Refiner’s Fire
There are three things you need for fire: heat, air, and a fuel source. God’s presence is the heat and the wind of the Holy Spirit is the air (the more the wind of the Spirit blows, the hotter the fire). Now, who is willing to be a fuel source? There is no other fuel for this fire. To enter glory we must go through the fire of transformation. We are being prepared so that He can turn up in person.
Fire changes the composition of a substance at a molecular level. Chemically, this is the process, and there will be parallels for us in our lives too:
Heating – temperature rises
Transition – softening of bonds
Degradation – bonds break
Decomposition – release of gases
Oxidation – combustion
Transformation – change of substance (wood to charcoal)
Fire from heaven
We can see instances in scripture where the fire of God fell:
Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces (Lev 9:24) [see also 2 Chron 7:1, 1 Chron 21:26, Rev 8:5].
But we are not dependent upon fire falling from heaven. We have access to heaven, where the fire is. We can enter into the fire of God’s presence every day.
Pure in heart
Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God (Matt 5:8).
Our lives become an offering when we go through this process of refining and purifying. Purity means there is no mixture. We gave God the go-ahead for this when we prayed “Try me, O God” (from Psalm 139) a little earlier. ‘The Lord tests the heart’ (Prov 17:3), and ‘when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold’ (Job 23:10).
We can count it all joy when we go through trials (James 1:2), because we know the end will make it all worth while. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, we are not alone in the fire, and when we come through we will not even smell of smoke.
A new heart
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26).
We need pure hearts, because the heart carries the testimony record of our life and past generations. The heart forms from the sperm and the ovum joining to form the first cell and contains 23 + 23 chromosomes from our mother and father. It contains the DNA record of our seed line and the cell memories of our past generational blood line.
Transformation is the process of rewriting our hearts (2 Cor 3:3). This is what will happen when we start dealing with these generational things in our lives:
You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place (Deut 12:3).
What are your idols?
What are your family idols?
Where are your high places?
Where are your family high places?
Where have you sacrificed?
Where has your family sacrificed?
What have you traded with?
What has your family traded with?
This is all coming as we ask God to transform us.
Heavenly realms
We are to lay our lives on the altar, and come as a living sacrifice. That altar is not in a physical place on earth, but in the tabernacle in heaven.
This is a diagrammatic representation of seven realms of heaven. Between each of these realms or dimensions are gateways, and there are protocols for passing through them. The two cherubim and fiery sword are there to block the pathway to the tree of life, but Jesus has unblocked that pathway for us as we come through Him, through the cross.
When He described Himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life, (the names of the veils between the various parts of the temple), His contemporaries understood very well that He was saying, ‘It is (and always has been) only through Me that you can access the realms of God’s Presence and the realms of heaven’.
The seraphim and fire
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined! Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged (Isa 6:4-7).
We may well exclaim ‘Woe is me, I am ruined!’, or in more modern language, ‘I’m totally wrecked’ because that is how we feel when all the impurities come to the surface in the heat of the fire. The burning coal purges our sin and takes away our iniquity when we engage the seraphim. If you have not yet experienced that, then that too is coming.
A living sacrifice
We have looked before at what it means to come as a living sacrifice. Please feel free to read those blog posts now if you have not done so before. By faith we enter through the veil, to the brazen altar, to Jesus our High Priest, who prepares the sacrifice. Our part is to come and present ourselves.
Jesus told us that this is the protocol if we want to come after Him: to deny ourself (surrender), take up the cross (the place of exchange) and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
Walk in the light
If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7, 9).
How many of us have only ever applied this scripture to this earthly realm? But it is in the realms of heaven that we are cleansed from sin; it is in the realms of heaven where Jesus is, walking in the light. That cleansing comes as we step into His presence through the cross. We can experience cleansing here in this realm only because we can do so in that realm. And we can do it in an instant by learning to step into that place, to go through the veil of the cross and exchange old for new, sin for righteousness and so on.
Here are some declarations you can use every day:
Father, I thank You that through your mercy
You have made a way for me to access Your heavenly presence.
I choose to deny myself, take up the cross and follow Your way.
I choose to lose my life to gain your life.
I step in through the veil of Jesus, through the way of the cross.
I step into the realm of Your government.
I come to trade on the brazen altar of covenant exchange.
I exchange my sin for Your righteousness.
I exchange my rejection for Your acceptance.
I exchange my guilt for Your forgiveness.
I exchange my sickness for Your health.
I exchange my old life for Your new life.
I exchange my old identity for Your new identity.
I exchange my old name for Your new name.
I exchange my old nature for Your new nature.
I exchange my old bondage for Your new freedom.
I exchange my old records for Your new record.
I exchange my past for Your future.
I exchange my darkness for Your light.
I exchange my weakness for Your strength.
I exchange my thoughts for Your thoughts.
I exchange my character for Your character.
I exchange my ways for Your ways.
I step back into this realm
Forgiven, cleansed, and clothed with righteousness.
I am empowered for transformation
To manifest Your glory
Bringing heaven to earth through my life.
I would encourage you to do this every day. Step in and step out; exchange old for new at the cross. Be transformed. Make this a way of life, daily denying yourself, taking up the cross, and following Him – into the realms of heaven.