Why Not Be Utterly Changed Into Fire?

Isaiah 55:10-11

¹⁰"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

I can clearly remember the day this summer when Billy and I were meeting over coffee and discussing God's Word and Billy shared it with me. It came up several times over the course of the summer, but for some reason I had forgotten about it lately. Today at church the message was on being committed to God's Word and the first point made was this.

Every Christian can be committed to God's Word by being encouraged by God in one major way: Changed Lives

God's Word changes lives. This past week I was so busy with school. I was exhausted every day, and on Friday at the Crazy Love Study Jarah brought up how we should think about God's word as receiving life and not as forcing growth. And today at church I received life. I feel so refreshed, and it is all because of His love. My mom texted me during the service telling me about my video about the same time we were reading Isaiah 55, and I just started crying. I had forgotten how much God has changed my life. The rest of the service I was in tears. It was intense, but so beautiful. The Word of the Lord will not return empty. It has accomplished its purpose and it will continue to do so. It amazes me how when life gets overwhelming so often we forget what God has done in our lives.

Then the service proceeded to get even more personal. Michael was talking about claiming and owning the promises and truths in Scripture, and he read two verses that have been on my heart lately.

2 Corinthians 5:17

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

That is a truth and a promise that we need to claim and own as ours. God has changed us. And then next he read Galatians 2:20. It's crazy how even though that reference is tattooed on my arm I still forget what it says and I lose track of that awesome promise God gave to us.

Galatians 2:20

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Then we proceeded to worship and I could barely sing I was crying so much. I was so overcome with the joy of our Lord. The power of the cross and His grace were hitting me hard, and I loved every second of it. And it was awesome, because afterwards I was able to share how great I felt with some friends from GCL and now I am able to share it with everyone who reads this blog. God has definitely been teaching me lately that we need to own the promises that He has given us in His Word. We need to cling to them no matter what, because God is what brings us joy. God alone transforms our lives. "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." And that is what our lives are all about glorifying God. Yesterday I was reading through Galatians chapter 1 and the last verse hit me really hard.

Galatians 1:24

²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

Do people glorify God because of my life? It's a convicting and humbling question. I was really wrestling with it until this morning when I realized that God has transformed me, and if my life reflects that it will glorify God. This past week I was really focused on God's grace and I was just begging God for it daily, because I was so busy with everything but Him. I came across a promise in 2 Corinthians this week while I was reading and I wanted so bad to be able to own it as a truth in my life.

2 Corinthians 12:9

⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God's grace is enough and His power is made perfect through weakness. This morning in church I was able to say amidst all the tears and joy that yes this true. God's grace is sufficient. This week might have been a little rough, but this morning I received life from the our Creator. It was beautiful, and the entire time I kept thinking about Hebrews 12:29 "for our God is a consuming fire." My prayer for us as a body of believers is that we will claim the promises and truths in the Bible. That they will become personal and that we will see the Word of the Lord accomplishing its purpose. That we will be filled with the joy of the Lord, so that others will see us and glorify God because of us.

Our God is an all consuming fire.

So why not be utterly changed into fire?