BRANDED BY FIRE
Branded By Fire
Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.
— Jeremiah 20:9
Holy fire does not fade; it gets suffocated by compromise. — PG
Fire has always been God’s way of revealing what His presence has marked. When God truly touches a person, He does not leave them unchanged. Jeremiah tried to silence his calling. He attempted restraint. He attempted distance. But the fire of God refused to cooperate with comfort. It pressed until obedience was unavoidable. God’s fire was never meant to be a memory you revisit. It was meant to be a force that moves you forward.
To my pastor friends and preachers in the Body of Christ, remember the words of Charles Spurgeon, “If you don’t put fire in your sermon, you should put your sermon in the fire!” Oh God, let preachers burn again in the pulpits of America!
Isaiah learned this when a coal from the altar touched his lips. Fire cleansed him before it commissioned him. God dealt with what was unclean before He released what was powerful. We often want the assignment without the burning, the authority without the altar, and the impact without the refining. But God has never reversed the order. Fire always cleanses before it sends.
At Pentecost, the fire did not hover over the room as a shared atmosphere. It rested on each believer individually. Every person was marked personally. God does not brand crowds. He brands people. And that fire was not symbolic. It was functional. It empowered witness, produced boldness, and turned ordinary believers into living evidence of God’s presence.
Yet Scripture also warns us how easily fire can be diminished. Jesus spoke of lamps going out, not because oil was unavailable, but because it was not carried. Fire rarely disappears suddenly. It weakens slowly. Compromise does not announce itself as rebellion. It shows up as tolerance, distraction, convenience, and delay. What once burned brightly begins to flicker, not because God withdrew, but because something else was allowed onto the altar.
God Himself is a consuming fire. Fire confirms that He is pleased, consuming sacrifices offered in faith. Fire confirms that He is present, surrounding His people and illuminating dark places. But fire must be stewarded. Scripture reminds us that where there is no wood, the fire goes out. God sends the fire, but He entrusts us with its care.
Many want to soak in God’s presence without ever feeding His fire. Fire requires intention. It requires obedience. It requires bringing our own cross to the altar, not just admiring Christ’s. God’s Word still burns when it is received with humility. Hearts still burn when truth is welcomed rather than managed.
John Wesley once observed, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell.”
God has not stopped sending fire. What has changed is our tolerance for the heat. Holy fire does not fade. It is suffocated when compromise is allowed to sit where surrender once lived. God still brands His people with power, but He does not compete with divided altars.
Live This Out Loud
Turn On: “House Of Prayer” by Eddie James and proceed through the rest of this blog.
Identify where small compromises have slowly replaced wholehearted obedience and remove them intentionally.
Feed the fire daily through prayer, repentance, and submission rather than relying on past encounters.
Choose alignment over comfort so that what God ignited in you can burn fully again.
My Prayer
Holy Spirit, I come to You in the name of Jesus, asking You to search my heart and remove anything that has suffocated Your fire in my life. Cleanse me where compromise has taken root and reignite what You first placed within me. Teach me to steward Your presence with obedience, humility, and reverence so that my life burns for Your glory alone. Amen.
“The Lord your God will make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you.” — Deuteronomy 1:11
Branded By Fire,
-PG
