“Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain and I can’t control; I want more of you, God.”
How many times do I sing that and really mean it?
As Christians we often talk about God setting us on fire or using us to set the world on fire. We come away from camps, revivals, mission trips, etc. talking about how God did something in us. “He really lit our hearts on fire,” but how many times do we come home and go right back into normal life and let that fire fizzle and smolder. Then we talk about going through really dry periods in our walk with Jesus, meaning we don’t feel as close as we did before or at that event. Dry times are very real; they are a part of life. Areas go through drought and finally are watered by heaven’s rain or caught in the blaze of a wildfire. It is part of the “circle of life.”
Something I was reminded of this week as we sat around our last of many fires is that a fire needs dry sticks and straw and such to even start. When we are at our driest moments that is when God can start the brightest fires!
There is a slight catch though.
We have to be willing.
Often those driest parts are areas we want to hold on to. What are we willing to give up to the fire?
As a fire burns it grows. As it grows it consumes more. God has taken our dry parts and begun the fire, and
He will sustain it, but we need to give Him that right. This is where it gets hard because He wants to consume our lives in one great blaze. A blaze that will burn all the “wood, hay, and stubble” from our hearts and souls and leave only those things that can be refined- gold, silver, and jewels.
(check 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
Can we allow that? Can we let go of what we’ve created, dreamed, and built around us? Once we do there is no turning back.
Fire also has the ability to give off great amounts of heat and light. Even a small fire can be felt when close and seen at a little distance. When we are truly on fire, burning brightly for Christ, people are going to feel it radiating from us and see it in our lives, even from a distance. A fire has far reaching affects. It can warm the people closest to it and provide light to those further out. It can even light another fire. The question is, will we allow God to start such a fire within us?
In our souls burns the eternal fire. Our life is but a spark, but even a small spark can start another fire.
