Embracing the Fire of God by Victoria Byson

Jesus prepared His disciples to receive the work of the Holy Spirit in John 16:5-7. He says: "But now I am going away to the One who sent Me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I've told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away because if I don't, the Advocate [Holy Spirit] won't come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you."

As the disciples were so grieved about not having Jesus with them any longer, He redirected their thinking to the importance of the Holy Spirit coming into their world. He wanted them to know this was truly what was needed. Jesus was considering the future of His Church and to move forward they needed the Holy Spirit.

I don't know about you, but I can relate to their grief. I would love to have lived in a world with Jesus daily, walking with Him and watching Him work miracles – experiencing the peace He brought to the multitudes who followed Him. But Jesus said, "It is best for you that I go away because if I don't, the Advocate won't come." The Holy Spirit is that important to us!

We never really look for a lifeline until we need one, and a child doesn't learn to walk until they let go of their parent's hand. The disciples didn't understand their great need for the Holy Spirit until Jesus left them.

Jesus said, "And when He comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged." John 16:8-11

Why is the Holy Spirit so important to us?

1. Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin. The world will be convicted of the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus – every other sin is second to this. Without knowledge of a Savior, they truly have no hope. He directs the world to Jesus and in gaining knowledge of Him, they will learn to walk with Him and live as He did - living in the righteousness of Christ. We are made victorious over sin and it can no longer rule us!

2. Holy Spirit will also lead us into a right standing with God our Father, showing us how to align with Him to receive His favor and love. Holy Spirit will lead us into all TRUTH, which is having all of Jesus, giving us access to the Father and the entire Kingdom of Heaven!

3. Holy Spirit prepares us for the day of the Lord, which is the coming day of judgment. The ruler of this earth has already been judged, and the Advocate is leading us away from the "judged one" and his ways (the ways of the world). He will lead us to our Redeemer setting us on the path of redemption and righteousness. We, who know Christ, reflect His glory. And He, who is Spirit, changes us to be more like Him – from glory to increasing glory we reflect His image (1 Corinthians 3:18).

A Vision of Fire

I saw a long line of angels, several hundred, in fact, traveling on a road heading toward a large, beautiful church. They were dressed in bright armor and carrying many weapons. It was a beautiful sight to take in.

I then saw a man from the church exit the building and walk toward the angels. He asked them why they were there. The lead angel replied, "We were sent here to help you fight the great battle."

The man seemed dumbfounded, but smiled and said, "You are mistaken, sir, there is no battle at this church. This is a great church and there's no war for you to fight." The man was not a bad man by any means, but was just speaking honestly of the situation as he saw it – he was unaware of what was happening in the spirit-realm concerning the church.

Then I saw a line of demons marching toward the church from the other direction. The man had gone back into the church and did not see them approaching. I knew they had come to fight for the interests of the enemy of the church.

In the middle of this impending battle, the church itself was incredibly beautiful. It was simply the most beautiful church I'd ever seen.

However, I saw what was about to happen and I was afraid for them. I knew there would, indeed, be a tremendous battle fought for the soul of this great church. It would be caught in the crossfire of the war between light and darkness.

As I stood feeling sorrow for the great church, I saw fire come upon it. In seeing the fire, I was made even more fearful for its safety. But then I saw the fire was sent from the Lord. It was sent to empower the church and to protect it in the midst of the battle it was facing.

Though it seemed, in the natural, the fire would greatly damage the church, it did not! I saw it had actually increased its beauty and its effectiveness. The church literally glowed with increased power!

The Fire of the Lord was the Holy Spirit and He came in great power to the church to empower it and increase its effectiveness to the nations.

Before the Holy Spirit came to the church, I saw it was the man who was oblivious to the realm of the Spirit. But after the Fire of God came, they were awakened and made aware of the supernatural realm in a great way. Truly, they emerged from the fire with intense purpose, wisdom and glorified strength. They were sober and awake and had taken possession of the heart of the great Lion of God.

It's the Holy Spirit's job to guide us into truth and yet so many are afraid of Him. Without Him, we are powerless to even see the danger we are in, but with Him, we are made the victorious Bride of Christ! Through Him, we will learn the secrets of the Father's heart and with His help will open the door to righteousness for millions.

When we refuse the Holy Spirit, we live in darkness and in danger of the enemy's snares planned against us. But when we embrace Him, we are kept safe in the protection of the Fire of His Presence. Jesus said, "I chose YOU to come out of the world" (John 15:19) and live in safety and protection in the powerful presence of God!

