Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song, and lyrics from Debbie Boone singing her 60s classic … You Light Up My Life … poignantly singing of how our Lord can - and will - light the fires of hope and holiness in the life of those who faithfully seek a love relationship with Christ.
Seeking Heart Fires of Holiness
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Highlight Verse[s]: Luke 3:16 [ESV] ... 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. …
… John The Baptist promises those who surrender to the coming Messiah that the Lord will set a fire of holiness in their hearts.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Luke 3:15-18 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God, thru John, the Baptist, promises the coming fire of holiness in the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Christians.
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Reference Passage : … Malachi 3: 1-3 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Prophet’s picture of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost to bring the fire of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of true believers.
Reference Passage : … Acts 2:1-4 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in true believers with a fire of holiness.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 5:22-23 [ESV] … 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
… Paul shows what results when the Holy Spirit lights a fire of holiness in the hearts of born-again believers.
Reference Passage : … 1 Thessalonians 5:19 [ESV] … 19 Do not quench the Spirit.
… God, thru Paul, exhorts Christians to avoid pride and selfish desires which quench the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mart DeHaan, uses a story about the name of an actual California wild fire to give a word picture of the fires of holiness set by God’s Spirit in the hearts of believers. … The ODB author wrote: After several years of drought, the wildfires of Southern California left some residents thinking of them as acts of God. This disturbing impression was reinforced when news sources began referring to one as the Holy Fire. Many unfamiliar with the area didn’t realize it was a reference to the Holy Jim Canyon region. But who was Holy Jim? According to local history, he was a nineteenth-century beekeeper so irreligious and cantankerous that neighbors tagged him with that ironic nickname.
The ODB entry today calls attention to the reality of the Spirit-lit fires of holiness prophesies from Micah (see Micah 3:1-3) and John the Baptist (see highlight passage), who foretold of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-4).
And now, those of us who truly seek that holy fire to be ignited in our hearts [see photo], can know that we will experience the fires of fruitfulness the Apostle Paul wrote about in Galatians 5:22-23 when God’s Spirit lights up our lives as Debbie Boone sings about in the linked song. And I pray we’re all seeking to see those fires of holiness burning in our hearts as we seek to serve King Jesus today.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Jesus, … for giving us Your fires of holiness in our lives when we do all we can to avoid quenching the Holy Spirit [see 1Thess. 5:19] by the way we live.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to surrender to God’s Spirit as He lights up our lives with His holiness and fruitfulness today. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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