FIRE

               FIRE                  

Fire… Attractive… Warmth… Something about fire, it draws one in… The campfire… The open fire place… The dancing flames… One can lose themselves in just staring at the open flames of fire…

Jerimiah’s ministry, his calling, his anointing, the word of GOD that was in him, he compares it to fire… Jerimiah preached that word that was in him with none effect to his people… None converted… None repenting… None turning…

The picture we see of Jerimiah is he is buried to his neck in waste… One little ray of light from the afternoon sun and that of the moon on a clear night… His description of the word of GOD is as a fire to and in him…

Jer 20:8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.     KJV

It was in his heart and he could not contain it… He became weary in trying to hold back what the word of GOD that was in his heart…

·        The fire looks to vent…

·        The fire looks to escape…

·        The fire looks for oxygen…

·        The fire breathes…

And so, it was with Jerimiah… It was in his heart… The word was in his bones looking for an escape, a way out…

Jack London the author of the classic, “The Call of the Wild…” Jack London tells the story about a dog that like as most dogs, they are loyal and loving… So it is with Buck for his owner, Jack Thornton… However, there was in Buck an attraction and yearning for that of the wild… That call never subsided, it was forever there… It was irresistible, it pulled at him… It’s call he lived with every day, every night, and every minute… Yet, what seems to keep at bay the urge to run off into the wild, and abandon Jack his owner for the wild, is but two things…

The love for his owner and his fire…

Buck is caught between two very different worlds… The wild and its call and the fire at the side of his owner… The pull, the inward struggle, the fire that blazed within the little cabin seemed to hold him from answering that “Call of the Wild…”  Deep within the forest the cry called to him… And inside Buck the restraint of that primal urge to run and run and embrace the unknown, was the memory of the fire… Always the fire, and the love for Jack that brought him back…

Fire… Always the fire…

Jerimiah’s call two very different worlds…

·        One side of Jerimiah said, no more… Not one more word…

·        No one is listening…

·        No one taking heed, I’m wasting my time…

·        The side of Jerimiah that never saw the desired results said, it’s an impossible task I have been given…

It’s only impossible when you are the one demanding the results…

Our focus is as always the end, the destination, the desired results…

However, I believe that God isn’t so much just looking for results… He is looking to see what our response of what we will do with the fire, even when there is no desired results… The results or no results aren’t on us… It’s what am I going to do with the fire???

·        Jerimiah, will you smother it???

·        Will you run from it and look to deny it???

·        Will you put it out??? Or will you vent it and let it breathe???

Never mind what others say… Never mind their wish to ignore, squash, or even kill you in the process of giving themselves to the putting out the fire…

If you are the Jerimiah of your generation, just like he, you have to decide to either follow the fire or run into the wild away from the fire…

Which call will you follow, the fire or that of the wild and the unknown???

For Jerimiah to have followed anything but that of the fire would have put him at following whatsoever his flesh would want to follow… Whatever he desired to follow…

I do know this to not follow the fire is to follow your own passions a fire that is of your own making… A fire that will never satisfy… A fire that will never bring true contentment, nor a fire that GOD desires…

·        Give me the fire of GOD…

·        Give me the fire that satisfies the soul…

·        Give me the fire that burns on the inside…

·        Give me the fire of HIS word…

·        Give me the fire that burns away sin, conquers self, and defeats devils, and gives me Jesus and HIS heaven…

The fire… Jesus said…

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.    KJV

And like Jesus, HIS church said of the fire:

Acts 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.    KJV

FIRE… WE NEED THE FIRE…

 

SHORTCUTS

SHORT CUTS :

Everybody loves their shortcuts…

As a child, there was always the race. And as races go, it is about who can get there first. The alleyways may seem the shortcut. However, at the expense of a much rougher and weedy way. It’s the alleyway that is unkempt, and grown over with the chigger, tick infested and often thorny way. But the price of getting there first seemed to be to enticing to pass up.

It doesn’t always have to be a race for who can get there first. There are many other things that we compromise, that also have to do with the taking of a shortcut. The choice of it working as it should without the greater cost for quality and the question, of how long will it last? We all have heard the saying, “you get what you pay for.”  Yet, sure enough to save a buck or two, it is a decision that is made to save and thus take the ever-tempting shortcut.

