Click to watch “Set a Fire” worship song
Do you like fires? I love fires.
There is something very soothing about basking in the warmth of a fire. The sound of the crackling wood, the scent of smoke, the power of the fire contained in such a way that it brings life and not destruction…all very compelling.
I’ve noticed something about guys: we can sit for ages in front of a campfire just hanging out, talking about nothing and poking at the fire. There is something magical about fire – it’s almost hypnotic.
It’s alive.
We have an older home so we have the pleasure of having two wood-burning fireplaces: one in the living room and one in our man cave. It’s tough to beat sitting beside the fireplace reading a book on a cold winter’s day while watching snow fall outside.
It’s magical.
This Christmas holiday was perfect for doing just that. Lots of snow fell and we had lots of down time to enjoy the fireplace. Chillin’ by the fire – which is a bit of an oxymoron I guess. But you know what I mean. It’s just relaxing to sit beside a fire.
But here’s what I think is most compelling about fires: you can interact with them. You play with them. You tinker with them. You build them. You mess around with them. The best part about a fire is shifting the wood around to keep it burning; adding wood to ensure the fire keeps going; engineering the fire the way you want it to burn. That’s what makes for good fire time.
Sure, it’s good just sitting beside a great fire, but you take things to another level when you are the architect of the flame: when you are master of the blaze. The real fun is stoking the fire. There is a primal pride involved in making a fire. It’s a manly sense of accomplishment.
So, as I sat by my fire reveling in primal pride, savoring my mastery of the blaze, I learned something simple yet very profound…
Left unattended, fires go out.
There are 2 critical stages to a good fire: 1. Starting, 2. Stoking. By “stoking” I mean “keeping it ablaze”. Sure, starting a fire is a feat all of us need to master. However, stoking the fire requires ongoing effort and perseverance. If you want a fire to keep burning you need to keep feeding it. You need to keep stoking it.
What do I mean by stoking the fire? Simple, shift the wood around to ensure the pieces are close enough together to feed on each other’s heat and flame, and put more fuel on the fire (wood) when the burning wood has been mostly consumed by the fire.
Playing with the fire I began to ask myself,
“Am I stoking the fires in my life that need to be stoked, or am I letting them go out?”
How about you?
What are you doing to stoke the fire of your commitment to the Lord? How are you feeding the fire for your love of Truth – God’s Word? How are you feeding the fire of love for your wife? What are you doing to ensure the fire of passion for fathering your children does not go out? How hot is your commitment to serving others burning?
These are some of the questions we need to answer.
There are a few things we can do to stoke the fires of passion, commitment, conviction, and courage in our lives: We can ask the Lord to set a fire in our hearts – to fill us with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Worship. Pray. Fast. Give. Serve.
We can get closer to other men who are “on fire”. We can choose to dive into opportunities to learn from others at conferences, through books and podcasts, sermons on Sunday, bible studies in house group, breakfast meetings with other men, creating a community of allies with whom we do life…
Bottom line: Get closer to God. Get closer to others.
Our passion, commitment, conviction and courage are like fires, if we don’t stoke them, they will go out. We must add fuel to our fires to keep them burning brilliantly.
Let’s stoke some fires in 2016.
Luke 3:16
“John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'”
Acts 2:3
“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
2 Timothy 1:6
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
Hebrews 6:12
“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”