The writer of this blog used to be a Girl Scout. I started as a Brownie and went up through Cadet. We didn’t have a leader for Senior in our small town so that’s where I stopped, but I had many great experiences: camping, doing service projects, and making things. One thing I liked is making fires and cooking food on them.
Fast forward a couple of scores and you have a woman on her own who hadn’t made a fire in a very long time. I know all the ways to make a fire, I have just relied on men to do it. Yesterday, however, I changed that. For me, it was a pretty big deal. I put wood briquettes in my brand-new hibachi and struck a few matches. The fire didn’t take, so having been in a Girl Scout I knew what to do. I gathered some dry leaves and small, dry sticks. Fifteen minutes later the coals were ready for cooking my dinner of vegetables and veggie sausages.
You don’t need matches to start a fire. You can use a magnifying glass or you can use friction by rotating a stick very fast. Fire can be good depending on what type of fire it is and where it is. In the barbecue grill it’s a great thing. A fire in the house – it’s not so great. I’ve known people that have had them and I’ve even started one accidentally – a story for another day.
The fire of God – that is the best type of fire. It starts as a little flame, an interest in God. That interest needs fuel to grow into a full roaring fire. The fuel you need is the word of God. Without the word of God, the fire dies. Put some sticks on that fire! Go to church, attend Bible study, and do a daily quiet time where you open God’s word to feed that fire!
Step in to the refiner’s fire!
Little fires soon die out if they’re not given bigger logs. Logs burn for a long time, but they need a good foundation for the fire to burn. Dear ones, be careful what church you affiliate with. If you pick the wrong church, your fire for God can die.
How to pick a church:
- The pastor challenges you to reach others for Christ. Like this way Pastor David Dyer does. Don’t let the humble start fool you; this message is the heart of God: https://youtu.be/yEPSZkcuRb0
- You hear the word repent a lot. Jesus used this word a lot and we should too!
- You don’t hear people quoting from the passion translation or the message Bible. Both of them are not true translations.
- The church doesn’t support Bethel or Hillsong music.
- There is an emphasis on discipleship.
- The Bible is the authoritative word of God and Jesus is the only way to Heaven. There is no universal Jesus and all other religions don’t lead to God.
- The church is actively planting other churches. If you can’t find one like that start your own. Read the book I keep recommending From Megachurch to Multiplication by Chris Galanos.
Once you find a great church, you still have a personal responsibility to throw logs into your own fire. Bible study should be one of your major hobbies. If you have an all-consuming hobby and it doesn’t leave your time for studying God‘s message to you, then put that hobby on the fire and let it burn!
Once you start throwing the logs on the fire, something amazing happens. You become the fire. You burn bright for God and people notice. You desire truth. You covet that time with God and you don’t let things interfere with it. The hobby you gave up to spend more time with God loses its appeal. Jesus becomes Lord of your life. It’s a crazy wonderful thing to be in communion with a God who spoke this universe into existence.
To stoke the fire of your faith, spend quantity time in the Bible. Pray asking God to illuminate a direction for you. Praise Him. Hold your own worship service. That’ll really stoke the fire.
Love on Jesus; He already loves you!
Following Jesus 