Category: Fire of God

Judgment and Resurrection Coming to The Church

Judgment and Resurrection Coming to The Church

This Word came to me two weeks ago. This Word will stand not because I am anything but because He has declared it. This is the Day of the Lord and these things MUST BE.

The Sign of Samson to The Church

“And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes
and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles.
And he ground at the mill in the prison.”
Judges 16:21

The life of Samson
is a sign unto the Last Day Church.

These things will surely come to pass. The once proud church, persecuted and humbled, will arise out of her weakness in the strength of her God.

Like Samson, the church in North America, arrogant in its God-given strength and not having the fear of God, has done what it pleases; it will soon be reduced to the jeers and worldly sport of its enemies. Like Samson, there is a judgment of blindness and bondage, a result of its seduction by the world.

The Seduction and the Fall
of Samson and the Church

“And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him”
Judges 16:19

The once powerful Samson was reduced to slavery and ridicule because of his foolish love of Delilah (representing the world and its ungodly ways). As he fell under her seduction, he gave up the secret of his strength. Bound and fettered by her beguiling ways, his eyes were put out (spiritual vision) and he became a slave to the world and its ways. The careless life he lived and the reckless abandon to his selfish pursuits brought him to a place of utter bondage and hopelessness. With his God-given strength gone, his enemies fell upon him with devastating cruelty. The ungodly politics of religious leaders and the greed and lust for worldly wealth and power has impoverished the church in this hour. Jude in his epistle clearly warns us of the infiltration and influence of ungodly ones who come to defile the ways of God in our very ranks.

“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ”
Jude 1:4

What is the result?

“Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever”
Jude 1:11-13 (ESV)

The folly and horror of the things we have allowed in our midst has become (as Samson) our undoing. God is arising to thoroughly purge His Church of all worldliness and ungodly living.

Peter declared:

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
1 Peter 4:17

Before He can judge the world of its depravity He must have a pure and holy Church. He cannot judge the world of its wickedness while His Church walks in the same abominations as the world. The judgment of the Philistines came at the hands of a Samson who had been humbled and purified from his own lusts and worldliness. In his restoration he brought judgment upon the enemies of God. The very people who carried out God’s judgment upon Samson would, in the end, fall as his strength was made new.

God’s promise of restoration and purpose for His Church will not go unfulfilled. Just as Samson, the broken ones, now fully cognizant of our sins, will find the secret of His strength once again and arise from the devastation to “possess the Kingdom of God”

“But the hair of his head
began to grow again after it had been shaved”
Judges 16:22

God’s promises hold true and His mercies never cease. The enemy, your enemy, does not know the secret ways of the Lord. God will surely “renew their strength” and in due time “they will mount up with wings as eagles” and walk in the strength of their God! It will then be a time to lift up the eyes which have been blinded by our enemy, a day to lift up the hands which hung down and to once again sing the song of the Lord with joy. It is of the Lord’s mercies to do a work in our Day of humbling; to cause His servants to arise and, as Samson, strike a blow greater in his weakness than he ever did in the days of his strength.

“Therefore also now, saith the Lord,
turn ye even to me with all your heart,
and with fasting, and with weeping,
and with mourning…”
Joel 2:12

For in our turning He will turn;
In our seeking He will be found;
In our mourning – He will be our Joy.
The glory of the Lord will arise
upon His people for the set time is come.
The Day of His recompense is upon us!

A Glorious Visitation

In our turning and in our seeking of Him there will come a visitation; a visitation of glory and an anointing to prepare His Own (as He was in Bethany) for the purpose of sacrifice and eventual victory. We are in a time of the growing darkness; a time of anarchy, lawlessness and bitterness. The sorrow and devastation that is coming will be such that if He does not cut it short no flesh could survive.

“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened”
Matthew 24:22

Daniel’s Horn is Rising!

There is a “horn” arising and for a season it shall make war with the saints of God and shall overcome them (even as Jesus was overcome); but it shall not last.

“I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints,
and prevailed against them…”
Daniel 7:9

Those who are to rule with Him must overcome even as He overcame. Herein will be revealed the patience (endurance) of the saints. In our being overcome so shall we overcome. It is the Way of Christ so it must also be the Way of His Body. The crown of suffering must precede the crown of Glory. May those who have ears to hear understand.