In the person of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sent us our Advocate, Comforter, Encourager, and Counselor. Truly, HE IS the Holy Spirit, sent to make US holy.

Keep Looking and Moving Forward

In this day and hour, we are emerging from a time of apathy into a time of unparalleled joy. Truly, we are entering the days of the Father's great joy. He will liberate His Son's Bride and draw her into His heart reawakening in her the passion for His Kingdom and the King. God is moving His children closer and closer to His own heart. Embracing the Fire of His Presence increases our ability to take Him in, indeed, for Him to take us into Himself.

In His Spirit, we are made one with Him and walk in oneness with each other as well. We are being refined and redefined!

Literally, we are being freed from the bondage of the days we've left and are walking now in an unprecedented time. There is no previously set precedent for the days we live in; we are breaking NEW GROUND.

A few days ago, I saw a dove on my front porch staring at the door to my house. It sat there as I watched it looking as though it were trying to tell me something. I felt like it was trying to tell me to follow it, then it flew away. Then, a few days later there was a fox at my back door. Yes, a fox. It was not afraid and sat looking at us as if it were trying to tell us something. When I put the two incidents together, I felt the Lord say, "Look ahead – don't look back!"

The dove (representing the Holy Spirit) was in the front of my house, but the fox (representing the cunning ways of the enemy) was in the back. We may not know what is in our future, but we know the Holy Spirit will be with us there.

Let's keep moving forward and experience the supernatural victories God has for us!

NOTES SCRITPURE John 16:7
It is expedient for you ... - The reason why it was expedient for them that he should go away, he states to be, that in this way only would the Comforter be granted to them. Still, it may be asked why the presence of the Holy Spirit was more valuable to them than that of the Saviour himself? To this it may be answered:

That by his departure, his death, and ascension - by having these great facts before their eyes they would be led by the Holy Spirit to see more fully the design of his coming than they would by his presence. While he was with them, notwithstanding the plainest teaching, their minds were filled with prejudice and error. They still adhered to the expectation of a temporal kingdom, and were unwilling to believe that he was to die. When he should have actually left them they could no longer doubt on this subject, and would be prepared to understand why he came. And this was done. See the Acts of the Apostles everywhere. It is often needful that God should visit us with severe affliction before our pride will be humbled and we are willing to understand the plainest truths.

2. While on the earth the Lord Jesus could be bodily present but in one place at one time. Yet, in order to secure the great design of saving men, it was needful that there should be some agent who could be in all places, who could attend all ministers, and who could, at the same time, apply the work of Christ to people in all parts of the earth.

3. It was an evident arrangement in the great plan of redemption that each of the persons of the Trinity should perform a part. As it was not the work of the Spirit to make an atonement, so it was not the work of the Saviour to apply it. And until the Lord Jesus had performed this great work, the way was not open for the Holy Spirit to descend to perform his part of the great plan; yet, when the Saviour had completed his portion of the work and had left the earth, the Spirit would carry forward the same plan and apply it to men.

4. It was to be expected that far more signal success would attend the preaching of the gospel when the atonement was actually made than before. It was the office of the Spirit to carry forward the work only when the Saviour had died and ascended; and this was actually the case. See Acts 2. Hence, it was expedient that the Lord Jesus should go away, that the Spirit might descend and apply the work to sinners. The departure of the Lord Jesus was to the apostles a source of deep affliction, but had they seen the whole case they would not have been thus afflicted. So God often takes away from us one blessing that he may bestow a greater. All affliction, if received in a proper manner, is of this description; and could the afflicted people of God always see the whole case as God sees it, they would think and feel, as he does, that it was best for them to be thus afflicted. It is expedient - It is better for you. The Comforter - See the notes at Joh 14:16.

