Tag Archives: Flame

FORGIVENESS

5 Apr

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: Matthew 6:14

…

There’s a fire deep inside,

That spreads,

That dwindles,

That spreads.

…

No one else can see it,

No one else can feel it,

But it eats like a canker,

Into my peace.

…

Someone set the fuel in place,

Another provided the spark,

But I set the flame,

I keep it alive.

…

It isn’t a warming thing,

Based on love,

Although it replaced love,

A long time ago.

…

It is a burning thing,

Based on hate,

I can’t let go of,

I won’t let go.

…

And though I know,

Others can sense it,

Others shy from it,

I am the only one,

Who truly suffers.

…

As much as I want,

To be free of this sin,

It beckons me back,

It calls me friend.

…

It keeps me from growth,

It harnesses my joy,

It alters my path,

It chains me to me.

…

Lord, help me forgive,

The pains of the past,

That I might have freedom,

To live.

 

 

Written 6/26/98

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SPIRIT OF MAN

22 Sep

“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”  Proverbs 20:27


Lord, can you see

the death within 

the fallen man?



Has the light,

You've placed,

inside his soul,

dimmed from the absence,

of the anointing oil?



Does his inward parts,

grow dark and empty,

from the absence of you?



Where did the oil go?

Did it slowly burn away,

when used on goodly projects,

void of Godly seed?



Did it burn rapidly away,

on endless nights,

of busy details,

none birthed for the kingdom,

only for the furtherance,

of man?



Did the glow leave,

so slowly,

that no one noticed,

the warmth in the depths of the eyes,

was replaced by cold,

hallow, loneliness?



Once cold, 

did the soul embrace the emptiness,

and call it home;

explaining the way back,

is too difficult?



Is there yet a hope, 

a small smoldering bud,

that a new flame,

could grow,

even brighter,

than the first?



Replenish the oil,

in this vessel, Lord,

that when the nights grow so weary,

I will draw closer to the flame,

and into Your light.



Let there be such an abundance,

that the light within me,

will show into the eyes,

of one so cold.



Let the oil flow,

so heavily,

from my anointing,

that it will flow from my prayers,

through the depths of Jesus,

and into another's life.



Let me always be a light,

to lift the darkness,

in another's soul.

 

Written 7-28-99

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TINY FLAME

22 Sep

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.   Luke 11:33

Being burdened down by the flu on New Year’s Eve 1999 kept me home from the outstanding event our church had been preparing for the previous 4 months. I sent up my prayers for my church family and the events they had worked so hard on – then I lay back down and prayed for relief from the symptoms I’d been fighting the previous 2 ½ days.

The year 2000 was about to become a reality, 2000 years since the death of our precious savior – 2000 years of salvation by faith, by grace, by the blood of Christ. 2000 years.

We’ve come from traveling by foot, to traveling by jet plane. From writing on the bark of a tree with the juice of berries, to computers and the internet. From never traveling farther than 30 miles from where we were born, to the moon, mars and beyond.

We come from a way of life where our entire days were surrounded by the teaching of the ways of the Biblical Fathers, to the days where people walked with Christ – God made flesh, to the time where it is difficult to work 10 minutes of prayer into our busy daily schedules. We have advanced our civilization in the last 100 years at a pace that has outreached any imagination the early pioneers could have had. We have created, and created, and created at such a rapid pace that we have left ourselves little time to remember, let alone thank, the creator of all.

I prepared my candle and matches, just in case the Y2K “doomsayers” were correct and I needed to travel from one end of the house to the other in total darkness. I lit the candle and realized how I’ve always been drawn to the tiny flame. It has always intrigued me how lighting a candle during the day gives off so little light, but at night, when all other light has been extinguished, that one tiny flame can light an enormous room.

Drawing close to the flame you can feel the warmth that it emits. A warmth far beyond its tiny reach. This light and warmth draws me together with those who have shared this very moment for hundreds and thousands of years. Long before the birth of Christ. Before Moses and the burning bush; that burned and yet wasn’t consumed. Long before Pharaoh and Noah.

A light and a warmth that comforted Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, sent into a land of unknown sounds, shadows and total darkness – caused from being apart from God. I envision their being drawn to the flame, like the many times they drew near to God’s glory; warm and comforting.

Like that tiny flame, I wonder what part I play in the spiritual darkness that has spread across the world. Can the small flame that burns inside me, lit by the Holy Spirit and fed by the anointing, create enough light to show others the way to Christ? Can that flame generate enough warmth to draw the confused to a place of comfort and understanding?

Lord, I pray that as long as I remain on this earth, that I will always share the light that’s within me. Help me to feed the hungry and comfort the comfortless. Let me always remember that the reason I have been placed upon this earth is to praise and give all glory to You!

Written 12/31/99 – and yet it still applies today!

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The Fire Within

30 Oct

“Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.”   Exodus 19:18 NIV

My wood burning stove and I have a love-hate relationship.  When it is cooperating I love it; wonderful dry warmth.  However, when I don’t have the fire building components right, it becomes the subject of several hours of frustration. The Fire Triangle represents the 3 simple components that ensure continued combustion, or a nice warm fire.  The components consist of flame, oxygen and a continued source of fuel.  Ah, fuel!!  Therein lies the problem.

So, first goes in the paper, then bits of cardboard, next small branches or twigs, and then split log on top.  The perfect building blocks for a solid fire . . . except that the split logs wouldn’t burn.  At the onset of cold weather we’d had many dry months; the wood was dry and easy to start.  Then came several tropical storms, and although the wood wasn’t openly in the rain, the ends became damp and the wood absorbed the thick humidity hanging in the air.

I would start up a fire, watch it flare and roar, close the door, set the flue, and walk away.  Within a few minutes I would realize that the fire had gone completely out.  The fire had consumed all of the viable fuel, but the damp split logs were not viable.

I added more paper, cardboard and twigs, encourage the flames with the billows, would get it roaring, and then close the door.  Once again it went out.  This repeated over and over again, often for hours.  Each time the split log would get a little drier and start to smolder in spots.  After many, many starts the log would finally get dry enough to actually ignite and burn.

I started thinking about how much that sounded like the journeys of our faith?  We start out with hearts on fire and great expectations, but our components aren’t complete.  We need the daily building of the Word inside to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning brightly.  We need encouragers, teachers and mentors to build our foundation.  What we allow to come into our lives, our eyes, our ears, our mind, can absorb into that foundation and dampen our spirits, causing our fire to smolder or go completely out.

With my wood burning stove I have discovered that I have the best results in starting a new fire if I never to allow the embers of the previous fire to go completely cold.  Tossing a small branch in the stove and closing down the flue will allow the embers to smolder underneath the soft ashes for many hours.  When it is time for the new fire, I only need to remove the ash and set the new split log onto the embers.  The embers will dry the wood and ignite the log after a period of time.  The firefighters talk about this phenomena, it’s called a “flare up.”  Flare up is very dangerous in campfires and forest fires, but it is not dangerous in my fireplace – and it is absolutely not dangerous in my faith.

Do you feel as if you have spiritually grown cold?  Do you feel that the faith you once had has left you in the aftermath of testing and trials?  God tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6), and that His Spirit will consume us, fill us and guide us as we allow it (Hebrews 12:29).  He’s right there under the ash of burned away days, traveled roads and deep disappointments; a burning ember waiting to rekindle the faith we so desire.  Rebuild your foundation.  Reignite through prayer and study.  Your flame will draw many.

 

Written 10-28-18

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