Longing for the fire to fall

Many of us long to be baptised in the Holy Spirit - for His fire to fall on us - the same way it was at Pentecost.

"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:1)

The Old Testament equivalent is this: after Solomon had finished dedicating the temple through prayer, "fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple". (2 Chronicles 7:1)

In the New Testament, we are meant to be that sacrifice. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

Tamara Winslow writes: "OT worshippers expected fire to fall. Heavenly fire fell on acceptable sacrifices, and if it didn't fall, for some reason, heaven didn't approve of the offering. The acceptable sacrifice is like a magnet, attracting God's approval and fire (Acts 2:1-3), Holy Spirit visitation and outpouring."

Here are some questions to ponder:
1. Why doesn't the fire tangibly and visibly fall today?
2. Have we failed to offer sacrifices that are pleasing to God?
3. Per AW Tozer's devotional message below, if the fire were to fall, will it give off a sweet smell or a rancid one?

Worship with a stench - AW Tozer

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. --Isaiah 1:16

Let us suppose we are back in the old days of the high priest, who took incense into the sanctum and went behind the veil and offered it there. And let us suppose that rubber - the worst-smelling thing I can think of when it burns - had been available in those days. Let us suppose that chips of rubber had been mixed with the incense, so that instead of the pure smoke of the spices filling the temple with sweet perfume, there had been the black, angry, rancid smell of rubber mixed with it. How could a priest worship God by mixing with the sweet-smelling ingredients some foul ingredient that would be a stench in the nostrils of priest and people?

So how can we worship God acceptably when there is within our nature something that, when it catches on fire, gives off not a fragrance but a smell? How can we hope to worship God acceptably when there is something in our nature which is undisciplined, uncorrected, unpurged, unpurified - which is evil and which will not and cannot worship God acceptably? Even granted that a man with evil ingredients in his nature might with some part of him worship God half acceptably, what kind of a way is that to live?

"Purify my heart. Bring to my remembrance anything that might be a stench in Your holy nostrils. Cleanse me, that my worship this morning might be a sweet perfume, pleasing to You in every way. Amen."