Fire in You

Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire"

Have you ever noticed how much coaches talk about fire? Seems that when teams lose the coaches always reason that,"There was just no fire in the belly of my team, we were not ready to play". When coaches win they talk about how the kids were so ready and fired up to play that the coaching was easy. Even cheerleaders know the need to "Get fired up". I think we all know that if our team shows up "not fired up" in a tough game they will lose and many times badly.

Why do we not sense that as deep in our walk with Christ? He came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. Yes I understand that the fire and Spirit are for cleansing and sanctifying us, but clearly the bible points to the fact that we are sanctified so that we are to be lights for Christ, and passionate ones at that. The idiomatic dictionary defines "a fire in your belly" as being ready to fight with energy and determination for what you believe is right. Do you do that for Christ?

When you look at the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit's work in the lives of only 120 believers with fire in their bellies turned the entire city of Jerusalem upside down. Here in my home city of Birmingham there are thousands of Churches, yet the net effect on our culture seems small and fading.

Why? I believe we are fired up about the wrong things.

We all need to stop and ask ourselves one thing: Is Christ's baptism with the Spirit and fire working its way through me? Do I have a fire in my soul for Christ or is it for something else?

If we are not fired up about Him, do we know Him?