
God is a consuming fire that exists in perfect holiness and purity. What exactly is that fire, and why is it important? Why do I even need it? Those are questions that many a follower of Christ has asked but have not always understood. If you are a Christian, this information is extremely important, because having the Holy Spirit within you does so many things for us in our basic lives as believers! However, simply having the Holy Spirit within is not the same as having the fire of God! One depends on the other, though. We will discuss this topic further in future posts, but the main point I want to address in this post is that God wants us as He is: in holiness & purity.
God's Consuming Fire Requires Purity According to His Standards Not Ours
God loves fellowship with us, but since He is holy, He desires and requires that He have fiery companions. His companions live in His fiery Presence without burning up, (from sin) and that also love what He loves. These individuals see things as He sees them, because not only are they holy unto Him, but they also know Him in His holiness.
Two people can have relationship together if they are like-minded. If both have opposing views, relationship is extremely challenging. In order to have continual fellowship with God, we must be believers, and also walk with God's consuming fire, pursuing holiness and purity in our lives according to His standards, not our own.
Yes, Jesus cleansed us once for all as believers, but we must choose to live continually cleansed in order to live in the Presence of God, which is His fire. This is a continual, lifelong process.
This is a deep subject. My hope is simplification of it so you learn to be one who continually lives as this fiery companion in the Lord’s Presence!
Sin Can Keep Us Bound as Believers if We Allow it
It is possible to accept Jesus into your heart and live your life for yourself, doing your own thing and following your own rules. However, God Himself would have to judge if you were truly His child!
When someone accepts Christ into their lives, they normally become so moved, so tender, and so aware of their need for Him that it changes their whole life and makes them a new creation. They are grateful for Jesus’s sacrifice. They want to accept it, receive forgiveness for their sins, and live differently because of that!
Sin can come in and defile if we do not monitor our heart or wash it in the Word of God over time. Just the world we live in alone is sometimes enough to do just that. See my previous post on ’14 Pitfalls to Avoid to Help Christians See into the Spirit.’

“And everyone who thus hopes in him (Jesus Christ) purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3 AMP
1 John 3:3 explains more. Notice it is not referring to unbelievers, it is referring to believers. As God’s children, He expects us to purify ourselves. How do we get this purifying, and what does purity or holiness mean? Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines purity as sanctification. It is a process of growing in divine grace. This is as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion.
Holiness is defined as the state of being holy or set apart for sacred use. Through the process of purification or sanctification, something can become holy again. It is continual. We repent and wash ourselves with the Word of God!
God's Consuming Fire: Pursuing Holiness Sets Us Apart for God’s Use
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” II Timothy 2:21
Ephesians 5:26 “…so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God]..” Ephesians 5:26
The two verses above perfectly describe us as believers:
We accept Jesus.
We cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable, therefore, it sets us apart as holy and ready for every good work.
We wash ourselves with the word of God, which sanctifies us. (a process that cleans us, aka, repenting and then studying the Word. We study it also by assimilating it into our minds to remember to do it!)

Washing of Water With the Word
Notice that in Ephesians 5:26, Jesus cleansed the Church by the washing of water with the Word. If He did it (with Himself—because He is the Word of God in flesh), how much more should we do it by renewing our minds in His Word! Think about that!
Now, say you are going through this process that we are discussing. The Word of God is washing your mind as you are a believer. You are keeping yourself cleansed from what is dishonorable (like not being or thinking like the world); you are praying and doing the Word of God.
This process is growth, my friend! As you grow in Christ, you are sowing seeds of righteousness. When you do this, the Bible says you will reap a harvest. It’s a spiritual law. (Galatians 6:7) Therefore, you will see a harvest of some sort of good.
In my experience, the first harvest I produced is joy! My heart started to burn in my love for Jesus! Joy has a way of being a cheerleader and motivating us on to even more. Joy changes our hearts. Heart changes are the next step in this process; and probably one of the most important ones.
I wrote on heart changes and how to understand them in my post ’14 Pitfalls to Avoid for Christians to See Into the Spirit’. Please see this for more info on how to do this. See link above!
Indicators in Yourself as You Continue Pursing God's Consuming Fire
Now, here are some traits you will definitely exhibit by this point if you are following me and then working on a clean heart as well:
1. You love God and become devoted to Him.
2. You Hate what is evil and are sensitive to the conviction of the Spirit. (Psalm 97:10)
3. You have a heart that loves and longs to please God. (Eph. 6:6)
4. You guard your heart and mind from the defilement of the world. (Romans 12:2) (Prov 4:23) (Our hearts can act like old -yellowed lenses that become difficult to see out of from difficulties of life hardening them; skewing reality.)
5. You desire to know and live & walk in the truth (Psalm 86:11)
6. Your works are righteous (Luke 7:35)
Let’s look at Psalm 24:3-6 TPT:
“Who, then, is allowed to ascend the mountain of Yahweh? And who has the privilege of entering into God’s Holy Place? Those who are clean—whose works and ways are pure, whose hearts are true and sealed by the truth, those who never deceive, whose words are sure. They will receive Yahweh’s blessing and righteousness given by the Savior-God. They will stand before God, for they seek the pleasure of God’s face, the God of Jacob.” Psalm 24:3-6 TPT
Before we dive into this, we must determine why we want to go to Yahweh’s Mountain, anyway. Why? Well, if you are doing all the things above, you are progressively falling more in love with Jesus. You are becoming passionate about sharing His Word, His heart, and to find Him.
You want to hear Him, know Him, and desire to serve Him. When you get wisdom from Him, it just energizes you and encourages your spirit all the more!

