Intentional Burn

 In many faith circles, people pray to be "set on fire" for God, to have the Spirit light a spark under them for holier, greater things, and I too have asked the same thing. Except I didn't know that it would hurt. I guess I should've expected it to because all fire can burn anything in its path, including you. Even as it can warm and cook and do a multitude of things, it can also wound if you aren't alert and prepared. So too can the Spirit's fire burn away the parts of you that need to go.  

Perhaps not so much in urban settings, but all country folk know the necessity of controlled burns: the intentional lighting of a fire under close observation in order to clear away unwanted brush and old growth so that new life can spring forth. Any area that you want to protect and cultivate usually involves some clearing away and a fire is often involved: either you use to do the clearing, or you start one after you've made a pile of all the dead sticks and stumps you no longer want. Controlled burns precede fresh growth and change. 

And I'm starting to understand that the same is true for a soul that wants to transform. Sometimes I think we've lied to ourselves in thinking that all movement will be painless and upward. The reality is that often it is uncomfortable and you must go backwards in order to move ahead - must make peace with the past and clear away the dead stuff of your old life and self before you can receive the new beginnings God is inviting you toward. And when you ask for the Spirit to set you on fire, maybe you don't always realize what you're asking for. 

A heart transplant. 

That's what God is always after: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). God spoke it millennia ago, and it still rings true. In order to do life His way, you need to leave some things behind. You need to let go of your hardened patterns and set ways and old opinions and anything that's going to hold you back so you can welcome the new thing that God says He'll do in your life. And a controlled burn is sometimes what it takes to start over. 

The purging process in any mind and soul is one that nobody exactly likes or wants. Any rational person doesn't necessarily desire to invite a surgeon's tool to go to town on them and do whatever they please. Only out of necessity (and even then sometimes hesitatingly!) do we acquiesce to the knife and yield our will to the better judgement of another. And yet, from the moment we agree to accept God's offer of a new heart, this is precisely what we are walking into - a continuous adventure till the grave of learning a fresh way to see, think, and act. 

Holding onto the old dead stuff that no longer serves us in this journey does no good. In fact, it increases the danger so that we are more susceptible along the way. A good clean-out is what is needed. And we've got to be willing to take a torch to the things in our past and the stuff in our way that's hindering us from pursuing the Way Himself - one that leads to life and healing. And even though the flames may look scary and, at times, it may feel out of control, the fire is still being watched and all that's going up in smokey-heat is with our eventual good in mind. We don't need it anymore. It's only limiting who and what we could be. 

When the Spirit lights that blaze we've been asking for, we need to not be afraid of it. Will it hurt as it burns? Probably. But will it consume in its path what shouldn't remain? Yes. And God knows what that is. We likely don't even fully know and the fire will reveal that in time. That's why it takes patience and trust in the capable hands of the One who only desires our ultimate best. 

So go ahead and pray for a Divine spark to change your heart. Just be prepared that it will likely cost and ask more of you than you expect.