When my friend's house caught on fire a few months ago she shared an interesting fact with me. She said that she was told every 30 seconds... a fire doubles in size. Isn't that amazing? No wonder fires get out of control so quickly.
A short time after her fire the man working on her house from the disaster restoration service came to her and said, "I know how you feel now." His house had been hit by lightning and caught fire. He lost about as much of his house as my friend had before the firemen were able to get the fire out.... then in the middle of the night there must have been some ember somewhere that was still warm that reignited and the house caught fire again. This time, to my understanding, the house was a total loss.
I was thinking about fires and fellowship. When we are together with other believers we are like a fire gaining in size. The more fellowship we have with God's people talking about the Lord, we grow in the ways of the Lord and "double in size spiritually" very quickly. When we are absent from fellowship, our embers grow cold...
But... in the Lord's great mercy...
A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench,
Until He brings justice to victory. Matthew 12:20 (ESV)
The Lord will have great mercy on us and not "put out our dying flame". He will warm our embers until they reignite. (Sometimes He does this through trials...) Sometimes He will bring people into our lives that we might not like (or at least not like what they are saying) to challenge us and draw us back to the Lord.
So many times I have been in a place of being that ember... almost completely out. Others, like the firemen, would have taken one look at me and thought my love for the Lord was gone and that there was no life left in me...
But the Lord sees the heart. He brought Lazarus back from the dead. He can save you from whatever sin you are in today. Murder? Rape? Blasphemy? Adultery? Drugs? He can save you. Any sin you can possibly commit, any sin - Jesus and Jesus alone can save you from it. He saved me.
I was once a dying flame and He brought me into the Light and set me free.
About Me
- Vicki
- I am a small town country girl who has learned how powerful the love of God is. I pray that you are encouraged by this blog. If you are struggling or weary please know that there is hope in Jesus. He loves you. This blog was created to show Evidences of His Grace.
4 comments:
You should write a book. Your insights are picture perfect.
Oh, don't let my mom hear you say that... she has been on me for years to write a book... (but thanks...)
I am in the process however of putting my blog into a leather bound book- blurb - to preserve it, but that is about as close as I will get to writing a book...)
Thanks for your encouragements Zo.
God must have put us on a similar track; I just read part of a book based on that verse from Matthew on Sunday night!
Praise God for his grace and mercy on us. I know I certainly don't deserve it!
(By the way, I agree with Zo, but I promise I won't tell your mom :))
I read this entry a few days ago but have revisited again today as I reflect on relationships. If we neglict our relationship with Our Lord we can be easily seduced into making everything be about "ME": how do others hurt me, what do I want, what do I think I need...me...me...me. Spending time with God and allowing him to kindle the flame, puts our life back in the balance. Thank you, honey, for yet another way to remember the importance of keeping my eyes fixed on Our Lord.
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