Fuel The Fire
Jeremiah 20:9 – "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak
any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up
in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."
Every now and then, I’ll meet a Christian who has experienced a "loss
of fire." At one point they were, as the old saints say, "on
fire" for the Laud. They were going, growing and glowing for Christ, but before
they knew it that fire stopped raging like it used to. Then it either went out
or juuuuuuuust barely remained flickering.
This Thursday’s text tells us why that once huge fire becomes a "little
light." It’s all due to a lack of " the Word." Now if these
people can think back to when they were on fire, they would probably remember
attending bible study and church regularly and also spending personal time with
God through individual study. As we do these things, we "fuel" the
spirit man to burn brighter than he ever burned. So the fuel we need is the
word of God.
Our scripture states, "But his word was in mine heart." I’ve heard
many preachers say, "But there was something… something like fire shut
up in my bones." Yet, if we think of it as "something" and don’t
know what that "something" is, we will lose the "something"
and lose the fire. That’s why you should know that the "something" is
the word of God sown into your heart. It’s that word that you sowed into your
heart through personal time with God. It’s the promises that say, "you
will be the head only and never the tail. You will be above only and never
beneath" (Deu. 28:13). It’s the promises of God that tell you, "I
know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm
you. Plans to give you hope and a future " (Jer. 29:11) .
I know those of you who have lost your fire and have said, "Man, I’m
not going to make those faith confessions anymore" or "there’s no
need to keep quoting scripture because that won’t help my situation," but
I’ve got news for you; Jeremiah felt the same way. If we look at the beginning
of our text, we will see Jeremiah make this statement : "Then I said, I
will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name."
Jeremiah said the same thing all defeated Christians say, but in the same
breath something happened. In the very same breath, all the word of God in him
corrected him. Oooohhh baby, the word of God would not let him live a lie. The
word of God would not let him stay in a defeated state. The word of God kept
him from being a victim and propelled him into victory!!! Even when he was, as
our scripture states , "weary with forbearing ," Jeremiah said,
"I could not stay." Oooohhhh child, he could not stay where he was.
All the word in him told him he was not where God wanted him to be —— Move
Higher. All the promises of God were too good for him to stay where he was ——
Move Higher. The word of God allowed him to pack his bags like George and
Weezie and "Move on up!!!"
Even if you don’t realize it, we all seek words to guide us out of our
problems . Yet, a major problem for most of us is that we seek the wrong
sources. We look for a word from a friend. We ask, "what should I
do?" Or we write Ann Landers and ask , "what should I do?" Why
do you think those psychic hotlines are making millions of dollars? Because
people are calling them seeking the same answer to the same question you have.
Well I’m here to tell you that the psychic network has many words for you. [At
$3.99 a minute, they’ll probably have a whole lot of words for you —— The WRONG
ONES but nevertheless a whole lot of them just to make more money.]
So let’s get some of the right words in us; confess them and fuel the fire.
God didn’t put you here to lose. He placed you here to win. You are more than a
conqueror and not the conquered. You are the delivered of the Lord and not the
defeated by the devil. You are God’s glory in the earth and not the lost of
this world. Know that ye are blessed simply to be a blessing to others.
Numbers 23:19 – "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son
of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he
spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Psalms 119:89 – "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."
- Psalms 35:27 – "Let them
shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them
say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the
prosperity of his servant." - Hebrews 13:5 – "Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as
ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee." - 1 Thessalonians 5:9 –
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ," - Isaiah 53:5 – "But he
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed." - Psalms 23:1 – "The LORD
is my shepherd; I shall not want." - Psalms 34:9 – "O fear
the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him."
Fuel the fire by putting God’s word in your heart and keeping it there!!!!