Fueling the Fire

When God awoke me out of my Christian slumber 2 and 1/2 years ago, He gifted me a hunger and a thirst for His Word, His Truth. (This is a story for another day, as I was driving fast on a very high bridge at the time of such exciting spiritual transformation!) But in a nutshell, He awakened my spirit with a force that was like fire out of Heaven that came down and lit a barren, ashy altar.  And He fuels it daily, as I seek Him in His Word and find continued evidence in my life that HE IS REAL.  I am writing tonight to give gratitude to God for gifting me with other women who desire to bring the sacrifice of praise to the continuously lit altar of the Lord. Tonight God brought 5 of His servants together and and we offered up to Him the sacrifices of thanksgiving!

Tonight God reminded me that in the Old Testament after Moses and the Israelites built the Temple, they received specific instructions that the priests were to keep the fire burning on the altar by continuously placing wood on it.  How diligent they  were.  Have you received the fire in your spirit, then one day it just burnt out.  Why do we allow this to happen to us? We receive God's love, His mercy, His grace and one day, (maybe many days) we forget about His gifts. We forget about the power of the Word. We forget about the intimate blessing of fellowship with Him. And after a while we find ourselves wondering exactly when it happened... when did He take a backseat to all of the physical things in our lives? So much time has passed since we made our lives a living sacrifice to Him.

Well, tonight I was surrounded by others in the royal priesthood of saints who each brought a log with them to place on the altar. It was a sacrifice of praise and fellowship. And it reminded me God has provided us with a never-ending source of fire that will purify every flaw in us; fire that will ignite our God given passions to bring glory to Himself through our lives. All we have to do is supply the kindling, the wood.

When was the last time you brought the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord?  When was the last time you honestly presented your life as a living sacrifice unto the Lord? If you're finding yourself where I was and you have let the fire go out, the Lord wants to send a fire down from Heaven and reignite your passion for Him.  Praise Him with thanksgiving in your heart.

Hebrews 12:1-2a says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Tonight, I praise God for the cloud of witnesses that He has surrounded me with that frequently remind me to throw off every weight of the world that I carry and to endure the temptation of sin that so easily ensnares me so that I can run the race that God has set before me. Jesus authored my life; He knew me before the world met Michelle, and He knows when my days on earth will be over. I pray that each day I will bring my wood to the fire and lay my sacrifice of praise on the altar. I pray that through this encouragement, YOU will bring a log and place it on the altar. I pray that each day you and I will hunger and thirst for His Word. I pray that each day I will strive to stand fearlessly in the will of God.  I pray that YOU will stand there with me.

We are not, He is.
Michelle