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”
Revelation 3:21

A dark night will soon cover the earth and gross darkness will settle upon the people of the world. The righteous will be hated and the hope of many may fail. Be encouraged that as surely as the night comes so will His morning. He will arise with healing in His wings unto those who fear and honour His Name. Stand fast! The time is coming quickly; confusion, anarchy and lawlessness will abound. But the Ancient of Days will surely arise and in the end the “Saints of the Most High will possess the Kingdom”!

“Until the Ancient of days came,
and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom”
Daniel 7:22

Ω

“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,
and they shall trust in the name of the Lord”
Zephaniah 3:12

Brian Troxel

True Life

True Life

The Life of Becoming

“Those things, which ye have both learned,
and received, and heard, and seen in me, DO:
and the God of peace shall be with you”
Philippians 4:9

Knowledge is good. Understanding the work of Christ on the cross is the foundational truth whereby we have the assurance of our standing in Him. Upon this cornerstone the Father was able to send unto us the power and wonder of the Holy Spirit that we might receive Christ within and live lives that actually reveal Him. It is through the glorification of Jesus, His death, and His resurrection, that the Holy Spirit has been sent into our hearts.

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
John 7:38-39

The plan and the purpose of the Holy Spirit being given is to produce His likeness in us. To whatever degree truth is actual on an individual level will determine the depth of our journey into the Unity of the Spirit*. We have far too much apathy in the knowledge of what Christ did FOR US* when in reality the pressing issue (for each of us) is what has He accomplished IN and THROUGH US. They who have the true knowledge of what He did for us reveal its wonder by our abandonment to His Will (Romans 12:1). Jesus died for the sins of the whole world but how few are radically affected by His great sacrifice. Faith is the defining agency between a mere knowing of a thing and the incomprehensible changing power of His resurrection life.

“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth”
1 Corinthians 8:1

The giving forth of the Spirit of Christ is to culminate in a life (true life) with an authentic expression of He who is The Life. It is a life of doing because it proceeds from a life of being. Paul in the spirit of true humility could declare this incredible statement:

“Those things, which ye have both learned,
and received, and heard, and seen in me, DO:
and the God of peace shall be with you”
Philippians 4:9

For those with ears to hear and eyes to see, the purpose of God in Christ is the very power to renovate our pride of knowing into the humility and brokenness over our true spiritual condition. The pride of man is shattered by the truth of Christ! It is not what we know that has value in the economy of God; it is what we become by the work of His Spirit within us. Faith is the conduit through which this transformation is conducted.

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us…”
Ephesians 3:20

The measure of Christ’s work within us is proportional to our submission to Him. Light is simply the flow of power through a flimsy element. The element has no ability to produce light in itself. It matters little if the element can give a great discourse on the composition of power, how it is made and where it comes from; if there is no actual flow there will be no light. So it is with us. The knowledge of God must culminate in the flow of His power through us in order for His purposes to be accomplished. Paul was not content in what he knew. He did not glory in the revelations given; his heart was inflamed with the necessity of “apprehending” that full power of Christ within.

“Not that I have already obtained,
or am already made perfect; but I press on,
that I may take hold of that for which also
I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus”
Philippians 3:12

May God, by His Spirit, impact our lives afresh with the depth and the heights to which He has called us. The glory of this call cannot but produce within us a depth of humility which frees us from the pride of knowledge and bring us into a living hope that sustains us in the seeing of our great need for Him.

There is but one unmistakable proof of this living hope being active and alive within us:

“…but we know that, when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in Him
purifieth himself, even as He is pure”
1 John 3:2-3

The Hope of Christ within will always produce a growing purity of heart. The great and (H)impossible call and purpose of God remains:

“As He is,
so are we in this world”
1 John 4:17

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*Note: The Unity of the Spirit is the fruit of our being in Him. My submission to Him and His Spirit reigning in you results in us being unified in Him. Fellowship in Him will always be proportional to the depth in which we walk in His Light. Where there is no true fellowship with another, Light is the issue. The validity of our walk is revealed in the wonder and joy of our sharing in Him one with another.

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another”
1 John 1:7

*Note: Eternity will not be long enough to explore and comprehend the mystery of His sacrifice and the Love which motivated the grand and unfathomable gift of Himself. The measure of His grace is purposed to produce burning, living and radical lives which have been affected by the wonder of His unspeakable gift.

“Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee”
Titus 2:14-15

Brian Troxel

 

PODCAST – The Book of God Part 3

The Book of God
(Revelation 5:1-2)

“And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne
a book written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals”
Revelation 5:1

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’  (Rev 3:5-6)

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.  (John 15:5-6)

 

 

PODCAST – The Books of God

The Books of God
(Revelation 5:1-2)

“But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
(Exod 32:32-33)

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
(Psa 139:16-17)

Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
(Psa 40:7-8)

Faith and Prayer

Shelter from the Coming Storm

FOUNDATIONS
of
PRAYER

BY FAITH

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him:
for he that comes to God must believe that he is”
HEBREWS 11:6

People who believe little pray little. The basic reality of the Christian’s prayer life is predicated by our faith. The proof of our faith is revealed in our drawing nigh unto HIM. We must believe that HE IS in order to enter into that Holy Place of prayer and communion with Him. The true prayer life is one of relationship and intimacy with our God and Father. It is “by faith” that we draw near unto HIM; it is “by faith” that the substance of the unseen relationship is realized. The recurring thought throughout the faith chapter in the Book of Hebrews is: “by faith”. So it is in the life of PRAYER by which we are to be “building up ourselves on our most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST” (Jude 1:20).

BY FAITH is the means by which all deeds are birthed and brought unto perfection. Without FAITH we have no means to draw from the “wells of salvation”. Without FAITH we have no “handle” upon which to lay claim to the precious promises of God. Without FAITH we have no ability to truly understand the depths HIS WORD. Without FAITH we are left to the miserable resources of self that will always wither in the hour of greatest need. “By faith” men DO, GROW and BECOME like their great High Priest. The deeper and more intimate our life of prayer becomes, the more there is a growing realization that we are no longer praying just for our selves. Rather we are becoming participants of HIS HEART for His purposes in the lives of others. For that is the Heart of our Great HIGH PRIEST…

“I pray for them”
JOHN 17:9

Let us get a glimpse of THIS HEART that ever beats and is ever working and praying on our behalf that we might become pure and holy expressions of the Son. “Faith without works is dead” and nowhere is this truth more evident than in the life of holy, powerful and fervent prayer.

“The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much”
James 5:16

Religious men may pray, they may mouth and speak great words that sound right and good but, as Jesus commented, the Pharisee “prayed thus with himself”. His prayer had no HOLY WITNESS but was borne of self and concerned with self. This prayer never left the man. Prayers without works are the bane of religion. The Pharisee’s words were never joined with the works of true Christian charity. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan the Levite and the Priest would pass by the beaten man in the streets on their way to the Temple with no concern. The power of true prayer and interaction with the Heart of Jesus will always bring us into the Love for that thing we pray for. Prayer without faith will be revealed in a life without works. No one can truly touch the heart of God in prayer and be bereft of works. It is an impossibility. Love and faith are the womb from which the works of God flow; in touching Him we touch others.

But we, By FAITH, have access to the Holy Altar of incense that burns with the Holy Fire (singular) of His love and desire. On this Altar the Incense of God is added to the prayers of His saints that they may ascend as sweet fragrant offerings unto HIM who alone is worthy!

“I will therefore that men pray every where,
lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting”
I TIMOTHY 2:8

Brian Troxel

Preach the Word – Longsuffering

Preach the Word – Longsuffering

Part Two

“Preach the word;
be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering…”
2 Timothy 4:2

For the preaching of The Word to be effective, it must spring from the source which is the love of God Himself. Care and concern for the status of God’s people is the motive. It does not rise from self-righteousness but from a deep knowing that God is righteous. There is a suffering borne by those who behold apathy and complacency; a pain carried within the hearts of those who feel the call of God to deeper and higher things, who sense a responsibility to cry out in the darkness. The call to speak is greater than the vessel. The need to present God far outweighs the desire for acceptance and friendship. Longsuffering is the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. It is not an attribute of the flesh, but its hold upon a heart produces a suffering long with the condition of God’s House.

Sin is the reason for the suffering of humanity in its lost condition. Love is the reason for suffering in the godly. Christ suffered most, leaving us an example of what righteousness will bring to one who is growing in the wonder of His light and love.