Purifying Fire Refines You & Compels You
If you are one wanting to go up this mountain, your love and all He requires of you is no longer drudgery to you. You ‘get to’ be in His Presence, and what you receive from Him in His Presence compels you to seek Him even more.
Your convictions in this state are firm, and your devotion is consistent. The people around you are starting to see a major change in you.
If that’s not enough, your devotion is becoming known in heaven. Heaven sees and is taking more interest in you. Why? Because you are delighting yourself in the Lord.
Your thirst for Him is also unquenchable. Your thirst for His Presence is second to none. No one can deter you. But as your heart reaches for Him, it touches Him. Check this post for tips in cultivating time in the secret place.
Now that we have that detail ironed out, we can look at Psalm 24. It tells us who are the worthy ones who ascend Yahweh’s holy hill. We know that only through the blood of Jesus and all that’s listed there is how we can even be worthy at all but notice what it says further down.
Seeking His Face to Know His Person
It speaks of a relationship with God and wanting to ‘seek His face’. Do you seek God’s face? Is that the delight of your heart? Seeking His face is not just seeing it, but it is knowing a person. Check out Matthew 5:8:
“Blessed [anticipating God’s presence, spiritually mature] are the pure in heart [those with integrity, moral courage, and godly character], for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 AMP
He knows our hearts, friends. Seeking His face is not just to see it, but to know Him, honor Him, His ways, His heart, worship Him, and seek after Him with all you have. It’s not just the things we’ve listed here, this is just the beginning. There is so much more. So much more to experience in the consuming fire of purity and holiness in God.

These points are just the minimum criteria to achieve this. This is where the fire begins. He starts the fire. It’s not something we can manufacture or get a gold star in. This is where He separates those that give lip service from those who truly want His heart and His righteousness!
The Lord told me once that His heart IS FIRE. Let’s face it, if you are willing to submit to the fire to be pure, it says a lot about you and your character. It is a refining process everyone won’t submit to.
Know that this process is for the true, devoted lovers of God. He knows who you are and if you will be one of these. He is always rooting us on to purity with Him!
Are You One That Our Holy God Can Share Secrets With?
These are the ones He shares secrets with. These are the ones He looks for when He wants to talk. Will that be you? My prayer is that it is. My prayer is that its all of us.
I pray we use this life not just for ourselves to play church, but in being the fire filled Church. The passionate ones that He can ultimately trust to do exploits. Not for our own glory, but for the praise of His Glory!
Purity is on God’s heart right now! Stay tuned for more on this subject of God’s purifying fire. His fire is the passion for Jesus Christ that compels us to pursue Him further, greater, longer, loving Him in greater measures, and serving Him in greater capacities. This is the fire that’s unquenchable within.
Only He can ignite this fire within us as we pursue Him and show Him our faithfulness. Yes, this fire consumes our sin and impurities, but it also ignites and compels us to serve Him with a passion we cannot create or sustain on our own without His fire. This is why every Christian needs the purifying & consuming fire of God. See part 2 of God’s Consuming Fire right here.
If you would like more info on how to cultivate your own Secret Place journey with God, you are in the right place. Journaling is an excellent place to help you get there. Pressing into God in that place is key to knowing Him and having those secrets of His heart. If you don’t know Christ as your personal savior today, do not despair. You are only one click away. God bless you as you pursue the great big heart of the Father.

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