Fire in Your Hand
Baby Girl,
That fire that you are holding, I placed in your hand with great intention. You are not only an author, but you are also an evangelist. You’ve been kindling the fire of your faith for over a year now and it has grown to a raging fire in your spirit that can no longer be contained.
The inability to contain words when hopeless words are being spoken is because, like when air is added to a fire, it swells.
Look up how to start a fire and how to most effectively naturally smother one.
(From Desert Island Survival) How to start a flame
“To combust (burn), a fire needs three things: heat, fuel, and oxygen. This is called a fire triangle. If your fire is not taking then one of these three is lacking. For example, if your wood is wet, all the heat is being absorbed by the water, stopping the fuel from hitting a high enough temperature.
“Everything has its burning point, the temperature it combusts. Soft woods burn at a far lower temperature than hardwoods.
“In addition, not all firewood is created equal. Different woods burn at different temperatures. Some spit, some give out better smoke than others and some make better embers for cooking on.
“To build a fire, you need three types of materials: tinder, kindling, and firewood. Each plays a crucial role in the fire-making process.
“Tinder is a collection of light, dry materials that catches fire easily. Good tinder is anything dry, light, and airy to allow plenty of oxygen.
Sometimes, you get frustrated by the simple nature of sermons that lack the meat of the Word. You want to see logs on fire, flames dancing, and heat pouring out of the fire but Baby, that takes time. Tinder is an essential ingredient.
I’ve seen you try to light fires in your family fireplace and I must admit that I’ve been patiently waiting forever to have this conversation with you. Every time I see you attempting to start a fire, getting frustrated and waiting for your husband to get home to make the fire, I sit in quiet amusement knowing the day is coming when you will become the most incredible firestarter for the Kingdom.
When you understand this Kingdom principle, starting a fire in that fireplace will become second nature as well. All you will need is a little tinder and a little time. Tinder catches quickly in the right conditions.
Your testimony is all the tinder that is needed to spark a flame because it has had time to dry out and become combustible. When you are in the midst of the storms that create the tinder, everything is soaking wet from the storm. You have been spending well over a year applying the heat of the Word to that testimony and that tinder is now the flame in your hand.
When you wad up a newspaper and put it in your firebox and light it on fire, how long does it burn?
Probably less than a minute.
Then what happens?
It becomes ashes that, when the fire is outside in the fire pit, just blow away and disappear.
That is what happens when you have a testimony you don’t share. It loses the heat and the fire dies. Any child of God who is ineffective for the Kingdom received a little tinder fire in their hand and never applied kindling.
Let’s look at the kindling.
Or not… go ahead, read the tips about tinder.
1) “Buff” your tinder by rubbing it together to ensure it has lots of frayed ends which will make taking a spark easier.
Good point. When you were learning about public speaking, you learned about the concept of an entry point in a story or the “hook.” This is the point at which your audience becomes engaged and the narrative grabs their attention and makes them want to hear more.
Pay attention when you are sharing your testimony to the point at which your audience perks up and really becomes engaged. One of the reasons your testimony is so powerful is that it has so many frayed ends that are easy to spark. You have lived with mental illness, disordered body image and relationship with food, self-hatred, parenting blunders, a dysfunctional marriage, and the most relatable thing that people don’t realize they have in common with you is their religious spirit that keeps them from intimacy with Me. Your tinder will become even more effective as you take the time to rub it together causing it to fray.
2) Always be on the lookout for new tinder. Fill your pockets with anything that looks like it might work and test them out next time you are starting a fire.
You are excellent at this. You are experiencing new moments with Me and recognizing My hand in just about everything in your life, so you are constantly picking up new tinder. Pay attention when you share those stories. Some of them are good at lighting your fire and others are more effective in lighting fires around you. When you find the tinder that easily ignites fires around you, pick up more of those.
Kindling
Kindling refers to small sticks, small twigs, and small pieces of bark. As tinder burns and starts to fade, the kindling catches fire, providing a more sustainable flame. Its role is to bridge the gap between the rapidly burning tinder and the longer lasting firewood. We like the expression toothpicks to tree trunks. Kindling is your toothpicks, and you move up in circumference from there.
As an evangelist, you will spend most of your time setting tinder on fire.
You will spend short bursts of time with people, sharing powerful stories but you MUST give them next steps! You MUST explain to them how to hang onto that fire or, just like the newspaper in the firepit, the fire you give them will combust, make a beautiful flame and blow away as ashes in the wind.
