Monday, November 14, 2005

The Flame of Spirit

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

I was putting my planner together for next year. I ran across something I wrote in one of my notebooks around the summer of 2003. It is as follows:

We have a tendency to treat the Presence of God as linear.....
a start, progression, a build, a climax.

I see it differently.

God IS. "I am the one who is" (Revelation 1:8)

His Presence "IS".

To enter His Presence, Spirit, is to BE.

It is more like a piece of coal,
as it sits in His Presence, in Spirit.

It warms and warms, until it glows.
Then it becomes red hot.
The coals around build heat from each other.
They begin glowing bright red.
When two or more hot coals touch each other,
a flame comes up between them.
As others connect the flame increases in intensity.
A fire erupts...
other coals of no heat at all when placed on this fire...
warm, glow and then catch fire.

It all takes time through the process.

Entering His Presence is more of sitting, waiting, bathing in His Presence.
Power in Praise and Worship settings build much the same way.
It's a waiting, soaking,
a transcending into Spirit,
warming up to Him and then a fire erupts in His presence.

When His Presence becomes a flame of His Spirit, all is transformed that it touches. It brings hope, it heals, stirs and heals emotions, creates new life, convicts, restores.
People are drawn to Him by the Magnetic force of His Spirit in the flame.
We see our sins and shortcomings so clearly. We give up what hinders our lives from being very close, very intimate with Him. He removes the impurities from our lives.

In His Presence is Holiness. We want to remove anything ungodly as There we desire The Spirit Life more and more and only want what He Is... the pure essence of Jesus Spirit.

This kind of worship is central to the Spirit moving in our midst.
As we enter His presence personally, and when we enter it corporately.

I am seeing Worship as the center.

The prophetic is actively involved.
Preparation is so important. Like a bride preparing to meet her groom, she spends many hours preparing herself for him. We, to meet Jesus Spirit, need the same preparation.
In coming into His Presence our spirit must be intertwined with His Spirit... morphing us as One in Him.

The prophetic, sensitivity to His Voice, expressed in Glory will earmark our meetings... big and small. New intercessors will emerge. The intercessors will lead the way for the worshipers as we continuously dip into The Well of His Presence.

As intercession increases, the Heights, Depths of His presence increase.

The Words of the Lord to us will come from the prophets at the the place and times as led by the Spirit. Much preparation during the the day, especially alone in His presence, will be necessary from all for this to be a pure flow from the Spirit.

Are not all called to prophesy…
as worshipers lead into worship, prophetic incense comes on them as well. As God calls more into the life of intercession, the stream of Spirit will increase. It will grow out of larger springs and create the Rivers of Life Water we all have only heard of and never really seen, or have only seen in our dreams as we long for the magnitude of His presence around us.

God Speaks through multiple channels within worship itself. New intercessors will emerge and don’t overlook the younger who will be prophetically right beside the older and seasoned.

It will start with the committed ones willing to sacrifice time in prayer, give up lives that their gifts would grant them in the world.
We want Spirit!
We have tasted Spiritual riches. We have known of earthly riches, but our preference is, without a doubt, Spiritual riches.

I saw places of small and large groups of people with all their heads in flames and flames coming through their fingers toward heaven as the Power of Spirit engulfed, like an inferno, the place they met.

The sky was bright from this Light and like the wise men following the Light to Jesus at Birth, the new Light of Jesus Flame will light the sky and the wise seeking the riches of Spirit will journey to the Light. The Light lit up the skies, across the land and people will be engulfed in Spirit. We will all share in this where God's Spirit leads us and plants us.

Seek Him, listen to His Voice and follow as loyal servants as He guides you, builds the flame of His Fire in you.

Your fire of Presence and His Love will catch those on Fire who dare to even come close to you.

Burn with His Fire.


The Holy Spirit then gave me this rhyme:

Glorified
The Bright Glow of the Spirit
Resides in me.

Glorified
It was once unclear
but now I see.

Glorified
The Power of His Love
is now His Shining Light surrounding me.