Life is full of shortcuts to those who wish to take them. But the question is almost never asked; at what peril? Or at what cost? There will always be the temptation of the easier way. There will always be our own inspection of others to our possible downfall. Is that not what the Psalm of Asaph mentions.

·        Ps 73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.    KJV

They were wicked and they by Asaph’s much inspection have arrived at a blessed place, places of prosperity, places of favor, and positions of honor. Yet, Asaph's reaction was that he became envious because the foolishness of the wicked seemed to arrive to the esteemed places of greatness and success. And the conclusion of Asaph was, I almost slipped. Asaph is saying, “I too almost said, what’s the use of hard work, long hours, and calloused hands, and a sore back?”  Asaph seems to be looking to compromise patience and hard work for the alluring way of the shortcut.

We see this in many places within the word of GOD… There is a time in the garden when Jesus at first said to his disciples. Tarry here and watch with me… We know the story they fell asleep. He came to them again and there again they were asleep… His question was. What, could you not watch with me one hour? Note the prayers of Jesus, HE didn’t stop, HE never quit.

Matt 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.    KJV

He went even a third time and prayed the same words. However, it’s wonderful to know that while the disciples were ok with the shortcut in not praying Jesus never stopped for the shortcut.

The temptation of the shortcut is at every turn.

·        You can get by with doing it this way.

·        You don’t have to walk that way.

·        There are easier ways.

·        There is no difference between us. So, says the tempter.

Jesus was tempted. So, it is we see as HE faced the temptation of the shortcut.

1)     Turn theses stones to bread.

2)     Throw yourself down, if you be the son of GOD then the angels shall catch you can bare you up.

3)     Then the third time the devil takes him up to an exceeding high mountain to tempt HIM with the riches of the kingdoms of this world

All these Jesus is destined to possess anyway. Yet, the devil tempts HIM to make HIS way to the bread, the angels, and the kingdoms of this world by the way of the shortcut.

There is always peril and price for the way of the shortcut.

No way that you and I can avoid the way of the cross, but the sad truth is many have run aground short of GOD’S designed and expected end because of the way of the shortcut.

There have and always will be those who have walked many a mile in what they thought would be a shortcut. Seemingly to avoid the way of the cross, but only to feel the painful reminder of blistered feet, parched thirst, and a broken heart. I SHOULD HAVE CHOSEN THE WAY OF THE CROSS…

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.     KJV

DON’T GIVE ME THE SHORTCUT, BUT GIVE ME THE WAY OF THE CROSS. IF IT SEEMETH HARD AND ROUGH ALONG THE WAY? IT IS GOOD FOR ME, BECAUSE MY FAITH IS DESIGNED TO HANDLE THE WAYS AND DEMANDS OF A LIFE FULL OF PRESSURES TO TAKE THE SHORTCUT…

I like that old song… THE RACE...

THOUGH ROUGH THE ROAD;

THOUGH STEEP THE CLIMB,

STILL I’M GOING RIGHT ON…

DON’T GIVE ME THE SHORTCUT; BUT GIVE ME THE HARD WAY… GIVE ME THE THORN; BECAUSE ITS THERE I KNOW THAT I LEARN HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ME…

 

AT WHAT COST

Just off the East coast of Scotland there is and has been for hundreds of years a place that goes somewhere out into the sea some 12 miles a place that has claimed many lives… Due to a rock that sets out in the sea that one cannot see with their eye… It has been a known hazard and many have lost their life there…

The rock’s notoriety for destroying anything that dared sneeze at it, is legendary. In the 1300s, the Abbott of Arbroath, a town in the district of Angus, in eastern Scotland, tried to install a warning-bell on the reef, to alert passing ships. The bell lasted a year, 

It is known that a pirate removed the (LANDMARK) and it was never replaced…

It was placed there to warn the others of imminent danger… It was a (LANDMARK) that came about for the reason to keep one safe… As the waves crashed against it, it would ring… The closer you got the louder it became… It caused you to turn another way…

What is so bad about this is, that now that the (LANDMARK) was removed danger had now returned… Ships got to close… Merchant men yet again began to lose their ships and their lives… Once again there was more that became lost at sea… Death had returned and certain death lurked just below the surface…

The story goes that the pirate that removed the bell… The pirate that stole the (LANDMARK) just happened to be one that lost his ship and his life to this place known as Bell Rock…

He removed a (LANDMARK)… He removed that which had kept him along with his crew and his ship safe…

May I ask???

