Dancing in the Dark ~ The Fire of His Presence

11/15/23

He makes HIS servants a Flame of Fire. Ps 104:4. 

Moving forward, we need to comprehend that God' dreams are bigger for us than our own!  In this post, we will look at the campfire from Wendy’s dream: “It was nighttime, and you were outside.  You were dancing and skipping joyously in a large circle around a campfire.”

Three days after Wendy’s dream, I dozed off while watching TV and had a quick vision.  I saw my dark closet with one single candle burning in the dark.  One candle, all by itself, flickering in the night.

I have said before: “If you read my book and this website for any length of time you know God has put in me a heart for revival.  As a prophetic intercessor, my job from God is to be concerned for and praying in revival.  But on a personal note, honestly, more than I want the great end-time revival…I want a personal revival.”  This can only come by a spark of the Holy Spirit igniting a flame in me for His purpose.

After Wen sent me her dream in a text, I immediately received a song.  It’s a song by Bruce Springsteen titled Dancing in the Dark!  So appropriate for the dream and funny how God connects the secular with a message to His children. 

A short time later, my friend gave me a birthday card with (guess what?), candles on it! 

So, fire is interesting.  It has multiple meanings.  “Fire: a raging problem in one’s life; God’s presence; trials or persecution; a burning fervency for God or something good or bad depending on the context; a strong emotion; a strong longing; an aching to do or see something; a deep craving; deep anger; judgment; punishment; destruction; a roaring fire is usually God devouring the enemy; Holy Spirit fire burning away the junk in us; continual pure worship that is tested.”  John Mark Volkots, A to Z Christian Dream Symbol Dictionary.

We must look at the symbol in the context of the dream.  The fire was a campfire which connotates ‘fellowship’; and it was contained.  A campfire is a controlled fire started from a spark of ignition…the Holy Spirit!  It is also a temporary fire meaning one can end it by throwing water on it to put it out.  Do you see the comparison to the Spirit’s presence in the life of a believer?

As a matter of fact, in the OT God used fire repeatedly.  He must have had a reason. 

“Before the giving of the Law, God appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. God chose the appearance of a continuous pillar of fire when calling Moses to lead the people out of Egypt to a new land. Later, when God was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He appeared as a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21–22).

Then came the Law. Outside the tabernacle, the fire for the burnt offering was commanded to be kept burning; never was it to be extinguished. Leviticus 6:13 instructs, ‘The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.’  Tabernacle worship continued until the time of King Solomon and the building of the Jewish temple. When the temple was dedicated, God once again lit the fire on the altar (2 Chronicles 7:1). 

One reason the ongoing fire was so important is that it was started directly by God: ‘Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown’ (Leviticus 9:24). The fire on the altar, therefore, served as a constant reminder of God’s power. It was a gift from heaven. No other source of fire was acceptable to God (see Numbers 3:4).

This fire also represented God’s presence. ‘God is a consuming fire’ (Deuteronomy 4:24).  In the New Testament, John the Baptist predicted that the Messiah would baptize with the Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16). Fire served as a sign of judgment and refining, but it also reminds us of the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost in the form of “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:3).”

 Why was the fire in the altar to burn continuously (Leviticus 6:13)?

If you see fire in your dreams, take note!  When the disciples met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, they said. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?” they ask each other (Luke 24:32). Their eyes were opened as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. Then, ‘fired’ up with their new knowledge, they rushed off to tell the apostles the good news.

I am reminded that God gave us our bodies, so, our bodies could be His temple (1 Cor. 6:19).  It is natural for the Lord to portray His Spirit in us as fire because we are now the tabernacle where He dwells.  Thus, He wants our fire to continuously burn in us! 

“The last days’ church will be filled with people whose love has become lukewarm (Revelation 3:16). But at the same time, there will be those who will buy gold refined in the fire (Revelation 3:18), and their love for Christ will become a flaming torch. God is going to turn up the heat on His last days’ church, because if He doesn’t, His saints will succumb to apathy, greed, lukewarmness, materialism, and the self-indulgent spirit of the entertainment industry.

God is going to send or permit calamity to come against His children, and He’s going to delay the answers to our cries for relief in order that He might perfect us into the image of Christ.”  Sorge, Bob. Fire of Delayed Answers.

I was dancing around the fire; joyously lit by the fire’s light.  After being in the midst of the fire of affliction for so long, no wonder I am dancing and skipping with elation.  I pray my little candle flame I saw in my closet will become a bonfire!

You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  1 Thess. 5:5.