks when listening to these souls who want nothing more than to serve God and to walk in His Spirit, but have no strong minister to lead them into the way of strength and power in God.  I see in them the futility of a superficial Gospel that has been handed to us by lukewarm ministers. How sad.

How much easier it is to say the words that your sins are forgiven than to actually have a testimony of power!  The Bible says that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (1 Cor. 4:20).  It was the power and authority that Jesus spoke with that won souls. 

What a difference between a Gospel of words and a Gospel of power!  I don’t want to just believe – I want to be immersed in the excitement of the moving of the Holy Ghost. I don’t just want to know that my sins have been forgiven; I want to walk in power!  I want be like those Christians that you can spot from across the room because there is that aura around them that shines from the Spirit of God. 

The lady that won my soul was like that.  When she would enter a room, you didn’t have to know who she was – you just knew that someone who was someone in God had just walked in. She had authority in God – notably missing in our “nice” pastors of today. There was a presence that you could feel, and it was the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

That kind of presence doesn’t come from talk; it comes from fasting, prayer and long hours on your face before God.  Talk, as they say, is cheap.  Fasting your guts out and praying your heart out requires a price that human flesh does not want to pay, but that is where power comes from.

Which group do you fall into?  Are you one of the lukewarm who are sufficed with simply saying, “My sins are forgiven”, or are you one of those who want to be able to rise up and walk in the power of Almighty God?  

Consider your choice carefully. It will be the decision of your life that will determine your death.