“For consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself…”
Hebrews 12:3

Let us consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners, who suffered long in the midst of a perverse and lost generation. The greatest contradiction was from His own people who, in their blindness, and religious ambition, condemned Him to death, even the death of the Cross. Those who follow on to know Him must experience in some small way the same rejection.

“Love suffers long, Love endures all things”, and, to whatever measure we are held in its sway, there will be a corresponding expression of its virtues. By contrast, apathy cares little, speaks smooth words, is pragmatic and remains uninvolved with the conflicts between light and darkness. It hides itself in religious garments of false separation and indifference just as the priest and the Levite who passed by the man who lay beaten in the streets. It was the despised Samaritan, who involved himself in the plight of this one, of whom the blessed Saviour tells us to “go and DO likewise”.

The true love of God necessitates involvement and personal risk. The religion of men produces insulated living and empty words which lack the one essential thing: Love. The preaching of The Word must be fueled by the fire of the Love of God to make Him known in this world.

“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”
Ephesians 3:8

The Grace of God received is revealed in the “necessity” to preach among those to whom the vessel is sent “the unsearchable riches of Christ”. There is no desire to draw men and women unto themselves. They have no church, organization or earthly agendas; they live to make Him known! Grace received can have no other heart!

“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
1 Corinthians 9:17

There is no room for self-promotion or boasting; it is a burden of “necessity” to preach the Gospel. There is an unction and a fire which burns within those who hold a glimmer of His beauty and wonder. This is not a weak gospel that robs His people of the purity and the power of this love. This is not a casual gospel with a gentle presentation designed to make the wayward comfortable and anesthetized to their own sin. For what is often presented as the “love of God” is in fact a “gospel’ of a god who has been made in their own image and to their own liking.

Where are those who feel the pangs of “necessity” to make Him known in this day? May God pour out upon us a grace that produces lives compelled by the Love of God to make Him known. May He save us from slumber, indifference and ungodly apathy, speaking of “deep” things yet revealing our shallowness through unremarkable living; lives with little or no effect upon the world around us. Let us not claim to have a faith in word but which denies the power of God even within the confines of our own homes. It is time for a new generation to arise who will “Preach the Word” and bring strong exhortations of God to contend with the bondages of a lost generation.

May those who bear His fire in their hearts declare His Word unto the earth and unto the heavens!

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”
2 Timothy 4:2

Brian Troxel

Preach the Word

Preach the Word

“Preach* the word;
be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort…”
2 Timothy 4:2

There are many who preach today, but not The Word. There are many who quote scriptures but fail to preach The Word. They preach their own words and their own gospel; they preach to gain the approval, affection and finances of those listening. Paul’s instruction to Timothy is to preach the Word that brings reproof, rebuke and exhortation! How few are willing to risk their popularity, their income, their positions or “career” in the organizations of today for the sake of truth. Many ascribe to the “relevant” things of today, but they will not touch The Word; a “sharp two-edged sword” which divides the soul and spirit of the religious man (Hebrews 4:12). Many are reticent to utter the Word of Life which will cut and reveal the thoughts and intentions of the religious man. They seek the favour of men while turning their back on the God who IS a “consuming fire”. Those who bear His Word must know, in some measure, the temperament and fervor of a God who hates mixture and compromise.

Preach the word!

This was the cry of the Apostolic heart in a Day when the Fire of God was burning, and the faith of God’s people was penetrating the darkness of the world in their time. “Preach the Word” is the call of God to His people in this hour who desire His Sword within their own hearts; who know that in order to walk with Him in holy places they must themselves be holy. Preach the Word has ever been the purpose and the directive of the Holy Spirit for He has come to lead and guide us into the truth and power of holy living. Without holiness we shall not see God! Let the truth of this Word revolutionize our hearts. Our pursuit of holiness is the revelation of our desire to see God!

The depth of an individual’s pursuit for holiness
is the revelation of their desire to see God!

“Strive for peace with everyone,
and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord”
Hebrews 12:14 (ESV)

Preach the Word whereby men and women are filled with a fire to pursue holy living. Preach the Word which transforms the tepid, the comfortable and the passive into flaming hearts of purpose, captured by the Eternal Call of God.

“Is not my word like as a fire?”
Jeremiah 23:29

Fireless preaching comes from cold hearts, compromised living and empty altars. If His Word is like fire, should not those who Preach His Word be of the same disposition and temperature?

