“Another angel . . . had charge of the fire . . . ”
                                                         -Revelation 14:18

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Have you ever worked hard to build a fire, only to have it go out?  Although I was raised in a log cabin with five fireplaces, I never learned to build a fire that would last. One of those fireplaces is in my mother’s bedroom.  When I go home, I invariably find her sitting in her overstuffed chair by the window with a roaring fire on the hearth.  As we sit and visit, the fire dies down, and she frequently reminds me to “stir up the fire, Anne,” or “put another log on it.”

Many of you who are reading this have experienced the fire of personal revival this past year. It’s critically imperative that you maintain that fire.  If you don’t, it will die out. And nothing is more miserable than a heart that has grown cold, chilling a life that once knew the raging warmth of a passionate relationship with Jesus.  Not only does a heart that’s grown cold make you and me miserable, but it makes Him miserable too.  It grieves the Lord.   I know.   Because from time to time my own fire has flickered and waned through neglect induced by busyness, laziness, tiredness, and casualness.  And so I intentionally stir up the fire, adding the primary logs of revitalized prayer and Bible reading.

Speaking to the Ephesian church . . . and to me . . . through the apostle John, Jesus explained, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your
perseverance. . . .  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.  Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” (Revelation 2:2, 3-4)  Jesus loves you and me, and He longs to be loved -- really loved -- by us in return.

Although at this moment it may seem like a remote possibility, I can tell you from painful experience, that your fire of love for Jesus will go out if you neglect to stir it up and keep putting the logs on it.  So . . . stir up the fire!  Add the logs!  Join this AnGeL in taking charge of the fire!

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