SHUN STRANGE FIRE
INTRODUCTION
The offering of strange fire is a biblical incidence we must not overlook as long as the kingdom is concerned. As God’s children, we must be sensitive and meticulous in our service unto God. God is not a respecter of persons. When we deviate from following the biblical lay down principles in discharging our duties, we’ll end up provoking “strange fire” upon our lives and destinies.
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace (Lev. 10:1–3 ).
Aaron, of course, was the elder brother of Moses and the first high priest of Israel. God had consecrated Aaron and his sons to the holy vocation of the priesthood. It was in the context of their priestly service that two of Aaron’s four sons, Nadab and Abihu, each got a censer, a kind of vessel that was used in antiquity to contain the incense that was burned as an offering before God put fire in them, and offered what the book of Leviticus calls “strange fire” which could as well be rendered as “unauthorized fire” or “profane fire”.
We use the word profane to refer to that which is less than holy. The word profane comes from the Latin “profanus”, which literally means “outside the temple.” So, in a literal sense, the bible is saying that the fire Nadab and Abihu introduced to the altar had not been purified or consecrated. The effect of what they did was so great in the eyes of God, that God had to slay them.
The Spiritual Implication
When a supposedly man of God starts using gimmicks and tricks to extort money from members, he has deviated and that is a strange fire unto God. Accessing powers from marine altars and diabolical places to manifest on the altar of God is a strange fire. Being a child of God, yet perpetually living in a particular sin is a deviation from divine principle and that is a strange fire.
Any form of pollution to your spirit, soul, or body is a strange fire. Getting yourself into what is making you unholy is sending a strange fire signal to God. And at every point in time God always frowns at those people no matter their spiritual status that offers strange fire.
When a pastor is embezzling church funds just like Judas he is just offering a strange fire…
How can you be answering a pastor, yet church money and sisters are not safe in your hands?
We must be careful not to blaspheme the name of our God. With such attitude, we make the word of God of none effect. Giving the unbelievers platform to mock God and His elect. Any minister that lacks character is a suspended disaster waiting to happen. Being anointed alone is not the true test of a genuine minister. As long as the right character is missing, that man or woman is a threat to the kingdom
Fake ministries and polluted altars here and there. How can a so-called pastor tell a lady to sleep with him as a means to her deliverance is that one not a devil? How can a mother innocently connect her daughter to a pastor for prayers just to suddenly discover that the young lady had done an abortion for the pastor?
In those days when you say I am a pastor, respect follows, but now once you say you’re a pastor people start looking at you somehow… Can’t we see we are in trouble.
This strange fire must be quenched. Preaching a good message doesn’t change people. Having a good voice and singing well can’t change people. Anybody can sing or preach. If your message or song is not a reflection of your life, then you’re simply a noisemaker
The bible says concerning Jesus in Acts 1:1; “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Jesus didn’t teach what He doesn’t do. Our generation is breeding talking ministers and not doing ministers. If you are not ready to pay the price for genuine power of God, decamp and stop deceiving people. Stop playing with people’s time, emotions and destinies.
These priests clearly violated some prescription that God had set forth for the offering of incense in the holy place, so God has to rebuke their action decisively? God laid down fundamental laws of consecration for the priests. He warned them that if they were not consecrated or if they violate their consecration, He would “break out” against them. Nadab and Abihu violated the holy law of the priesthood. Violating God’s word in any way and at any level as a minister is a strange fire unto the Lord, and He frowns at such big time.
I pray for you that your service unto God will not be recognized as a strange fire to God. May you not deviate from the principles of God in the name of Jesus.
When this happened, Moses reminded Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified. When he heard this, Aaron held his peace. Even amidst his grief, because he knew that as a high priest, his sons had committed a grave offense against the holy God. If really you desire to be near God, then God requires a life of sanctity from you.
He wants to be glorified in you. He wants your life to reflect His light. When you live and order your life according to God’s principles, your life will produce holy fire. Decide to be and remain a consecrated vessel unto the Lord.
Prayer Focus
- Father, I thank you for revealing your word once again to me
- In the name of Jesus, I plead for mercy in any area of my life I have offered strange fire unto the Lord.
- O Lord by your mercy keep me at the boundary of your word as I offer my service unto you
- O Lord help me to keep the ordinances of your word in all that I do
- Cause my life to give light to men and not to miss lead them
- O Lord I pray let every tendency of deception in my life be roasted by your fire.
- In the name of Jesus, I reject and refuse every power that wants to bring shame to the kingdom through my life
- In the name of Jesus, I rebuke every manipulative spirit assigned to deceive me.