God is holy. "...our God is a consuming fire" (Heb.12:29). But God wants you also to be holy (1 Peter 1:
16), and He wants His holy fire to burn in you also.

THE BURNT OFFERING

Firstly, in the Tabernacle of God spoken of in the Book of Exodus, the fire of God burnt upon the brazen
altar on which was offered the burnt offering, the first of the offerings. "... This is the law of the burnt
offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the
fire of the altar shall be burning in it The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out"
(Lev .6:9, 13).

This burnt offering showed the complete surrender, consecration, obedience and devotion of Christ to the
Father. Everything was burnt to ashes (v.1 0). The ashes signified that the fire had made full
appropriation. There was nothing more left, which could be burnt. God had received fully what He
wanted. Do you know, beloved, how this fire of devotion and full consecration was burning and burning
in the life of the Lord Jesus? Is it burning in your life also? Do you also want to be burnt to ashes? In
suffering, sorrow, sickness, opposition, persecution, misunderstanding and in a multitude of other painful
situations, does that fire of devotion to God burn continually and ever increasingly in you? Are you
willing to become completely humbled and exhausted of all natural strength and reduced to ashes? Are
you willing to serve your Lord without asking for a reward, without a murmur, without a sigh?

Note that the fire upon the altar had to burn always. Do you forget the Lord sometimes and go after
worldly pleasure? Do you get discouraged and drop away sometimes from the work which the Lord has
given you? The fire has to burn always and go on burning until that blessed morning when the Sun of
righteousness will arise and the Lord will come (Mal.4:2).

May the Lord find in you and in me something of that full satisfaction which He found in the fire of the
burnt offering in the life of His beloved Son.

THE INCENSE

Secondly, the fire of God burnt upon the golden altar of incense. The smoke of the incense stands for the
prayer of the saints (Rev.5:8; 8:3,4). It ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. That angel
represents the High Priest Aaron who had to burn perpetual incense before the Lord (Ex.30:8). We also
have a High Priest Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the
heavens, Who ever liveth to make intercession for us (Heb.7: 25,26).

Do you know, beloved, how the fire of prayer and intercession burned in the life of our Lord? He
often continued all night in prayer (Luke 6:12). He prayed with strong crying and tears (Heb.5: 7). Does
that fire of prayer and intercession burn in your life also? Consider the prayer life of Paul (Gal.4: 19) and
of Epaphras his co-worker (Col.4: 12).

If you neglect your prayer life you are sinning against the Lord (1 Sam. 12:23). Quench not the Spirit
(1Thess.5: 19).

May the incense of fervent prayer and intercession ascend up daily in your life unto the Lord.

THE CANDLESTICK

Thirdly, the fire of God burned upon the seven lamps of the golden candlestick. These are the lamps of
testimony.
Jesus is the light of the world, and God wants you also to shine as lights in this world of darkness. "...ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth" (Acts 1 :8). If the fire of God is burning upon your altar of consecration and if the incense of
your prayer and intercession is ascending before God out of the angel's hand, then it will be easy for you
to be the Lord's faithful witness in your home, and in your locality, in your school, office, hospital, or
factory. The fire of God will burn in your heart and the light of God will shine upon your face.

But note also there are seven lamps upon one candlestick. This shows that in God's plan, our testimony
should not only be individual, but it should also be a corporate one. As children of God, born into God's
family by the experience of new birth, we all belong to one Church, that is, to "the general assembly and
church of the first born, which are written in heaven" (Heb.12: 23). The life and the light and the love of
God bind us all together into one bundle. If God's people know this how glorious would be the light
which shines out from His people. Please read what the Lord prayed in John 17:20-23.

As the fire of God continues to burn in you, you will not be happy until you come into the unity of the
Spirit with other children of God. May God's holy fire burn continually in you.