Baptism of fire

TRIAL NUMBER 6 - COMPLAINING
Numbers 11:1 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some on the fringes of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.
Now the mixed multitude that was among them had an excessive longing. And the people of Israel also wept again…

Complaining comes from an excessive longing because of a sense of lack, a preoccupation with what we don’t have instead of what we do have. We are called to reflect the image of Jesus.
1Corinthians 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (a complaining Jesus or a grateful Jesus? )

This is a fire of judgment. Old Testament judgment had finality about it. Saul was judged and taken out of the way and David replaced him. The old had to be judged so that the new could come forth. In Jesus, the old in us is taken away so that the new can come forth. Jesus intercedes for us just as Moses interceded for Israel.
The Greek word for judgment is krisis, a crisis. That means a place and time of challenge and decision, for our good, to purify our hearts by faith by trusting in him more.

Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver,

1Corinthians 3:10 But let each one take heed how he builds on it (The foundation of Christ). For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day (of judgment) will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1Timothy 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

1Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
1Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

There is a movement of faith in the heart from complaining to being grateful, from resisting to accepting. It is the partnership between faithfulness and supernatural faith. This is the place where trust grows, and hope arises, and gratitude flows. As complaining begins in our mind we move further away from the flame of love so God sends his fire out to the edge for us. God always comes after us. God is always more than we think he is, not less.

Who am I to complain, and who am I helping by complaining? If I look at it from someone else’s point of view, especially God’s, it ends up being all about me. When a complaint is a genuine offence it needs to be handled in the right way for the right reasons (shop).
There are degrees of complaining from the trivial to the attitudinal. It starts by dwelling on and ends by dwelling in an atmosphere of self preoccupation with what we do not have.

The fire is the judgment (krisis) that is sent to make us re-evaluate what we have and do not have and what we value, the inner or the outer life, the inner journey or the outer journey.

Thanks for that fire Lord, I can throw some of these dead branches I just noticed right into it so that I can bring forth branches that bear fruit. There are some negative attitudes here that don’t grow my faith or my faithfulness.

We don’t have to fear that kind of judgment. The bible says we can joyfully welcome this kind of crisis because it helps perfect and complete our hearts of faith.
James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.