Monday has arrived as expected and I can say that it did not surprise me. I am ready to face the day with some prayer and a hot cup of Door County White Christmas Coffee.
Yesterday was one of those days in Wisconsin where it was very cold but a fireplace loaded with hard maple logs felt good for the bones as well as the soul. I made a fire in the morning and kept it going into the early part of the afternoon. I had some errands to run and a special pick up of a friend at the airport. It wasn't until much later that I returned and noticed that the fire was out. I had been outside doing some dog training with Gibbs and was a little chilled. I decided that a fire would once again solve my problem.
As I was poking around in the hearth of the fireplace I noticed that beneath the ashes there were some red hot coals still, smoldering. I add some cedar kindling to the coals and blew on them. Soon there was a small flame that I added more kindling and hard wood to. Within minutes the fireplace was producing heat and the crackling of a hardwood flame. Life was good.
Luke 24:32 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?”
The story of the two disciples who after Jesus had been raised from the dead on the same day were headed to Emmaus, you will remember that when He first appeared to them they did not know who He was. As they were talking about the events of His crucifixion, death and now the message that had come back from Mary, Martha, Peter, and John that Jesus was in fact alive, Jesus comes and joins them in the middle of this conversation. He then begins to explain to them from the Old Testament Scriptures the things concerning Him.
You see there hearts "burned" within. Like any fire does, this fire within also consumes things. Their hearts were consumed with wanting to hear more and be closer to Jesus. What this tells me is that there was some embers within their hearts just needed to be fanned and stoked. Time spent with Jesus fanned the embers into a flame.
If we find our lives are the type of Christian lives that just smolder, we need to fan the flames and stoke the fire. How do we do this?
1. Spend more time in the Word.
2. Spend more time in prayer.
3. Listen to God in prayer.
4. Obey what He tells us through His Word and prayer.
All this adds up to walking with Jesus. A walk the sets our hearts on fire and fuels our passion for more of an intimate relationship with God.
Smoldering wood tends to give off smoke that smells and really never produces heat. Better to have a fire that warms us and those around us. Isn't that what our souls should strive for?
Food for thought today? How warm is your fire for God?
Marty
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