God is not only the God of the journal and what happened in the Bible. He is also the God of the journey. He is the God of the present. He is and not only was. God is with us in the midst of our journey. He is with us in the adventures and exploits.
Now is the time to move. We can no longer just sing about the glory and past experiences with God. We have to experience it. What we sing should become our reality. We can no longer talk but we must act. We must become dissatisfied with empty words. We must cry out for God to move in and through us. It is time to cross over. It is time to jump into the living water and move. When we read the Word, we should be inspired to act and move. The word “inspire” means to stir up and to cause action. If we read the Word and we are not inspired to move, then something is wrong.
We may have messed up in the past but we are still God’s beloved. God is moving on the earth on our behalf. He has spoken His Word over us and it will not return unto Him void. God is going to fulfill every word that He has spoken. We still have a purpose to fulfill. God has still called to us to go forth. We are His possession. We are called to move and to be filled with the fire of God. We need fire in our lives to move. The people of Israel were led by a cloud of fire at night. This is a representation of what our lives should be. We should be filled with the fire of God.
The journey that we take may be free but it will be costly. It will be tough but it will be worth it. It is time to cross over. It is time to take the land that God has given us. We need not worry about the giants or difficulties that will come. The giants are our bread. We shall be victorious through Jesus Christ.
We have waited for a while. When we wait, we do not stay in one place but we move. Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall run and not be weary (Isaiah 40:28-31). The people of Israel waited until the cloud moved. While they waited, they sacrificed and praised God. Many of us have been waiting but now is the time to move.
In Exodus 24:9-11, we see Moses, Aaron and his sons given the opportunity to go up to the Mount and to be in the presence of God. They were given an opportunity that many others weren’t. However, the sons of Aaron became comfortable and familiar. They then sinned against God by offering strange fire (Leviticus 10:1-5). We cannot move without the fire of God. God can baptize us with fire and change our lives. He can change our perspective where we once thought that we were small, weak and not good enough. God takes the weak things and makes them strong. However, we must remain humble before the Lord.
The fire upon the altar was to be fire only from God. God is the only source of the holy fire (Leviticus 9:24). This fire cultivates hunger within our hearts. The fire was a reminder of who God is and what He does. He is an all consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24). It was a reminder of God’s standard for His chosen. It was a reminder of the sacrifice that the people of Israel were called to make. It is a reminder that they were called to give of their excess (Leviticus 7:22-25). We must therefore ask ourselves what we have stored up. What have we been hoarding? God calls us in our blessing to give. A part of our blessing is for the community of God.
The sons of Aaron were presumptuous in acquiring responsibility that was not given to them. It was not a part of their assignment. We must be careful not to be involved with assignments that God has not given to us. If we do, we may find ourselves offering something to God that is not of Him.
We must examine our lives and hearts. We must ask God to search our hearts and see if there is any wicked way in us. We must be sure not to have the spirit of pride when we are promoted in Christ. We must remain humble. A promotion is like a two edged sword. It cuts opens doors for us to rejoice and also to cut our flesh. Promotion reveals the areas in our lives that we need the fire of God to burn up. The sons of Aaron had a personal ambition. What they did, was for their own honour and glory. They were exalting themselves. God calls us to show up and function. He does not need us or our glory. He does not need our agenda. Whatever we do, should be to the honour and glory of God. Everything in our lives should point to God. We must make our mission a submission if we are to cross over.
The priests were responsible for bringing the sacrifice and the offering. God was responsible for the fire. The sons of Aaron provided the fire thinking that they could handle the offering. They thought they knew what was right. This is similar to where we think that we can handle a situation on our own without the direction and guidance of God. We are not givers of the fire but rather we are givers to it (Leviticus 1:7, 6:12). We are called to continually give our flesh and minds to the fire of God so that we can be transformed and our minds renewed.
