Devotion: fire! - Christina Cherry

Jesus says of himself in Luke 12:49:
"I have come to light a fire on earth; what did I want better than that it was already burning?!"

What should that tell us?
The first bid is:
You shall love the LORD your GOD with all your heart!
How does that relate??
Love is often compared to fire, it burns in our hearts. JESUS exemplified what it means to love! He was passionate about the Kingdom of God in all areas. Wherever he went and stood he distributed GOD’S LOVE to people!
He healed the sick, he let demons go out, he loved GOD and taught people to do the same, yes, he even raised the dead through love.
The fire inside him, the PASSION for GOD was so great that one day he even threw the traders out of the temple full of anger.
He was on the inside burning for us and for the people back then, whoever met him, met love in person.
Love is described in Song 8 verse 6 as follows:
"Put me on your heart like a seal, on your arm like a seal. Because love is strong like death and passion is irresistible like the realm of the dead. Their embers are fiery and a flame of the LORD."

JESUS was also flooded with love. His love for God was so strong that he bowed completely under the will of the father and took up the cross for this love.
HIS LOVE should set us on fire!
Jesus is an arsonist!
We can go to him come, when we are in doubt and our faith is about to go out. Like a fire that consumes itself, Jesus sacrificed himself so that we can be warmed and burned by this love. With his love he kindles our love again! It is like a burning log that can ignite a huge fire!

How often is it so far with us that we forget the first bid! Everything is sometimes more important than love for God.
THIS LOVE, says the first commandment, but should be FIRST, because we live from it, we are infected and heated and soon burn ourselves. WHY?
Well, FAITH WITHOUT LOVE is completely unattractive, yes it can become QUALITY!
Love is a fiery flame of the Lord, so the Song of Songs tells us. Interestingly, it is not the punishment and judgment that matters to God, but his personal relationship with us. WE SHOULD BURN LIKE JESUS WAS! JESUS would like nothing more than to have the WHOLE WORLD TAKEN BY this LOVE FLAME, this FIRE!
I wanted nothing better than that it would burn, he says himself.
Wouldn’t it be nice to meet this LOVE and let yourself be infected? HE WANTS THE EXACTLY YES!
THAT WE ARE INFECTED BY HIM TO LOVE!
Not only to NEXT, but above all to FATHER, GOD and JESUS ITSELF! THE HOLY SPIRIT always wants to rekindle us and pour this LOVE into our HEARTS!

Many fires burn on Easter night, the EASTER CANDLES are lit as a sign that Jesus is the light of the world! LIGHT is connected with LOVE, with HIS LOVE that BRIGHTS and warms the WORLD!
HE WANTS WE BURN, inside and out, as LIGHTS for the people around us! Once infected, we ourselves can become FIRE FIGHTERS! JESUS would like this LOVE that is going around the world to NEVER EXTINGUISH this FLAME! Yes, she even survives DEATH! He was so full of passion for us, so full of LOVE!
Let’s let this FLAME jump on us again at EASTER and infect others with it. Let us also remember that burnt-out fires lose their charm, they only become unsightly ashes. GOD WANTS TO KEEP US BURNING, he wants LOVE’S FIRE to be so attractive that it will affect ALL of MAN!
WE DO THIS LOVE! Let us keep adding, refilling, and re-infecting!

Lord, you are the perfect love, your passion could not be stopped even through death and did not go out, but only became stronger as a result!
THANK YOU FOR BURNING US TO FIRE!
ALWAYS set us NEW IN BRAND, restore the FIRST COMMANDMENT IN US, infect us with the passion that you feel for us.
Lord let’s burn and shine bright and never let this love burn out!
RETURN US AGAIN AND STRENGTH AND NURSE THE FLAME OF LOVE WITH YOUR PRESENT!
LET’S BE YOUR PASSIONATE LOVERS!

Right for the TEXT and the image
Elke Aaldering

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