Consumed?

What things consume your time, and thus consume you? Are you consumed with thoughts of work, food, or material things? With thoughts of sex, people, fame, or fortune? With thoughts of vacation, travel, home, or family? With thoughts of sports, fishing, hunting, shopping, or cooking? Can you be consumed with faith, the Word, or the love of God? David declared that his zeal had consumed him;

Psalm 119:139  My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

Perhaps the question should be what is your passion or zeal; where is your treasure? For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21 or Luke 12:34) Is your heart on the things mentioned above, or do you have a heart for spiritual things?

Can you recognize that you are fixed in the fleshly, or in repetition, or in complacency, or in your denomination, or some other hindrance to the detriment of your use by God? May you know that the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11 – 21) is coming to establish a kingdom that will consume all kingdoms and will stand for ever;

Daniel 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Do you desire to be consumed into this kingdom, or consumed by this kingdom? Know that it shall … consume all these kingdoms, and His kingdom shall stand for ever. Consider what the Apostle Peter told us of this consuming, being with fervent heat;

II Peter 3:10 – 12  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Our first reaction to these verses is usually the dread of that consuming heat. But what can possibly bring us to the place of actually desiring it: Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God? It is in finding what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. We know that God is love (I John 4:8, 16), and that God is a consuming fire: have you considered love as a fuel? We know that faith worketh by love, so it is fuel to our faith. But scripture gives us some knowledge of how strong love is;

Song Of Solomon 8:6  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Where there is no love there is no jealousy, and the greater the love the greater the jealousy. Because of this knowledge of the strength of love and of jealousy, the writer requests to Set me as a seal upon thine heart. Do you have difficulty attributing jealousy to God? He does not leave that to question;

Deuteronomy 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

By using the word even, God led the writer to compare or equate being a consuming fire with being a jealous God. God goes further in scripture to confirm that Jealous is his name;

Exodus 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

God tells us His anger can be kindled in this jealousy;

Deuteronomy 6:15  (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

This scripture says lest, and the prior verses speak of fearing and serving Him, and not going after other gods. Overcoming that fleshly walk is what is necessary to be consumed into the fire, rather than being consumed by the fire: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29) It is by His mercies that we are not consumed;

Lamentations 3:22  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Malachi 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

There is a future consuming fire coming, described in Malachi 4:1 – 3, that we can be delivered from. As a refining fire He can bring you through the fire (Malachi 3:2, 3 and Zechariah 13:9) that you may abide the day of his coming. This purging, refining, and purifying are what can consume you into the Kingdom, which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). As with the three Hebrew children in the fire, if you are fully in the kingdom you will be delivered from this consuming fire. Note that only His enemies are burned up in the following verses;

Psalm 97:3 – 5  A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

Surely you can now accept the concept of love and jealousy as a fuel for fire. Let us also look closer at this extreme.

Fuel For The Fire

We saw above, and know from numerous scriptures, that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29, also Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3). Can you consider that spiritual warfare will always include this consuming fire? Isaiah contrasts this difference;

Isaiah 9:5  For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

Can you receive that this scripture is speaking of spiritual warfare? The next several verses speak of the coming of Jesus, and the remaining chapter is on the judgment of Israel for not turning to Him. This warfare is declared to be with burning and fuel of fire: but please note that later in the chapter the people shall be as the fuel of the fire;

Isaiah 9:19  Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

Can you receive that in this spiritual warfare no man shall spare his brother? You will only have the personal ability to affect your own life and consumption. Ezekiel speaks of physical idols burning in the below scriptures;

Ezekiel 15:4, 5  Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?

The fleshly thoughts that we began with above (at the start of Consumed?), that may be presently consuming your life, can be spiritual idols that will burn. Can you receive a fear of being consumed with them? Ezekiel continues and tells us that the people will be given to the fire for fuel and will face those spiritual fires in the below verses;

Ezekiel 15:6 – 8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

We have considered several scriptures on the natural or physical consuming fire, now let us also consider the greater depth of the spiritual consuming. Can you see and receive that all of those physical things, actions, or thoughts we have mentioned can be spiritual idols? All of those things, if they are left unchecked, will leave you as the fuel of the fire, and subject to being consumed with the wicked. While all of those things are given for us to use or enjoy, realize that if they are consuming you they have become a spiritual idol, and God will desire to burn that out of you! God does not confront and convict of everything at once, for we are weak vessels and would be overwhelmed and could give up the fight and the spiritual assent. God had been purging and changing me for fifteen years before He revealed this to me. As God enables you to conquer each spiritual idol you … shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour … you unless or until you are finally consumed into the kingdom by God. This is the refining fire that we mentioned previously;

