You Never Have To Advertise A Fire

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:29

With all the forrest fires we have had in California this year you can see smoke from fires that are burning hundreds of miles away. It reminds me of what Leonard Ravenhill, a noted revivalist who said, “You never have to advertise a fire”. It’s so true as I remember how my Mom would load me and my three siblings into the car just to drive out to the foothills near our home when she saw smoke rising in the sky. The fire Leonard Ravenhill speaks of is passion. The beauty of passion is within it there is both intensity and desire.

John Wesley once remarked about his own life, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” He also would say, “I set myself on fire (through prayer) and people come to watch me burn (speaking of his burning with passion at the teaching and preaching of God’s Word).

Did you know that the word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, “en” and “theos” which means “in God”. That’s right beloved of God, the most enthusiastic people walking the face of the earth are those whose lives are in God living for Him! Focus on living for Jesus and the enthusiasm will follow. Its kind of like the old saying, where there’s smoke, there’s fire! They go hand in hand.

Jesus said of you and I whose lives belong to Him that we are like a city set on a hill that can’t be hidden. Believe it or not God saved you to show you off, He desires that we stand out. That’s what the word sanctified means, “set apart”. God has set you apart for His own good pleasure, you are His prized possession, a trophy of His amazing grace that He wants all the world to see. I love that old saying, “Their walk was so loud you couldn’t hear them speak”. May our love for our Savior be the passion of our lives that sets us ablaze lighting up our lives so bright that the world can’t help but notice.  


“And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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