God is speaking today,
let those who have ears to hear, hear.

*Preach the Word - In a large segment of the Christian Church preaching the Word is relegated as ministry to the unsaved. This was a foreign concept to the early Church (who turned the world upside down). Timothy was sent out to travel through out the Church of God to observe their order, their love for one another and to contend with false teachings and error in their midst. We need those who will "Preach the Word" to the Church in power, unity and truth that HE may be glorified in our midst.

Brian Troxel

The Holy Fire Of God

The Holy Fire Of God

 

“Ye shall kindle no fire
throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day”
Exodus 35:3

Nadab and Abihu kindled their own fire; they knew not the difference between the Holy Fire of God and the religious fire of men. The fire of God falls upon those who are aware of their dependence upon His presence. The flame of God is His to give, and ours to maintain (Jude 1:20-21). In the days of Eli the priest, when Israel had fallen into great apostasy, we read in the scriptures the following description of the times:

“…the word of the Lord was precious in those days;
there was no open vision”
1 Samuel 3:1

The Hebrew word translated “open” literally means breaking forth; there was no vision bursting forth in Israel. The Word of the Lord was rare. The Priesthood were doing their religious routine, they were reading the prescribed scriptures as per the Law, but it was NOT the Word of the Lord. Where the living Word of God is scarce, there will be no vision bursting forth upon the people of God. The people of God were not being gripped with God’s purpose for their day. It was because of this apathy wherein the Lamp of God goes out! We see that the Word of the Lord to the Ephesian Church was that if they did not repent of their apathy God would remove His Lamp from their midst (Revelation 2:5).

“And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord”
1 Samuel 3:2-3

The mundane and unremarkable lives of His own, and the tepid hearts of many ministers, culminated in the Lamp of God going out in His house! It was The Lamp that burned with the Holy Fire of God having been kept for over 450 years by the Priests of the Lord; yet in Eli’s day it went out! It was a fire which could not be rekindled. It could not be manufactured by the will and energies of religion. As with Elijah, this fire only falls when God bears witness to any who are living and walking rightly before Him.

The Fire of God fell when the Tabernacle had been completed to God’s specifications. It fell when the singers and dancers were of ONE voice in Solomon’s day. It fell when Elijah had completed his obedience to the Word of the Lord in His day. It fell upon the people of God as they met in “one accord” in the Book of Acts. Throughout the history of the Church His fire has fallen when she could no longer tolerate the feeble fires of man’s making and the carnal aspirations of men seeking their own glory. In such times there was a cry from the people unto God to visit them afresh with His eternal fire.

During Eli’s time, when the lamp of God went out in His House, God simply deposited that fire within a man (for God’s fire will never leave the earth); a man who would declare to the House of Israel their waywardness and compromise, and would speak to the priesthood of that Day of their end and of a new beginning. The very night the Fire of God went out in the Tabernacle was the same night that God began to raise up a prophet to speak His Words and to usher in the dynamic change to God’s backslidden priesthood. Later he ushered in the Kingdom of David and pronounced an end to Saul’s reign.

Change is coming. His Fire is already beginning to fall upon those who can feel in their hearts the Day of change which is even now upon us. The change is of such magnitude that the only way to rightly describe it is: Resurrection Life. A life which will end the apathetic offerings of a blind and self-anointed priesthood. A fresh move that will see the Fire of God breathed into the life of every one of His own. A priesthood who will truly rejoice in the people of God overtaking them in their walk and relationship with the Lord. A priesthood who will consider it their own failure that it be not so. A priesthood who will rejoice as John the Baptist rejoiced to have his disciples forsake him to walk with Jesus. May our hearts be such and may the Glory of God arise that His Name will once again be declared from purified vessels who live only to bring honour to His name, and His name only!

“Let God Arise!”

Whenever God’s people touched the unity of His Spirit His Fire fell and the world knew that God was alive in the earth.

May the Lamp of the Lord burn with unquenchable intensity and may it purify our hearts unto the Love of Him and His people.

“Seeing ye have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently”
1 Peter 1:22

A people who obey not the truth
are incapable of the true love of Christ
for HIS Body

Σ

“It is an empty altar which receives no fire”
Frank Bartleman

Brian Troxel