Zechariah 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Perhaps you can recall times in life where your only concern was yourself, or only fleshly desires or lusts: you have now been changed, allow Him to continue that changing to be part of they shall call on my name, and they shall say, The LORD is my God. Know that He will continue this refining to purify you;

Malachi 3:2, 3  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

As God removes the spiritual dross He will prepare people for a calling, as noted in this verse, the sons of Levi: but know that you also are called to be priests or kings (Isaiah 61:6, Revelation 1:6, 5:10). May your zeal be to allow Him to be this refiner and purifier in your life and to purge you until you alone are this offering in righteousness. Realize the great love and mercy God has toward you as you battle these spiritual idols;

Deuteronomy 5:9, 10  Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

We say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and so it is confirmed in this verse; but it is the great mercy of God that does not consume the fathers, but allows the third and fourth generation the opportunity to turn and love me and keep my commandments.

Consider that the living creatures that Ezekiel saw were as, or like, fire; consumed in the presence of the Lord;

Ezekiel 1:13. 14  As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

These living creatures that Ezekiel saw were consumed into the obedience, and calling, and will of Almighty God! We previously mentioned the three Hebrew children who were delivered from the fire. Even the burning bush, used of God to draw Moses, was not consumed by the fire. Can we find the same simple call to the will and purpose of God? We mentioned these verses in Malachi above, but now look closer at the proud and the wicked who are burned, but those that truly fear Him will be delivered;

Malachi 4:1 – 3  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Please note that it is not just the wickedness of sin, but also that all the proud are going to be stubble for this fire. Do you have the besetting sin of pride in your life for the spiritual things that He has done in you? Begin to humble yourself and allow Him to change you. The change does not come all at once, but if you will purpose in your heart to increase in the Word, you will see a gradual change also in reducing the physical desires. Have you heard the exhortation from Smith Wigglesworth, Consume the Word of God until the Word of God consumes you? Since we know that Jesus is the Word, this exhortation could be, Consume Jesus until Jesus consumes you: can you better understand now what John the Baptist was saying, He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)? This consuming, if you will seek, pursue, and embrace it, will burn out the sin and iniquity and make you a pure vessel fit for His use;

II Timothy 2:21, 22  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Do you desire to be part of them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart? The above thoughts or imaginations that were mentioned can become a feeding of the flesh, to the detriment of our spirit and soul. We are exhorted in II Corinthians 10:5 with; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God … and also in Philippians 4:8 with whatsoever things are pure … think on these things: do you believe you can find a purity in those fleshly things? But know that the overcoming of these thoughts is not by our self, but My grace is sufficient for thee and will enable you to overcome them over time, as you consume more of the Word (Jesus).

If you can find enough desire to but ask, Jesus will give you a hunger and thirst for the Word (more of Him) and establish you in this path and pursuit. As Jesus consumes you, He will also constrain you through love and the Spirit;

Job 32:18  For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.

II Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

If and when we are fully consumed by Jesus, we will be fully consumed by His love and the cherishing of His body: we will become the ambassadors of reconciliation in the verses that follow (II Corinthians 5:14 – 21). The pride and the encompassing sin of your past will be constrained and consumed into My grace is sufficient for thee. Will you let God put you on this path to being consumed into His will and purpose?

In Acts 18, Paul is at Corinth in Achaia and he rests and works a physical job: he has found Aquila and Priscilla, his fellow workers, and apparently disciples them through that work: but in this time he only reasons with the Jews on the Sabbath. Then, when Silas and Timotheus were come, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Many will read these scriptures and say that Paul was lax, though fear or weariness, and was not yet consumed. But if you look through scripture you will see the results, the fruit and the purpose of that time spent with Aquila and Priscilla.

After tarrying and discipling many others, when Paul left there he took Aquila and Priscilla with him, headed for Syria. This is an upending of their old lifestyle for Aquila and Priscilla, now called to the ministry of the Lord. It is recorded that Paul left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, where they are not recorded as preachers, but still they took Apollos to them, and discipled him. Later, as Paul writes I Corinthians 16:19, Aquila and Priscilla are with Paul again, since he records greetings from them, and they now have a church in their house. In Romans 16:3, Paul asks them to greet Aquila and Priscilla who are now back in Rome, have risked their lives, and who Paul now says all the churches of the Gentiles thank. Again, while they are at Rome, Paul notes that Aquila and Priscilla have a church in their house. In II Timothy 4:19, while Paul is now captive in Rome, with Timothy apparently close to Troas in Mysia (since he asks Timothy to bring the cloak, parchments and books from there) he tells Timothy to salute Pricilla and Aquila, who have again apparently travelled to another ministry location. Can you recognize that in the time spent working with Paul, Aquila and Priscilla had become consumed with the Kingdom? They had become servants and ambassadors for Christ, always going where called, receiving others to themselves, and giving them the Kingdom.

