O God of burning, cleansing flame

I heard this song from a CD with a rather funny, but controversial name from the "Here I am to Worship" series. on my i-tunes, the album title is Here I am to Worship Hymns. I am serious! Some Christians will not tolerate such things and will probably ban the CD from their library. Nonetheless, this hymn is really powerful, but I couldn't sing the first verse without being troubled by the statement "we need another Pentecost". While I sort of figured what it meant, I know that some Chrisitans will point a finger on this and say this hymn is not biblical, but I found an article that briefly addressed this which was exactly what I was feeling inside.

Now I can sing this hymn with boldness and as a prayer, pray for revival in R-age, in Grace Assembly of God, in my nation, Singapore.

William Booth’s great hymn, O God of Burning, Cleansing Flame (Send the Fire). It contains the line “We need another Pentecost”. Of course, we don’t need another Pentecost from a theological point of view: the Holy Spirit has been given, He is here with us, as powerful now as He was in the early church. But most of us would agree that we need that kind of Pentecost anointing in our lives which transformed the apostles from fearful despondent follower into powerful, radical world changers...

...Songs do play an important part in imparting doctrinal truth; but they are not a replacement for first-hand study of the Bible, or good biblical teaching in the local church. Where these essentials are being ignored, the danger of heresy looms large, no matter how doctrinally correct the songs.

-Stuart Townend (click here to read the whole article)

SEND THE FIRE

O God of burning, cleansing flame, Send the fire
Your blood - bought gift today we claim, Send the fire today
Look down and see this waiting hostAnd send the promised Holy GhostWe need another Pentecost, Send the fire today

God of Elijah, hear our cry, Send the fire
And make us fit to live or die, send the fire today
To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory in
The revolution now begins, Send the fire today

It's fire we want, for fire we plead, Send the fire
The fire will meet our every need, Send the fire today
Give us strength to always do what's right,
And grace to conquer in the fight
for power to walk this world in white, Send the fire today

To make our weak hearts strong and brave, Send the fire
To live a dying world to save, Send the fire
Lord, we're here tonight and we're on Your alter, Send the fire
We give our lives to You today, Send the fire
Send the fire today!

O, I must acknowledge that I sometimes have one little problem with this "fire" thing. Some preacher said that when God send fire in the bible, it's usually in judgement (such as Sodom and Gomorrah, revelation and hell), but there are also biblical accounts when God used fire to consume sacrifices that is acceptable in His sight. With this in mind, I am reminded that I am a livign sacrifice placed on the altar of the world being consume with a fire that doesn't destroy but purifies me. WOW!