·        How many (LANDMARKS) are you going to remove???

·        How many (LANDMARKS) have you already removed???

·        How many (LANDMARKS) WILL YOU IGNORE???

·        What have you rendered to be no longer necessary???

Bell Rock was proving more and more dangerous as the centuries rolled by. By the close of the 1700s, it was estimated that the rock claimed upwards of six ships every year. On a particularly bad night, up to seventy ships were lost in one storm alone!

No warning… No sound… No light… Where is the (LANDMARK)???

·        The storm has come… I hear them say, “I know it’s around here somewhere…”

·        The waves, the storm in the darkness… “I can’t see it…” “Is it here???”

 

Suddenly the crash… The splintering of the ship… It always comes with a cost when one decides to remove the LANDMARK…

 

In 1804, the HMS York, a huge, 64-gun warship, ran aground on Bell Rock. The waves smashed the ship to pieces, killing the entire crew onboard (nearly 500 men).

·        How many have lost their life, their soul???

·        How many more???

·        Who’s next???  

·        What part of the foundation must go until more and more is lost???

·        Soon the structure will not reflect or even resemble what its foundation even was simply because someone deemed the bell which was there to give WARNING is unnecessary…

·        And when done, the (LANDMARK) along with its REMINDER and ABILITY TO WARN is gone…

 

Prov 22:28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.    KJV

STORMS

Storms…

Early this morning God put on a spectacular light show. Lightning and thunder seemed to never end. During the storm, an area close to us was hit by a tornado. As I write this I do not know the full extent of the damage. However, I do know some damage has occurred and with storms there is always an understanding and knowledge of what the storm has done and what a storm can do. We have all seen the effects of a storm after it has passed through. There are the bent signs, bowed light poles, and blown off roofs with shingles scattered across the landscape. There are downed power lines, and broken glass in driveways, storefronts, cars and parking lots. In some cases, and with this storm there was flooding that came with it. Flooding itself will leave damaged property and certain danger to families, pets, and livestock.

This all reminds me of life. We all have had our storms and all have been left with scars to prove it, whether physical, or emotional. Those scars and wounds they are forever there. The storm can set the stage for many things in life. Storms bring to us pressure. There is always the possibility of panic in a storm. What do we do? Fear can set upon us, we can be beset by anxiety and stress that comes along with a storm. Ask the disciples while their storm raged as Jesus the Peace Speaker was asleep in the bottom of the boat. Ask Paul as he was lost in his storm on a boat with his fellow prisoners off the coasts of Melita. They were in such a storm that all their cargo was lost and there was such great fear to the extent that some were in discussion of making a swim for their lives.

I have witnessed not just in my own life what storms can leave but also in others. Storms can drive one into an island of isolation. Storms can surround you with people that have also been effected to the point that they have reacted in harsh ways. They have become critical; the fault of their storm is on somebody else never their own or never acknowledged of the one it came. Storms we know can do a lot of damage. But we all know what we do after the storm, they will come through. They will replace the roofs, they will sweep up the glass and install new. They will haul away the uprooted trees and the debris left by the storm. The down poles will be repaired, and those who lost electricity will have their power on usually within hours. Why is it that we can’t respond to the storm as we should? Surely the storm takes away from us, absolutely the storm comes and with its wake it leaves us wounded and scarred, but isn’t that a lesson in and of itself? First the wound and then the scar, after all a scar is simply a mark of a wound that has healed.

Noah found his place when he came through his storm. Oh, that we could like Noah understand the nature of a storm. The storm will always pass, and at the storms end, we all should see its rainbow and carry on with our scars and a testimony of faith that we made it.  

Thank you for reading… Blessings from your storm…