That is not to say that God has called us every one to have a nomadic lifestyle, but if we are consumed by the King and Kingdom we are to go where and when He says, fulfilling His will, purpose, and calling. Allow God to consume you (to refine, and purge, and constrain, and prepare) that you may be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use! While the word was fairly new in English, and not used in the King James translation of the Bible, consider this spiritual consuming with the marital word consummate, in order to gain a greater understanding.

Consummate

Scripturally we have the repeated phrase and the two shall be one, and we only consider that to be the physical consummation of a marriage. But God intended for marriage to have a spiritual aspect of being one as well. Marriage is not intended to be two selfish individuals only taking what they can from the relationship, but it is to be selfless, knit together as a loving, giving, nurturing, (and yet also receiving) relationship in holiness. With a small play on word game, consider the word consummate to be consume-mate: the joining or spiritual fusion that we are discussing, allowing the two to become one. Eve was given to Adam as a help meet, and the Hebrew word (ezer) is only translated as help meet the two times that it refers to Adam: the remaining nineteen times it is used it is translated as only help, and almost always is God being the help of men. Eve was given as a help to Adam, and Adam was given responsibility to love, protect, and help Eve. Eve was created from a part of Adam, his rib, and that is our physical example. God desires to create a new you with a part of Him; God is a Spirit, and that is what will be necessary to be one with Him;

I Corinthians 6:16, 17  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

We cannot have only a physical understanding of being joined unto the Lord, for it is a spiritual relationship, with a joining in one spirit. That is how God wants your spiritual relationship with Him to be, Him within you, and you within Him as one;

John 17:21 – 23 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

May you receive that made perfect in one requires action, and a preparation time, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 10:14). May you see and recognize this in the marriage supper;

Revelation 19:7, 8  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

May you read this verse in relation to his wife hath made herself ready, and also fine linen, clean and white, and also recall That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27) May you better understand the divine purpose and need from Malachi 3:2, 3 above to be an offering in righteousness. There is much commitment and preparation needed to be holy and without blemish, and called to this event;

Revelation 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

We are being called to consummate this marriage with Him, and must find it in righteousness unto holiness, and not in the spiritual adultery that will only leave us consumed;

Romans 7:3, 4  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Jesus has paid a great price to free you from the law; will you allow Him to consume you into His kingdom? Please receive beyond just reading the following scriptures, to know that He has … created thee, … formed thee, … redeemed thee, … called thee by thy name, and … thou art mine. Israel had already been brought through the Red Sea and the Jordan River on dry ground, so they surely could believe for those promises of deliverance: may you also believe and receive that He will bring you through the fire;

Isaiah 43:1 – 4  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

There are those who would question or be skeptical because the verses only mention Jacob, and Israel, but as Isaiah continued he notes Even every one that is called by my name;

Isaiah 43:5 – 7  Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

We have a saying that ‘blood runs thicker than water’, meaning that the familial or bloodline is more important, but know that Spirit is far more important and exceeding even than bloodline. Reading on through Isaiah 44:1 – 8, we find in verse 5, One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. It is not only the name that you are called by that is important; it is not who you are, but whose you are! In Romans 11 the Apostle Paul speaks of the Gentiles being grafted in. Can you now receive that these promises of God are for you as well, if you consummate this spiritual marriage and allow Him to consume you?

Loyalty and trust are each two-way or reciprocal relationships. Trust is built on repeated steps of closer commitment: can God trust you to always be His? Physical marriages are so fickle and unstable today, and often volatile, because one or both of the individuals are more committed to self than they are to their spouse or to their marriage. Infidelity usually occurs because an individual is more committed to their self in the moment than to their spouse or their vows. May you find such an unchanging loyalty and trust within yourself that always, in every thing and in every moment, you are committed to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. May this give you a greater perspective of what God is telling us in the below verses;

John 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

John 15:4, 5  Abide  in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

This is a call to complete and total consummation of this spiritual marriage; in full loyalty and full trust in all ways and at all times to the one who never fails, the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, God of love, mercy, and grace. May your heart be given to consummate and be spiritually consumed, joined unto the Lord in one spirit!