The kindling is more of The Word - even if it is little. Christian music is good kindling. It’s easy to burn. A good song on repeat can get My Truth burning in a soul but, like twigs, it can only carry a fire so far.
Opening a Bible app and reading a short devotional, reading Christian self-help books, talking about faith in casual conversations, surface- level sermons, praying over a meal - these are all good kindling.
Encourage people to grab some kindling to build that fire, but don’t stop there!
Kindling burns up quickly and, just like the newspaper, it is not long before it is ash.
Firewood
Firewood, the third component, consists of larger logs. Big logs of fuel wood will burn longer. It’s the main course, providing substantial heat and a sustained burn.
“Gathering wood is an important step. Collect wood from downed trees or dead branches, making sure it’s dry wood, not green and not rotten. Rotten wood will burn fine but only last a short time. Even in a rainstorm, dry wood can typically be found in the core of vertical standing dead wood.
The Bible and time in fellowship with Me is the firewood and, WITHOUT A CONSTANT REFUELING of well-seasoned firewood, NO FIRE CAN LAST. NONE.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain a fire without fuel. IMPOSSIBLE.
NO ONE can maintain a fire with a testimony alone.
NO ONE can maintain a fire with kindling alone.
Listening to Christian music in their cars, praying over dinner, and catching a sermon on occasion… My Church is FILLED with dead fires that need re-ignited.
When you bring the tender, EMPHATICALLY EXHORT My Children to gather wood!
A field full of brush can cause an intimidating and fast spreading fire but, if it never reaches the forest where the firewood is, it will die out just as quickly as it lights.Campuses all over America are having pop-up revivals. Kids are filling truck beds with water and baptizing each other in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but,IF NO ONE TEACHES THESE KIDS where to find lasting fuel, it will be like that brushfire: just as quickly extinguished as it was lit.
This is a good blog. I wonder if the author has any idea what fantastic spiritual truth it contains.
How to build your fire structure
There are several methods to build a fire, such as the log cabin and the teepee structure. For beginners, the teepee campfire method is simple and effective.
Begin by arranging your tinder in the centre of the fire bed. The tinder bundle should be loosely packed to allow air to flow.
This is an important word for you, Little One. You have had SO many experiences with Me that sometimes, in your enthusiasm, you tightly pack as much tinder in a little ball that oxygen can’t even get to it.
Remember the concept of the frayed ends? Wait on Me.If you wait on Me and remain silent, I can give you one sentence of your testimony and it can change a life forever because I know which hook in your story applies to each soul you encounter.
When you are speaking to one person, it’s important to put the right hook with the right bait on the hook. You can’t catch a minnow with a catfish hook. Maybe someday we’ll talk about fishing. You’ve never caught a fish but you have paid a $250 fine in North Carolina for fishing without a license. There are many spiritual principles we could glean from that one but that’s for another day.
When you are speaking to a crowd, you drop a net.The net is intricately woven to ensure that the net is strong enough to hold when it becomes filled with fish of all shapes and sizes.
As an evangelist, if you drop only one hook with only one type of bait, you will only catch one kind of fish.
I’m laughing because I feel like maybe I got my ADHD traits from You! We’ve gone from building a fire to catching fish.
I speak to My children with hooks baited specifically for them, Little One.
Thank You. Okay, so I have loosely packed tinder to allow air to flow… now what?
Now, create a teepee structure by arranging small sticks, dry bark and twigs around the tinder, leaving a gap to add your burning tinder to light the fire.
The kindling is important.
Don’t discount the application of kindling to building a fire! There is a reason the book of Psalms (or SONGS – the Jewish hymn book) has 150 SONGS in it. Singing praise and worship builds and sustains faith as it causes your mind to be stayed on Me.
Skip that next part. Not important to what we’re talking about.
Are you kidding?!
This is gold!
This is the “what NOT to do” part of this Daddy-daughter lesson!
Go ahead… I want to hear this.
Preparing your fire site
“Safeguarding the wilderness
See?! This is what we DON’T want to do!
Once you’ve gathered your materials, your next task is to prepare your own fire ring or site.
Well, I mean, yeah, prepare your site… I’m talking about safeguarding the wilderness.