NOTES JOHN 16: 8
“To reprove the word of sin” is one thing; but (as the original expression implies) “to convince” is quite another. The reproof of sin has been the practice of philosophers, the object of poets, the office of moralists, the aim of satirists, in every age. Parents reprove their children; silent virtue reproves obtrusive vice. But sin may be reproved, and yet not be eradicated; be silenced by exposure, and yet not subdued. Hence the reproofs of the world have fallen upon the sins of the world too often, as the winds fall upon the bleak hill, or the waves of the sea beat upon the solid rock--leaving no impression behind. Now to “convince,” or to “convict” means to bring home sin to one’s judgment, and to render all denial impossible; to one’s conscience, and to render all evasion impracticable; to unveil sin in its own hiding-place; to detect it when it lurks in the core of the most exquisite bud, or when it nestles in the bosom of the most fragrant and beautiful flower; to fix upon it the sinner’s eye so intently, that he shall see it lying where he never suspected it to be before, nestling amidst the affections he thought holy, clinging to the habits he thought beautiful, and staining all his nature so entirely by its venom, that he shall feel that none but the Omnipotent Spirit of God can enable him to get rid of it. It is easy to convince a man of outward offences, none but the Eternal Spirit can convince the honorable, the great, the moral, that all their excellencies are like flowers and leaves torn from the root, and doomed soon to fade, and that the only excellencies that will survive the storm, and bid defiance to the grave, are those which spring from the living principle imparted by the Holy Spirit of God. Many have tried to “convince of sin,” besides the Holy Spirit

Replies

Apostle Trina Davis February 13, 2018 at 2:04am

NOTES 1 Corinthians 3:18

Let no man deceive himself.... With vain notions of serving God and religion, and of doing the churches good by his carnal and worldly wisdom, and with false hopes of escaping the vengeance of God for sowing the tares of error, heresy, and discord among his people.

If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world; either a member of them, or a preacher among them, who thought himself wise in worldly wisdom; or was desirous to be thought so by others; or would be a truly wise man in this world, whilst he lives in it, and before he goes out of it:

let him become a fool that he may be wise; not that, properly speaking, folly is the way to wisdom; but that that man that would be wise in a spiritual sense, must first learn to know himself; must be convinced of, and acknowledge his own folly, embrace the Gospel of Christ, which is esteemed foolishness by the world; submit to the ordinances of Christ, which are despised by men; and take up the cross of Christ, and follow him, bear reproach and persecution for his sake, than which nothing is more ridiculous with carnal men: he must deny his worldly wisdom, his carnal and righteous self, and wholly rest and rely on Christ, and his righteousness, for eternal life and happiness, and so will he become truly wise unto salvation.
Apostle Trina Davis February 13, 2018 at 2:03am
NOTES SCRITPURE John 16:7
It is expedient for you ... - The reason why it was expedient for them that he should go away, he states to be, that in this way only would the Comforter be granted to them. Still, it may be asked why the presence of the Holy Spirit was more valuable to them than that of the Saviour himself? To this it may be answered:
1. That by his departure, his death, and ascension - by having these great facts before their eyes they would be led by the Holy Spirit to see more fully the design of his coming than they would by his presence. While he was with them, notwithstanding the plainest teaching, their minds were filled with prejudice and error. They still adhered to the expectation of a temporal kingdom, and were unwilling to believe that he was to die. When he should have actually left them they could no longer doubt on this subject, and would be prepared to understand why he came. And this was done. See the Acts of the Apostles everywhere. It is often needful that God should visit us with severe affliction before our pride will be humbled and we are willing to understand the plainest truths.
  
  2. While on the earth the Lord Jesus could be bodily present but in one place at one time. Yet, in order to secure the great design of saving men, it was needful that there should be some agent who could be in all places, who could attend all ministers, and who could, at the same time, apply the work of Christ to people in all parts of the earth.
  
  3. It was an evident arrangement in the great plan of redemption that each of the persons of the Trinity should perform a part. As it was not the work of the Spirit to make an atonement, so it was not the work of the Saviour to apply it. And until the Lord Jesus had performed this great work, the way was not open for the Holy Spirit to descend to perform his part of the great plan; yet, when the Saviour had completed his portion of the work and had left the earth, the Spirit would carry forward the same plan and apply it to men.
  
