Stay Lit
"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."
- 2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV
The fragrance of His knowledge can't be diffused or manifested through us without fire. You can't defuse what you haven't been infused with. Hebrews 12:29 says, "For our God is a consuming fire." Fire increases fragrance. Candles are fragrant alone but when you add fire the aroma travels much further and can spread throughout a whole house. When believers get ignited with the fire of Holy Spirit they change the atmosphere where they stand and beyond.
Is Jesus being made known to others through you?
If Jesus isn't made known, in a family, a city, a neighborhood, or in a workplace, it's because the believers there aren't burning. As soon as believers get lit revival begins. It first begins in them, then is spread through them and follows everywhere they go.
Picture a church building as the glass jar that holds the wax and the wick. The glass is the building, the wax is the congregation, and the wick is our spirit that God wants to light. Without fire, you have to get really close to the glass to catch the scent. But with fire, you can be on the outside and know that something good is cooking on the inside even if you're far away. The faraway need His fragrance to help cancel out the distance between them and God. His fragrance brings the faraway home.
If what happens inside the building doesn't spread to the outside of the building, it's clear there's no fire. If what happens inside the building doesn't draw those on the outside of the building closer, it's clear the fragrance isn't getting out.
Leonard Ravenhill once said, "You never have to advertise a fire."
If the Jesus scent you put off is confined to Sunday, you're living in a glass jar. A church that's just a glass jar holding wax but rejects the flame always suffocates the wick. A suffocated wick is a dead spirit. This is how we end up with valleys of dry bones. Empty pews are the result of smoldered wicks. The good news is smoldered wicks can be lit again and dry bones can live.
The faraway are waiting for the firey ones to burn openly. When you burn openly, others can catch the scent of new life and find hope. The lost are waiting for the ones with burning hearts to diffuse what they've been infused with so that they can find their way out of darkness.
Written by Travis Habbershon