Originally published 3/26/10 on Blogger:
For: The Essentials Formation Online Worship Values Course with Dan Wilt
When I think of the element of Fire, I go immediately in my mind to scenes from the movie “Backdraft.” I don’t have enough of my own experiences with fire except for the occasional extremely safe campfire…well, except for that one time when I was probably 9 or so and tried to start some Kleenex’s on fire in my metal Strawberry Shortcake garbage can in my bedroom just to see what would happen. Let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I’d thought it would – the melted/burned carpet underneath was a permanent witness that needed silencing (by never moving the can from that spot) to keep my brief slip into pyromania a secret.
Anyway, there is a scene in Backdraft when the fire is creeping along the ceiling. I can’t remember much else about the movie, or even about the other details of the scene, but I do remember the mystery of how fire works being enlarged for me during that moment. Much like this the mystery of how spiritual ‘fire’ spreads. Dan spoke in the video of how when we live the empowered life, the fire in us will actually spread and create little fires all around us. How does this happen? I can understand the ‘wind’ analogy for the Spirit of God…that it will go where it wants, that you can hear it but not tell where it comes from or where it goes. Maybe that’s easier to understand because we have quite a bit of wind here in South Dakota. But fire – how does spiritual fire spread? I don’t understand fire quite as much! Maybe it’s time to dig out the old Strawberry Shortcake garbage can to get a better understanding….or maybe I’ll just go to www.crosswalk.com intead. 🙂
A quick study on fire and Spirit brings up the following:
In Matthew and Luke 3, John the Baptist says (of Jesus), “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
In Acts 2:3-4, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
In the middle of his short, quick commands in 1 Thessolonians 5, Paul says, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.”
Some basics we know: the Spirit is placed inside us when we start to follow Jesus and make Him Lord of our life; the Spirit is like a fire burning inside us; God guides us through that Spirit; and God moves in mysterious ways. Okay, so that was easier than I thought. A+B+C=D It’s nice when all that Algebra I studied so many years ago proves itself useful. But seriously, I know I’m not going to completely understand “C” in this life and I’m okay with that.
The basic message of this week was that in order to live the empowered life, we need to be receiving our ‘gasoline’, or power, from God and His Word just as fire receives its power from oxygen (or gas). We need to do what Jesus did in Matthew 4, as Dan mentioned, when he drew His power from the words of the OT to fight against the temptation of the devi – we need to combat the devil’s lies and attempts to snuff out our fire with the truths of God and with His mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10-18a
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
And when we do that, others will catch the fire of truth and be empowered in their walk with the Lord. I do think the song says it best! Here’s a video presentation with Kathy Tricolli’s version from her Greatest Hits Album.
But the only way we can “hold out our candle for all to see” and “go light our world” is if we let others get close enough to us to catch a spark from our flame!
