Video Transcript: Wildfire Accelerants

In this lecture, we're going to talk again about ways that we try to extinguish the Wildfire without going to the Peacefire. 

In the last lecture, we talked about Strange Fire, trying to do God's will, our own way.  It's much like coming to that place where we think that doing something that's contrary to God's word can be pleasing to God.  It's justifying our response to the conflict in hopes that it will put the Wildfire out but it's all done in reliance on either our flesh or another person, and it's not done in reliance on Jesus Christ.  And when we try to resolve conflicts that way will easily slip over into Strange Fire to extinguish the Wildfire. 

In this section, I'm going to talk to you about Wildfire accelerants.  Wildfire accelerants are worldly and fleshly driven attempts to extinguish the Wildfire. 

A Wildfire accelerant might bring temporary relief to the intensity of the conflict Wildfire, but it can never reconcile and restore a relationship the way that Jesus Christ does because of Wildfire accelerant isn't intended to restore relationship, it’s only intended to extinguish the conflict Wildfire.  The appeal of these accelerants is that they do bring temporary relief.  They'll decrease, they may decrease the intensity of the conflict.  And because we use them and they tend to work for a short period of time, we rely on them.  

Here's a list of some Wildfire accelerants: pride, revenge, anger, lying, hatred, fear, bitterness, scorn and mockery and gossip.

Let's start with pride. God hates pride.  Pride tends to overemphasize truth.  How right we are about the situation, and under emphasize mercy.  And when you're in the power position of a conflict, and as a Christian leader, you will be in a power position, it's easy for you to use that power, to use the pride that comes with that power to cause others to do what you want them to do and to force the Wildfire to go down. 

The Lord says in Proverbs 8:13, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.  I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”

The Lord hates pride. And when we use our pride to try to extinguish a Wildfire, we may get temporary relief, but the fire will come back.  

Revenge.  Revenge in in conflict is such a temptation.  We've been wronged and we want to be avenged.  But the Lord says, “Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath for it is written, it is mine to avenge.  I will repay, says the Lord.”  Romans 12:19. 

Anger is another Wildfire accelerant. Man's anger stirs up strife.  Proverbs 15:18, “A hot tempered person stirs up conflict.  But the one who is patient calms a quarrel.”  Man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.

In James 1:19-20, "My dear brothers and sisters take note of this.  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."

Have you ever gotten angry?  Sure, we all have.  These Wildfire accelerants are from time to time, will appear in each of our lives.  When the Wildfire accelerants occurs, it is not upon us then to try to change and be a better person.  When we're tempted to get angry, and we get angry, we have an opportunity.  Something's been exposed about us and we can go to the Peacefire, we can confess that anger to the Lord, and ask him to change us because this area of our heart does not look like Jesus Christ.  

Ask Him to continue with the work He's begun in us and, by faith, and ask Him what does He want us to do; to go back now.  We have an opportunity to go to that person that we've been angry toward.  And we have an opportunity to build the relationship back with them. And that relationship can become stronger.  It can become better when we humble ourselves and go and confess our anger, and then deal with whatever it was that made us angry in the first place.  

But every time a Wildfire accelerant is exposed in our life, it's not to condemn us, it’s not so that we give up and become depressed because of our depraved state.  Sometimes we’ll be justified and will justify our anger.  But it's clear that anger does not accomplish God's righteousness and the Lord just gives us that opportunity to come before him say Lord, I blew it.  Please forgive me.  Change me.  Show me what you want me to do to restore a relationship with my brother or sister. 

Lying is another Wildfire accelerant.  In Colossians 3:9-10 it says, “Do not lie to each other since you've taken off your old self with His practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the creator.”

Lying is an ever present help in times of trouble.  But our lives always find us out, don't they?  And so we know who the father of lies is.  And whenever we're caught in a lie, or we catch someone else in a lie, destroy the work of the devil.  Let the Lord come in, bring truth, bring restoration, bring healing, and confess to one another.  And let the Lord reconcile our relationship. 

Hatred, like pride, hatred hides in the heart.  Proverbs 10:12 says, “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” 

Fear is another Wildfire accelerant.  Fear paralyzes us in the midst of conflict.  In 2 Timothy 1:7 we read, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Unforgiveness and bitterness is the next Wildfire accelerant.  Bitterness actually causes the Wildfire to spread.  In Hebrews 12:15, we read, "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

Are you someone who has harbored bitterness towards someone?  Maybe you are bitter towards your parents for how you were raised.  Maybe you're bitter toward a spouse or an ex-spouse. Maybe you're bitter toward an old boss who fired you for no good reason.  The deceitfulness of bitterness is that it's like a poison we drink hoping that our enemy will die. 

All of these Wildfire accelerants that we've talked about pride, anger, hatred, revenge, lying, fear, unforgiveness, bitterness, none of these comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.  They all come from the flesh, they all come from the world, they all come from the enemy.  And when we see them in our lives, and when we see them in the midst of a Wildfire, they can now be a flag to you - I'm not where I belong, this is not going to resolve this conflict in a manner that glorifies Jesus Christ.  This is not the power of the Holy Spirit at work in this conflict.  Go to Peacefire and ask the Lord to change you and to give you what He has for you for that conflict at that time. 

Ridicule, scorn, and mockery, and gossip are the final Wildfire accelerants I’m going to mention in this session.  They might feel good.  It might feel good to ridicule someone.   It always feels good to mock someone when we think we need the upper hand but Proverbs 22:10 says, “Drive out the mocker and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.”  

When a Wildfire accelerant is exposed in your heart, the remedy is to take it to the Peacefire. and as a Christian Leader, as a parent, as an employer, as a business person, as a pastor, as a leader, when you see Wildfire accelerants at work on your team, in your family, in your organization, in your ministry, don't be discouraged.  You have great opportunity to go to the Peacefire, ask the Lord how he wants you to deal with that situation and then walk by faith and make the choice to pleases Him. 

God bless you. We'll see you next time.