Find Your Fire, Fuel Your Fire

It’s not every day you get to build a fire in the church basement. 🙂

This week, I had the opportunity to speak to a local MOPS group about finding their fire (the theme from MOPS International this year, based on Romans 12:11-13 NIrV).

As I was preparing for this talk, I kept considering the reality that “finding our fire” (at least the fire that will sustain and remain) shouldn’t be something we do in our own efforts.

In fact, the reality is that we cannot truly find our fire until we know how to properly “fuel our fire.”

Because of that truth, we considered together the various ways we try to fuel our fire in our own efforts (often with “good” things), and then we considered the various ways we can build a sustainable fire…a fire that creates warmth and nourishment, a fire that invites community, and a fire that refines and shapes our hearts and minds to be more like Christ.

We considered that the true fire we are to find and fuel is that of the Holy Spirit’s work in our life, and we considered practical disciplines by which to do that very thing.

And, because I can’t abandon a good visual, this meant pulling out some props–an electric prop fire, some logs, leaves, twigs, and branches–so we could walk through the literal building of a fire (thanks to the coaching of my oldest daughter who is becoming an expert at building wilderness fires), and offer spiritual metaphor analogies to building and tending to our spiritual fire.

We walked together through the various layers of fuel for our fire.

We contemplated the various disciplines we would need to lay down to build a foundation for our fire.

We considered the various branches and logs we would need to continually add as fuel, things such as: time in God’s Word, time in prayer, time in praise and worship, time with His people (in a local church, in small group community), and time in service to others.

And, because this passage is found within the context of the chapter of Romans 12 which is all about transformation and surrender, and begins with our being called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, we considered that there would be need for us to lay down various our own decisions, plans, agendas, and desires as fuel for the fire as well. (And we considered that only in our laying down of those things as fuel for the fire would we ever be able to actually find our fire.)

And then, like any good fire-makers and tenders, we cautioned about the need to watch for sparks that may come out of the fire’s boundaries. 

We paused to realize that the same traveling sparks that would be considered potentially dangerous in a literal fire would be cause for celebration and discipleship opportunity in a spiritual fire. 

The sparks of a literal fire may cause unexpected and undesired fires in the surrounding areas, threatening land and life around. A dangerous fire to spread.

But the sparks of a spiritual fire may cause unexpected but desired fires in the surrounding areas! An exciting fire to spread! We would definitely want to be watching for those–not to put them out, but to follow up on them to allow even greater fires to spread!

And as if we needed more metaphors in this exercise, we found more. 

In a literal fire, we must carefully remove charred spots from the burning wood, so the fire can burn more purely. 

In a spiritual fire, we know that the Lord refines us through His Word. He removes the charred, dead places, through the conviction of His Word, allowing new wood to be exposed to the refining process, to fuel the fire to continue burning, continue guiding, and continue inviting others to enjoy its beauty, its power, and its warmth.

And, finally, we considered together the incredible truth the Lord offers us when our fires seem to be struggling to stay lit. Together, we eagerly anticipated the incredible hope that is found in allowing the Holy Spirit breath to reignite and fan to flame a seemingly smoldering fire with just a small amount of live embers and coals. (Because, seriously, what momma hasn’t found herself away from the fire for a bit and returning to what looks to be a fire that has burnt out and burnt up–often leaving a momma feeling those very things as well).

We determined to find our fire in the hope of Jesus Christ, and we determined to tend THAT fire first–even in the midst of all of the fires that seem to beg for our attention in the putting out.

We determined to fuel that fire through the power of God’s Word, through His Holy Spirit, and to find that all the other fuels we may rely upon, though of some value, aren’t our primary “go-to’s” any longer, but are instead simply enhancers of our lives because of our reliance upon the best possible fuel, through Jesus Christ.

We determined that we would leave that space eager to build and fuel the fire in our lives and homes, and so be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. 

We determined that by tending to and fueling our fires, we would be better prepared to share with others in need, invite others into our homes, and perhaps help ignite a spark or fan a flame in the fire of another.

We left that space eager to ask others: “How will YOU fuel your fire, and so find it?”