No, go ahead. Keep reading. I’m enjoying your enthusiasm! You don’t even know what they’re about to say but you’re ready to stand in the pulpit and share it. I ADORE your heart, Little One.
Choose a spot away from low-hanging branches, ensuring a safe distance from flammable materials.
WRONG!
Find dried out dead trees that are hanging near the ground and set your tinder RIGHT SMACK DAB under that sucker! In FACT… if you’ve got some twine… grab some dried out field grasses, TIE THEM to that LOW HANGING branch and have them dangle from the branch…
Oh my goodness! This letter should probably stay between You and me because I’m getting really fantastic ideas for setting forest fires and that is NOT good! But a spiritual forest fire is a revival right?
Look for a flat ground clear of grass and dry leaves. It’s important that your fire ring or fire pit is surrounded by bare earth or stones.
Or… you can put no barrier around your fire and spread a trail of leaves and dry grasses like the detonating cord on dynamite!
To lay the groundwork, start a fire first by clearing a space of about 2 feet in diameter. Then create a fire bed using a layer of dry, non-combustible material such as sand or small stones. On this bed you will lay your fire.
If you are in a particularly fire-prone environment…
It says to have a bucket of sand on hand but why would you keep a bucket of sand on hand when you could keep a can of gasoline on hand instead?
Okay, that’s enough. You have taken this call to evangelism (not surprisingly) well.
I’ve been wondering if that’s where you’re calling me because I can’t stop talking to perfect strangers about all that You are doing, and the idea of not sharing what You’ve given us… it almost feels like I’m going to implode.
That’s why you had to send your pastor the message about open-share groups. The idea of listening to the struggles you wrestled with and found freedom from by the power of the cross PHYSICALLY affects you now.
You are carrying fire and, if you don’t lay it down when I call you to lay it down, it swells up and burns you. The fire in you has become so large that you are compelled to ignite combustible materials around you.
In essence, an evangelist is a spiritual pyromaniac and the goal is to set the WHOLE World on FIRE for the cause of Christ. This fire is a GOOD fire. It burns off all the dead wood and brush and clears the ground for fresh growth.
Look up what happens to an area that has been cleared out by a forest fire.
What just happened as you began to read? You’re crying. Read that little bit you just read and then share your thoughts.
While many wildfires cause minimal damage to the land and pose few threats to the land or people downstream, some fires cause damage that requires special efforts to prevent problems afterwards. Loss of vegetation exposes soil to erosion; water runoff may increase and cause flooding; sediment may move downstream and damage houses or fill reservoirs putting endangered species and community water supplies at risk.
After a fire, the first priority is emergency stabilization in order to prevent further damage to life, property or natural resources.
I don’t know. I’m just feeling…
Stop.Let’s not get caught up in feelings about this.
What are the thoughts? Let’s look at the thoughts.
California has a lot of issues with forest fires and it can be devastating. The smoke that fills the air can keep you from even being aware there are mountains just a few miles away. Fire destroys things. It destroys people’s homes and livelihoods.
Yes. After fire clears out a town, it must be rebuilt.
You started to say something then stopped.
If there ever truly was a revival like a forest fire, it would start a spiritual war.
You’re already in one, Baby.It’s just that since so much territory has been handed over to the enemy - which I would like to remind you has already been defeated by Jesus’ finished work on the cross - the battle is unseen.
The Church is held up as the Hebrews were in Egypt. They are in bondage to the enemy, but they are not indentured servants. They owe the enemy nothing. They are BONDSERVANTS of the enemy. They have willingly surrendered their rights and taken on the form of a servant out of love for their master.
You cannot serve two masters. You will, in your actions, naturally love and serve one and, by default, you will hate the other.
What thought did you just have?
That quote about love and hate: “Hate is not the opposite of LOVE, indifference is.”
Yes. The Church has become indifferent toward Me and indifference truly is the opposite of LOVE.
The fire you hold is a LOVE for My Word and your obedience is friendship with Me.This is the fire you are starting. Fire is HOT. You will not be burned. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were placed in a fire that had been increased sevenfold and didn’t have even a smell of smoke on them, neither will you. Just like the soldiers who carried them to the fire, the enemy will be destroyed dragging you to the fire that will not consume you.
Be strong and courageous for I AM with you, even until the end of the age.
You’ve got a flight to catch soon. Go get ready.
LOVE you, My little pyromaniac.
Daddy
Jeremiah 20:9