As believers, we are more alive in the middle of God’s white-hot presence than anywhere else on earth. The history of revival is often studied from man’s perspective; what we do to encounter God. God on Fire explores what God does to encounter us.
Hartley looks at sin-crushing, satan-evicting, Christ-exalting, life-transforming, nation-discipling revival from God’s perspective. The centerpiece is the manifest presence of God – tangible, specific, local, personal. God is on fire! As we encounter and hold out the blazing inferno of God’s manifest presence, others will say, “Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23).
The focus of this book is the manifest presence of Christ and, according to Richard Owen Roberts, is a subject that has never been fully expounded in book-form before. Its both challenging and powerfully convicting, and my only complaint is that its walk through some of the key and exciting issues at its heart is a bit too brisk at times. But this is a book to be cherished, pored over, and read again and again.
We were asked to read this book for upcoming meetings for latin american regional leaders and I'm so thankful. Oh how I want to grow deeper in Jesus every day...
I have many highlights but here are a few: "Jesus is the manifest presence of God. Because we are God seekers and not manifestation seekers, we always want to keep our eyes on Christ."
"Be a person of one thing, not a dabbler in many things. As good as you may be at music or sales or medicine or technology..., none of these are your first calling. You are called first to wholeheartedly know God, encounter God and worship Him for who He is.
"The hope of the world is the church of Jesus Christ and, more specifically, the manifest presence of Christ in the middle of the church. The future of the church rests with its leaders who will receive the flame, value it and share it with the nations." (Rev1:20)
"...humanity was made for the manifest presence of God. God's manifest presence is there at the beginning and at the end."
"We are called by the Lord Jesus Christ to make Upper Room disciples among the nations so that the Church experiences genuine revival and becomes a house of prayer for all nations."