FIRE, TRANSFORMATION AND GLORY
(03/18)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Malachi 3:1-3 “I’m going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way ahead of me. Then the Lord you are looking for will SUDDENLY come to his temple. The messenger of the promise will come. He is the one you want,” says the LORD of Armies. (2) But who will be able to endure the day he comes? Who will be able to survive on the day he appears? He is like a purifying fire and like a cleansing soap. (3) He will act like a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify Levi’s sons and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will bring acceptable offerings to the LORD.
Malachi 4:1-2 KJV: 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. (2) 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.
Mark 9:49 KJV: For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
Romans 12:1 KJV: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Mark 9:49 MSG “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later,
Isaiah 4:4 KJV: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
Here, the scriptures tell us that a fire is coming to the church, that will purify her and so transform us INTERNALLY, to cause us to be covered with the same glory that Adam was covered with in the Garden of Eden and that was shown (temporarily outwardly) in the Lord Jesus Christ when He was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James and John.
Psalms 8:5 KJV: For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Matthew 17:1 KJV: And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, (2) And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
This internal transfiguration or transformation is ALREADY GRADUALLY taking place inside our souls (wills, minds, emotions) and bodies as we renew our minds with the Word of God by revelation as shown in
Romans 12:2 KJV: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
However, this internal transformation will NOW be COMPLETED BY THE FIRE OF THE POWER OF HOLY SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE RELEASED SUDDENLY into our spirits, souls and bodies according to Mal. 3.1-3 quoted above.
When this happens, the glory of God will begin to MANIFEST OUTWARDLY through us in spectacular miracles as it did in the Lord Jesus:
John 2:11 KJV: This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
This manifest glory will draw the nations into the church:
Isaiah 60:1-3 NIV: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. (2) See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (3) Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Furthermore, this manifest glory will perfect the unity and the conduct of the church:
John 17:22-23 KJV: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) 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.
Without the manifestation of this glory, the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God and the perfection of holiness in the church will remain unfulfilled.
It is the manifestation of this glory that will cause the church to become united in the CORRECT, COMPLETE AND EXACT knowledge of the Son of God, as we will all acknowledge those whom must have gotten this knowledge or epignosis that God confirms with the manifestation of His glory! This is similar to how God confirmed His approval of Moses’ and Aaron’s leadership by causing Aaron’s rod to blossom (Num. 17.1-10).
How then do we hasten the release of this fire and consequent transformation?
By praying more frequently and fervently in the Spirit to continually release the fire of the power of the Holy Spirit into our souls and bodies with MORE GRACE AND MERCY by honesty and humility of heart:
2Corinthians 4:1-2 KJV: Therefore seeing we have this ministry, AS WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY we faint not; (2) But have RENOUNCED THE HIDDEN THINGS OF DISHONESTY, not walking in craftiness, NOR HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
James 4:6 KJV: But HE GIVETH MORE GRACE. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Romans 9:16 KJV: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Luke 21:36 KJV: Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Ephesians 6:18 KJV: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
As we do this, we use the tongue as A FIRE OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT instead of an instrument of iniquity!
James 3:6 KJV: And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Selah!
