Smoke and Fire

“For our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:29

It’s summer time and with summer comes fire season. You literally can see the smoke and flame’s from miles away. It was Leonard Ravenhill, a noted revivalist who once wrote, “You never have to advertise a fire” and it’s so true as I remember how my Mom would load me and my brother and sisters into the car just to drive out to the foothills near our home whenever she saw smoke rising in the sky. The fire Leonard Ravenhill speaks of is our passion for the Lord. 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). Jesus said of His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16 on the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Believe it or not God, saved you to show you off, He desires that your life stands out. That’s what the word sanctified means, “set apart”. God has set us apart for His own good pleasure, we are His prized possession, trophies of His amazing grace that He wants the world to see today.

Here’s something to think about. Did you know that the English word “enthusiasm” comes from two Greek words, “en” and “theos” which means, “in God”? That means that 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 enthusiasm will follow. Its kind of like, where there’s smoke, there’s fire! They go hand in hand.

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 4:6

I LOVE YOU!