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I’m definitely not a boy scout. And I have to admit I have never tried to start a physical fire anyway other than with the aid of a grill lighter.
But I have noticed a few things about starting a fire and I think that they apply to how to start a fire in our lives.
First, you have to have a spark, a catalyst. Sunday or New Community church services are often a catalyst for this kind of fire. But that’s not all… things people say to us, something we read in the Bible, truth in music and other forms of art books you read… anything that gets you thinking about God’s truth and how to apply it to your life can be that spark.
Second, you have to have fuel - something to grow the spark and keep it going. You can’t stop at your first thought, question or conviction from the spark, you have to feed it. You can do that through relationships, through further study, through worship but you have to feed it.
Finally, a fire needs a good environment. At my son’s first birthday party I tried time and again to light the candle on his cake. However, we were at a park that was very windy and no matter how hard I tried, the fire wouldn’t hold. We were not in an environment that would support the fire.
So, what are those for you?
What is it that creates a spark in your life to long to pursue God further?
How do you feed that and not let it die out?
What environments (places you can go or groups of people you can be with) do you need to be in to keep the fire burning?
And, once you answer those questions… Do those things. It’s not enough to just know what they are, you have to put the plan into action.
~ Deana Kistner
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
While considering how to become a White-Hot Christian, I was temporarily distracted by selfish thinking. I started wondering how long it would take for me, or anyone, as a White-Hot Christian, to Burn Out? In a physical sense, it makes sense. The hotter a fire burns, the more fuel it needs and the more it consumes.
Each day is full of potential stressors – things that cause worry. Whether they are past deeds, people in the present, or events in the future, these worries cost emotional fuel. Even though worry has never solved one problem, it seems inevitable for me to worry about things I can’t control. Since I am imperfect and this is an imperfect world, I burn a lot of emotional fuel in wasteful ways. How then, can I keep from burning out if I increase the heat by making the jump to being a White-Hot Christian?
Then it hit me. “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4:14.
Just as it was no ordinary Water that Jesus was speaking of, this is no ordinary Fire! If I am being asked to raise my spiritual temperature by my God, will He not provide a renewable source of energy for me?
Of course He will.
It’s never easy for me to get out of my comfort zone. Even when I’m just fighting myself to get to the gym, where the only opposition I face is laziness. By asking God to help me become a better Christian, I am opening myself up to spiritual opposition and to the realization that I am a pretty consistent sinner who to some degree, doesn’t want to change.
But knowledge, and faith, are powerful. Just knowing that I am likely to face additional temptations as I try to become more like Christ, I can pray more deeply and more specifically for strength and grace, I can put myself in the company of like-minded believers, and I can always ask those who are wiser and further along in their Walk with Christ for help. With time, I believe, it will become easier to be a White-Hot Christian, but in the beginning it is going to take a conscious effort on my part to take the steps toward a stronger relationship with God and allow Him to burn off the unnecessary and harmful undergrowth in my life.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Wow, thanks to both of you for the wisdom and encouragement in fueling the fire. This week I am specifically struggling with getting back in the discipline of going to the gym so you spoke to ME Marq! I definitely need to burn off some ‘undergrowth’…or should I say overgrowth?! Ha!
August 24th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Marq, i just wanted to say that I fully appreciate what you wrote.
I fully relate to what you wrote about worry, and also the” Water.”
It is the answer. i just have to learn take it in & of it drink daily. Thank you so much for your thoughts.
August 25th, 2007 at 10:18 am
I am a few days late getting to this devotional thought. But I wanted to weigh in on the thought Marq brought up about burning out.
The water is certainly heavenly water that will never let us thirst again. That made me think of the burning bush that Moses saw in the desert. It burned with fire but was never consumed. It seems that God is our fuel and He is endless and eternal. Therefore if we are burning white-hot for God, we won’t burn out or run out of fuel for the fire.
But I am right there with Marq. I have to be honest, there are times I don’t really WANT to be white hot for God. So it really is a conscious effort that I have to be deliberate about and keep my attention focused on to attain.
Let’s encourage each other toward the white-hot lives God has for us.