Leviticus 6:12- 13 “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offering on it, The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”

In this portion of scripture God is giving clear instruction to those who minister before him on behalf of themselves and the people, and the instruction is the fire must not go out! It must be kept burning continuously!

The Priest was given the task of making sure that the fire never went out. He was to make sure the people never forgot their God. His sole purpose was to create the atmosphere where God could dwell among his people. He was assigned the responsibility of declaring and reminding the people that having their relationship right with God is the highest priority for human beings. Everything else is a distant second. This was part of what the priest had to do in his function before God and the people.

Today we are declared to all be kings and priests with Jesus Christ as our High Priest. Today every Christ follower is given this responsibility. Where as before it was the right of the select few, today in Christ it is the privilege of everyone who calls themselves a follower of Christ. We all bear the responsibility to keep the fire of God burning brightly. We need to fan into flame the spirit of God’s activity in our life so that we burn brightly in a dark world with a passion for our God and zeal to see Him touch people through our lives! Think about it that!

We have the responsibility for:

• Keeping the fire burning brightly within us - we must love our God and search after Him tenaciously until His life, presence and power are displayed through us on a daily basis. We must surrender daily to the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives.
• Then we are Called to change atmospheres - God wants us to bring him into places where people sit with feelings of hopelessness. People sit lost and scared in the dark mist of life, they are confused about what life is really all about. So God says take me to them, let them see my fire in you, let me declare life, love and hope to them through you. It doesn’t matter how much you know, it only matters how much you will allow Me to speak and act through you! We get to work with God on changing people’s lives and destinies- How cool is that!

God expects us to keep the fire of His spirit burning brightly in us at all times so that:

At Home our families are inspired and encouraged by our life to keep their own relationship with God as the highest priority in life,

At Work, School, University etc others can witness a life that is lived by supernatural power, a life of integrity, a life that is crushed and angered by the changing circumstance of environment, a life that is lived in contentment and confidence that God has every part of our future in His hands.

Friends, this is how a spectacular life is fashioned. It’s a life that obediently trusts and follows the leadings of God within- leadings that come from the altar of our life where the fire of God’s spirit burns brightly within us.

My Prayer is that people would discover again the wonder, comfort and ease of living life from the fire of God’s spirit within. The trouble is to many of us are taking our que from the wrong things. Follow God closely and the fire of His presence will always be in, on and around your life! A presence that changes everybody and everything He comes in contact with! Let’s keep heaven’s home fire burning for others are depending on us!

Exodus 40: 36 -37 “In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out, until the day it lifted.”

The people of God were given very clear instruction. They did not move until they saw the cloud lift and move, then, and only then were they released to move on to the next place God had for them. The cloud represents God’s manifold presence and power to guide, protect and prepare His people for their destiny. Everybody feared God so they waited patiently for God to make the first move.

Sadly today far too many of us are unable to see and sense God’s presence and power in, over and around our lives. Our spiritual sensitivity has been lost and the result is devastating to us because we end up a mere empty historic shell of what once represented a vibrant life filled with the power and presence of Almighty God.

· Some of us have stayed where we are too long- the cloud has left and moved on but we have refused to follow for some reason. Maybe it’s fear of the unknown, fear of taking the risk, what if I fail, I will loose face. Maybe it’s complacency, our love for God has declined and we’re just not that passionate about the cause anymore. Maybe it just plain old laziness. It is just too comfortable here. We are not prepared to compromise the comfort of this world for a bunch of hard work to step out on the water once again.

· Others of us keep moving around from church to church wondering why we just can’t settle and find peace with God. The cloud is still sitting over a church you left 5-6 churches ago, you actually walked on while God remained behind for you. Maybe you were hurt, offended, mistreated or even persecuted unjustly by someone in leadership so you just decided you had enough and moved on. The problem is God never moved on, He actually wanted you to stay and work it through. He had some lessons on character He wanted to develop in you but it was too painful and you were humiliated and angry so you ran away.

I had to sit in a church for 2 years once - even after I knew the Senior Leader was living in sin and even after a sub leader spread malicious rumours about me that were just not true. Two years of having to sit and get my attitude and heart sorted out, two years of watching this leader from the platform preach every week and God expecting me to receive from Him regardless of this his position. Two years of having to stand and lift my hands in worship knowing that people were talking about me behind my back because of rumours. Why? because God would not release me to move on until I had learned the lessons at hand. Character had to be formed in me and this was God’s chosen place to do it.

Friends, we must sensitise ourselves again to God’s spiritual activity in our lives, and we must willingly submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and obediently commit to following only His instructions. No matter how hard it is I must wait until God moves first – then, and only then, I must follow.

My Prayer is that we would have the spiritual discernment to know two things:

1. When God has moved on so we need to take action to follow Him and catch up no matter what the personal cost,

2. So we can know when we have moved on ahead of Him so we can humble ourselves and go back to the last place we recognized His presence over our life.

When all is said and done, when it comes to the outworking of our life and destiny it is always God’s move first!