The Fire and the Word – Ken Barnes
Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!” (1 Kings 18:38-39 NLT)
Sometimes we as Christians have the fire before the Word, and we have the cart before the horse.
In the section leading to our scriptural reference, 1 Kings 18:30-37 NLT, a description is given of the building of the alter upon which Elijah was to call down fire. Although, the people did obey Elijah and construct the alter, we see very little admonition for his efforts. Such is the path of walking by faith. When you go out on the limb for God, there is very few who go with you, but when the Devil cuts the limb and the tree falls and the limb stays there, everybody is there to congratulate you.
The way of the world says that seeing is believing, where in the Kingdom of God, believing happens before seeing. As Christians we often desire to see God’s fire and glory, the working of miracles, and rightly so. Yet, the Bible says in Romans 10:17 NKJV, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If we are not grounded in God’s Word, we are asking for fire without faith.
If God has given you a promise and asked you to step out by faith, don’t be surprised if your fan base is pretty small. You may not get too many likes on Facebook, or the tweets are not real encouraging. Remember this, little is much if God is in it.
Belief in God’s Word always comes before the fire.
Ken was a foreign missionary with YWAM for many years. Contact him and read more HERE. 
