BURN
LIKE FIRE
BREAD
15 “I know your deeds, that you
are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because
you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a
thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and
naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you
can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful
nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I
love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:15-20 (NIV)
10 The LORD
said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the
Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in
my zeal I did not put an end to them. 12 Therefore
tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a
covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his
God and made atonement
for the Israelites.” Numbers 25:10-13
(NIV)
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your
spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Romans
12:11 (NIV)
24 Meanwhile a Jew
named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man,
with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He
had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and
taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. Acts 18:24-25 (NIV)
6 May those
who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel. 7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame
covers my face. 8 I am a stranger
to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons; 9
for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who
insult you fall on me. Psalm 69:6-9
(NIV)
13 When
it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men
selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
15 So he made a whip out of
cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered
the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house
into a market!” 17 His
disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
John 2:13-17 (NIV)
8 Whenever I
speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach
all day long. 9 But if I say, “I
will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart
like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I
cannot. Jeremiah 20:8-9 (NIV)
27 They think
the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as
their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 “Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream,
but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do
with grain?” declares the LORD. 29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a
rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:27-29 (NIV)
17 Do not
let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD. Proverbs 23:17 (NIV)
29 For our “God
is a consuming fire.” Hebrews
12:29 (NIV)
BUTTER
“The true zealot is fervent in the Spirit,
not in the show; in reality, not in form; for God and not for himself. Zeal is guided by the Word, and not one’s own
fancy. It receives praise from God and
not men. Such a man’s worth cannot be
set forth with the tongues of men and angels.
Zeal leaps over all obstacles as fire passes from house to house. Before it all God’s enemies fall. Where true
zeal is, there will be opposition.
Christ calls and urges us to have it.
Let your milk boil over. True
zeal will not fade; it is perpetual. He
that has an ear to hear, be zealous!” Samuel Ward
“‘Do not be deceived: God is not mocked,’
the apostle Paul writes, ‘for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For
the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the
one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life’ (Galatians
6:7-8). The trouble is that we fool ourselves into thinking there’s some safe
middle ground — that we can make excuses and put off sowing to the Spirit,
while still denying the flesh. But we always sow to something, very often to
ourselves. And what we sow slowly reveals, and shapes, what we love most in
life.” Marshall Segal
“Satan doesn’t
surrender his prey without a fight. He
comes racing after the converted soul, chariot wheels churning the dust,
seeking to discourage you, to defeat you.
He pursues you with the intensity of Pharaoh. He may use your old friends, a spot of
persecution, or discouraging responses by your family. He may show you a hypocrite in the church or
afflict you with a general slacking of zeal.
He may launch a missile of temptation right at your heart or fire a
volley of trials and troubles into your life.” Robert
J. Morgan
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire
goes out. It is then burst into flame by
an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” Albert Schweitzer
“Jesus knows what it’s like to press up
against the limits of our flesh and blood and the bounds of finitude in our
created world. He knows what it’s like to have limited capacity, and limited
time, and end the day with unfinished tasks. He knows what it’s like to be
wearied physically and what it’s like to need and carve out time for rest (Mark
6:31). He knows what it’s like to have work to accomplish (John 4:34; 5:36;
17:4). He had energy enough to work (almost) tirelessly, even on the Sabbath,
when he encountered those in need (Luke 13:14-17; John 5:16-17; Mark 2:27-28).
Through his works, his output of human energy, he not only bore witness to his
Father (John 5:36; 9:3-5) and demonstrated whose he was (John 8:39-41; 10:25,
32) but also presented himself as the giver and focus of our faith (John
10:37-38; 14:10-11). This same Jesus not only calls us his brothers but also
fellow ‘laborers’ (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:7) and bids us to work with the
energy we have for the good of others (Matthew 5:16). But he also does not
leave us to our own energy. He doesn’t abandon us to what verve we can muster
on our own, what we can produce merely through wise (and important)
energy-management. He works in us — and does so powerfully, Paul says — to give us his own
energy for the work to which he calls us. As Christians, we will do well
to learn to steward the energy God gives us naturally through diet, exercise,
and rest. It would be irresponsible and foolish for us to treat lightly the
God-created gifts of food and sleep, and presume that he will energize us apart
from these natural means. But oh, how foolish it would be to ignore or neglect
Jesus’s amazing offer: that he himself, the God-man, would work his own
powerful energy in us.” David Mathis
“Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the enemies of God’s
people, there is still the same effectual barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God’s heritage, and He is in
the midst of them, and will protect His own.
What comfort this yields us in our troubles and spiritual
conflicts! We are constantly opposed,
and yet perpetually preserved! A saint
never yet had a virtue or a grace which was not the target for hellish
bullets: whether it was hope bright and
sparkling, or love warm and fervent , or patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming
like coals of fire, the old enemy of everything that is good has tried to
destroy it. The only reason why anything
virtuous or lovely survives in us is this, ‘the Lord was there’.”
Charles H. Spurgeon
“Belief is a truth held
in the mind. Faith is a fire in the
heart.” Joseph Fort Newton
“Give me the love that leads the way, The
faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no disappointments tire, The passion
that will burn like fire, Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame
of God.”
Amy Carmichael
HEART
SAVOR
- ·
We are never to be
lacking in zeal rather keep our spiritual fervor serving the Lord, remaining joyful
in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.
- ·
As our Supreme
Example, Jesus was zealous for God’s glory and we are to be as well.
- ·
Lukewarm is not an
option for the child of the King.