  4. It was to be expected that far more signal success would attend the preaching of the gospel when the atonement was actually made than before. It was the office of the Spirit to carry forward the work only when the Saviour had died and ascended; and this was actually the case. See Acts 2. Hence, it was expedient that the Lord Jesus should go away, that the Spirit might descend and apply the work to sinners. The departure of the Lord Jesus was to the apostles a source of deep affliction, but had they seen the whole case they would not have been thus afflicted. So God often takes away from us one blessing that he may bestow a greater. All affliction, if received in a proper manner, is of this description; and could the afflicted people of God always see the whole case as God sees it, they would think and feel, as he does, that it was best for them to be thus afflicted. It is expedient - It is better for you. The Comforter - See the notes at Joh 14:16.
NOTES JOHN 16: 8
“To reprove the word of sin” is one thing; but (as the original expression implies) “to convince” is quite another. The reproof of sin has been the practice of philosophers, the object of poets, the office of moralists, the aim of satirists, in every age. Parents reprove their children; silent virtue reproves obtrusive vice. But sin may be reproved, and yet not be eradicated; be silenced by exposure, and yet not subdued. Hence the reproofs of the world have fallen upon the sins of the world too often, as the winds fall upon the bleak hill, or the waves of the sea beat upon the solid rock--leaving no impression behind. Now to “convince,” or to “convict” means to bring home sin to one’s judgment, and to render all denial impossible; to one’s conscience, and to render all evasion impracticable; to unveil sin in its own hiding-place; to detect it when it lurks in the core of the most exquisite bud, or when it nestles in the bosom of the most fragrant and beautiful flower; to fix upon it the sinner’s eye so intently, that he shall see it lying where he never suspected it to be before, nestling amidst the affections he thought holy, clinging to the habits he thought beautiful, and staining all his nature so entirely by its venom, that he shall feel that none but the Omnipotent Spirit of God can enable him to get rid of it. It is easy to convince a man of outward offences, none but the Eternal Spirit can convince the honorable, the great, the moral, that all their excellencies are like flowers and leaves torn from the root, and doomed soon to fade, and that the only excellencies that will survive the storm, and bid defiance to the grave, are those which spring from the living principle imparted by the Holy Spirit of God. Many have tried to “convince of sin,” besides the Holy Spirit
Elder Jean Bonds February 13, 2018 at 12:22am

I agree also with you Lady Irene & Evangelist Bobie...the Holy Spirit will help us remember his word & bring everything back to our remembrance.

Irene Jones said:

Thank You lord for the comforter. It's a Blessing that jesus didn't want to leave us alone. The holy spirit will help us to remember his word. The holy spirit operates so many ways in our lives.
EVANGELIST BOBIE SMITH February 13, 2018 at 12:15am

AMEN I really THANK GOD for the holy spirit and the comfort that he brings. There is nothing and no one that can compare the LOVE of GOD he knows what we need and when we need it. Furthermore, it is the holy spirit that stains us in hard times and brings us out to a wealthy and abundant place
Elder Jean Bonds February 13, 2018 at 12:04am

Yes, Amen Evangelist Bobie....It is the Holy Spirit that sustain us in hard times. I too thank God for the Holy Spirit.

EVANGELIST BOBIE SMITH said:

AMEN I really THANK GOD for the holy spirit and the comfort that he brings. There is nothing and no one that can compare the LOVE of GOD he knows what we need and when we need it. Furthermore, it is the holy spirit that stains us in hard times and brings us out to a wealthy and abundant place
Elder Jean Bonds February 12, 2018 at 11:58pm

Yes, let's keep moving forward experiencing the supernatural victories God has for us all !

Their is a war going on within the church. We need the Holy Spirit ! Jesus had to go so We the can revceive.

Do we know, really understand how important it is for us to have the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sent use our Comforter, Advocate, Encourager, & Counselor. He is the Holy Spirit sent to make us Holy. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to do his job, which is to guide us into truth ? Sometimes I didn't because in my mind, I already had it worked out...So why wait. Sometimes we don't want to wait,or we are rushing due to other people's demands or request from us.

The Holy Spirit giving all of Jesus, giving us access to the father and the entire Kingdom of Heaven ! Praise God !
EVANGELIST BOBIE SMITH February 12, 2018 at 9:15pm

AMEN I really THANK GOD for the holy spirit and the comfort that he brings. There is nothing and no one that can compare the LOVE of GOD he knows what we need and when we need it. Furthermore, it is the holy spirit that stains us in hard times and brings us out to a wealthy and abundant place
EVANGELIST BOBIE SMITH February 12, 2018 at 9:07pm

AMEN yes i agree with you 100% lady Irene the holy spirit does bring all things to our remembrance he holy and righteous and he loves us. A true comforter INDEED

Irene Jones said:

Thank You lord for the comforter. It's a Blessing that jesus didn't want to leave us alone. The holy spirit will help us to remember his word. The holy spirit operates so many ways in our lives.

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