STOKING THE FIRE IN MY SOUL
by Pastor Rick Sams
We were enjoying one of the last chiminia fires of
summer. I stopped feeding the fire quite a while before we went
inside. Soon we could hardly see the flames: we could barely feel the
warmth. No one was feeding, fanning or protecting the flames, things all
fires need if they�re going to keep burning brightly.
Many have written
on how to keep a "fire in the belly. This dated expression basically
refers to personal "renewal. Businesses spend millions on training and
continuing education to keep their employees and executives fired up and firing
on all cylinders.
But what does it mean to stoke the fire in your
soul? I know I must do these things…and so must you.
I must
emphasize PROCESS more than events.
One giant of the faith said "The
Christian life is so difficult because it is so DAILY. We want everything
solved, changed and healed by one seminar or one trip to the altar. That�s
NOT going to happen. Much changes at that event, but we still need daily
disciplines and constant training. We still need the moment by moment
filling of the Holy Spirit.
I must emphasize MY part, not just GOD�S.
It�s true: He is the Senior Partner and we are very much the junior partner
in this adventure called living the Christian life. But so often we want
God to do it all for us. "Lord, deliver me, we pray, and then blame
Him because we still sin or we�re still sick. We think all we have to do
is "let go and let God, when in reality the Bible tells us we have a
significant part to play in our own healing and growth: "Make every effort to
add to your faith goodness… (2 Peter 1:3-8 ). "Devote yourselves to
prayer… (Col. 4:2). "Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil…Humble yourselves… (James 4:7-10). "[Keep]
confess[ing] your sins to each other, and [keep] pray[ing] for one each other so
that you may be healed… (Jas 5:16). "…You will find me [the Lord]
when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). "Delight
yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm
34:4). If you don�t forgive you won�t be forgiven (Matt 6:14-15).
"…Continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling… (Phil
2:12).
This is called "cooperative sanctification and it�s one of
the most misused, misunderstood truths in the Christian faith.
I must
adopt this motto: "God�s way is best. My way is NOT".
How many
"extinguishers such as: "My way is best. God�s way is not,
threaten to snuff the fire in our soul? We think we can improve on God�s
ways and go against His design, and "It will be different for me…I won�t have
the same outcome as others. I�m smart enough to avoid the same traps that
got them. What I want is ESSENTIAL my happiness! NO, NO, NO!
We may be smarter than others, but we are NOT smarter than God. The
original temptation in the Garden said we could be like Him, knowing all things
(Genesis 3:5). But that was and still is a LIE!
All fires need fed
and fanned or they will smolder and die. This is up to us so we "do not
put out the Spirit�s fire in our soul (I Thessalonians
5:19).