{"id":498,"date":"2014-03-03T17:40:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T17:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/?page_id=498"},"modified":"2017-01-27T18:16:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T18:16:11","slug":"hows-your-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/?p=498","title":{"rendered":"How’s Your Fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"
October 19, 2011 at 8:11pm<\/div>\n

A few years after I began to evangelize, I preached a revival meeting in a church and a number of souls were saved and delivered.\u00a0 Several years later, I preached a Sunday night meeting in the same church.\u00a0 I was remembering today what the pastor had said to me after that Sunday night.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, I see that you still have the fire.\u201d\u00a0 He said it like he was surprised.\u00a0 That was over twenty-five years ago and that pastor is now retired.\u00a0 However, I wonder what he would say about my ministry today.<\/p>\n

I know a good number of Christians, and some preachers, who seem to have lost their fire.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lived long enough to have actually watched some of them settle back into a somewhat complacent, apathetic, and mostly unproductive life.\u00a0 The name they put on this change is maturity.\u00a0 They explain that when a Christian becomes mature, it is impossible to keep up the passion and desire for spirituality.\u00a0 To some extent I can see their point if passion and desire is mostly physical expression.\u00a0 As we get older the body slows down and our metabolism does not stimulate us as vigorously.\u00a0 So if someone is going to judge my passion and desire for God by my activity, I might come up short.\u00a0 However, passion and desire are deep burning fires.\u00a0 If our love for God is on fire, we will find a way to express ourselves powerfully.<\/p>\n

I made a decision long ago that I would never settle for \u201cgood enough to get by\u201d.\u00a0 My desire was and is to be the best I can be for God.\u00a0 There are no conditions on that purpose.\u00a0 Whether I\u2019m in a large church building or a small house church, whether I have plenty or am barely getting by, whether I feel like a young man or feel the effects of age and hard work, I just want to do my best for God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t state this to exalt myself, but because I am deeply concerned by the large number of unproductive Christians that were once actively pursuing God\u2019s will. \u00a0I\u2019ve never accomplished anything that people would call \u201cgreat\u201d.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to either.\u00a0 All anyone must do to hear on that special day, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant\u201d, is to do God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

To be completely honest, it has not been easy to keep that fire burning.\u00a0 The temptation to quit and do something easier has been at times intense.\u00a0 In that short sentence is hidden a large book of great battles, heartaches, brokenness, suffering, needs, wants, failings, rejection, isolation, fears, doubts, and some successes, to name a few experiences.\u00a0 Sometimes I had nothing but hope to get me through.\u00a0 My faith was battered severely.\u00a0 I fought battles that I did not know that I would win.\u00a0 I cannot count the number of times that I felt like a failure and a reject.\u00a0 When I reached the point that I had decided that I wasn\u2019t worthy to be used by God, for some reason the sun would come shining through, the dark clouds would depart, and the answer would come.\u00a0 I remember vividly one evening setting the table with plates, utensils, and glasses of water.\u00a0 My wife and I joined hands with our two young daughters and prayed.\u00a0 We had no food.\u00a0 There was a knock on the door.\u00a0 I opened it to find a man had come from another city with several bags of groceries and some money.\u00a0 He said that God had sent him.\u00a0 Indeed He had!<\/p>\n

I was thinking about heaven one day and the possibility that I would get to hear the testimonies of persecuted Christians.\u00a0 I promised myself that in that particular session, I would keep my mouth shut.\u00a0 What am I going to say?\u00a0 \u201cBut folks, I had to endure persecution by a demonic deacon board.\u201d\u00a0 They might look at me and ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u00a0 Was it big and hairy with long teeth?\u201d\u00a0 Many of my battles have been the result of people who either didn\u2019t like what I preached or what I stood for.\u00a0 Some of them just didn\u2019t like me personally.\u00a0 I learned gradually that it is very risky to trust people.\u00a0 Some of the ones who declared that they loved me and would stand with me no matter what were the first ones to abandon me when the going got tough.\u00a0 I have discovered by reading the biographies of significant Christians and also from experiences that individuals who surrender fully to God are lonely people.\u00a0 I thank God from my equally surrendered wife who is my best friend and partner.\u00a0 I do not call her a helpmate because I don\u2019t always know if she is helping me or I am helping her.<\/p>\n

I share all of that so that someone cannot say, \u201cBut you don\u2019t know what I\u2019ve been through.\u201d\u00a0 They are technically right, but it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0\u00a0 The truth is found in Romans 8:18:\u00a0 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are<\/em> not worthy to be compared<\/em> with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”<\/p>\n

I believe every Christian who has been involved in obeying God\u2019s has endured suffering.\u00a0 Satan hates people who shine.\u00a0 In fact, if you shine you will eventually realize that you are a target.\u00a0 One day you are relaxed and everything is fine.\u00a0 The next day all hell breaks loose and you wonder if you will survive to see another day.\u00a0 The times when you are so backed into a corner by the multitude and sheer intensity of the trials, that\u2019s when you are a prisoner of hope.\u00a0 Numerous times I have looked back and wondered how I made it through some of those circumstances.\u00a0 The overwhelming majority of the time the answer came at the last possible moment.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be honest and say that I don\u2019t like those experiences at all.\u00a0 However, there is not enough money in the world to make me give up what I learned during those times.<\/p>\n

So I just want to call out the ones who used to be passionate for God, but are now just vegetating and trying to avoid being used by Him now.\u00a0 Most of these individuals are wondering where God is, why He isn\u2019t blessing them, and why He has abandoned them.\u00a0 I am reminded of a story I heard once.\u00a0 An old man and his wife were driving down the highway when they came upon a young couple driving a bit under the speed limit.\u00a0 The young couple was sitting so close that their heads were as one.\u00a0 The wife said to her husband, \u201cI can remember when we were that close.\u201d\u00a0 Her husband replied, \u201cI haven\u2019t moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

God hasn\u2019t moved.\u00a0 Get back into the battle.\u00a0 You are never too old to do something significant for God.\u00a0 Age for the most part is a state of mind.\u00a0 There is no power difference between a young and an elderly person\u2019s prayer. \u00a0You may not be able to do what you once did, but you can be just as productive in something different.\u00a0 I believe that we are in the last days of this jaded planet.\u00a0 It is the greatest time to shine.\u00a0 The greater the darkness, the brighter the light.\u00a0 Make up your mind to get back in the will of God and everything else will follow.\u00a0 \u201cBe bold, the strong, for the Lord your God is with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

(1 Pet 1:6-9 NKJV)\u00a0 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, {7} that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, {8} whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, {9} receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of your souls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 19, 2011 at 8:11pm A few years after I began to evangelize, I preached a revival meeting in a church and a number of souls were saved and delivered.\u00a0 Several years later, I preached a Sunday night meeting in the same church.\u00a0 I was remembering today what the pastor had said to me after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-82","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}