Tending the Fire Within

When Jesus speaks to us, our hearts burn within us. The scales fall from our eyes and our vision is restored. The revelation of God burns away the haze in our minds, leaving our souls refreshed and renewed. We are invigorated, brimming with the vitality that comes from being in the Presence of God.

So it was with the disciples, after the resurrection of Jesus:

¹⁵While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing him… ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

…³¹And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.

Luke 24

Jesus opens up our eyes to Truth. He reveals Himself, and inspires us to take immediate action. Our hearts burn with wonder, coherence, and anticipation.

…but then we have to descend from the mountaintop. The clarity of the vision slowly fades and the light grows dim, like the shining face of Moses after leaving the presence of the Lord (Exodus 34). We have to listen for the voice of Jesus against a cacophony of noise. It becomes harder to remember the Word spoken to us, like trying to recall a forgotten dream.

We must learn what Oswald Chambers calls “the secret of the burning heart”—

“…a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus” (My Utmost for His Highest).

Chambers concludes his message with my favorite passage of the entire book:

We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight willed
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.

We can position ourselves to receive His Word, but we cannot control when it comes. And when His Spirit does move, we are called to steward that which He reveals to us. When we are given a vision on the mountaintop, we must grasp it tightly so that we can walk it out in darkness.

Jesus speaks to us in many ways. Sometimes it comes when reading a passage of Scripture, and the words on the page seem to come alive and take on a whole new meaning. Insight doesn’t come through human diligence—it is revealed to us from the heart of God. Peter confidently proclaimed to Jesus that He was the true Messiah, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).

Sometimes Jesus speaks to us through prayer. There are times when it is hard to even focus our thoughts; and then there are times when it seems we are kneeling in eternity before the very throne of God, a two-way dialogue where the reception of our prayers is felt. But regardless of how it feels, the Holy Spirit is always our guide and teacher, ministering to the soul.

Then there are those circumstances which bear the unmistakable handprints of God. They come in the form of freshly answered prayer; a certain word from a friend or stranger; in the minor and major events of the world as they unfold around us. There are no coincidences.

At times, Jesus speaks to us plainly through impressions, dreams, and visions. The ministry of the Holy Spirit bears witness to the testimony of Jesus. He may give us specific direction, an answer to a question, a word for someone we know.

There are numerous places in the Bible which demonstrate the importance of being good stewards of God’s Word, however that word may come. Consider the following Scriptures:

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
We must highly value what God has spoken to us, in order to stay in the center of His will.

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18).
The phrase the people cast off restraint can also be rendered the people are discouraged. The phrase is then contrasted with keeping the law of God. Where there is a lack of prophetic vision—a lack of hearing the voice of God—we fall away from His leading and become discouraged.

And the Lord answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:2).
God’s Word will never come back empty (Isaiah 55:11). We are to wait for and believe in its fulfillment. We live by faith according to what He has spoken, not according to our own thoughts and plans and fears. Moreover, those who fail to live by faith are described as “puffed up.” Why? Because they focus on themselves over and above God’s Word, giving birth to conceit in their hearts.

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Mary, after hearing the angel’s prophecy of her miraculous virgin conception, received God’s Word with humility and joy. And when the shepherds came around proclaiming their vision of angels announcing the birth of the Savior, the Scripture tells us that she stored these things in her heart, and meditated on them. What God reveals to us, we are to consider and reflect upon, remembering what He spoke.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites followed God into the Promised Land. After crossing over the Jordan to fulfill the plans that God had laid before them, the Scripture tells us of Joshua’s command:

And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever” (Joshua 4:5-7).

Joshua commanded the people to build the monument so that posterity would be reminded of the works that God did for their forefathers. The stones were to serve as a memorial, a testimony of God’s greatness and power. Many times under the Old Covenant, Israel is commanded to remember the words and works of God. Their relationship with Him was built upon the testimony of their mothers and fathers.

Scripture teaches us to hold fast to the vision that God gives us. My purpose in writing is to steward the Words that God gives to me. When my heart burns from being in the Presence of the Lord, I must learn to tend the fire within. Too easily, I forget the vision with which God has inspired me. Too often, the feeling of His Presence subsides along with the Word He speaks. I carelessly cast it aside, and in searching for it later, find it diminished. Oswald Chambers tells us that the secret to descending from the mountaintop is learning to abide in Jesus, even when the feeling of His Presence is gone. Scripture tells us to carefully treasure what God reveals, so that we can fall back on it in times of need, in times of darkness, and in the mundane blur of everyday life.

I hope to use this blog for the purpose of remembering the Words that God has spoken to me. It may benefit the reader, but ultimately, will serve as my testimony to the faithfulness of God. It is my pile of stones in the Jordan.