All-Consuming Fire

Have you ever met one of those super Christian Jesus people? They love Jesus. I mean they really love Jesus. They want to talk about him all the time. Their eyes light up with an excitement that doesn’t make a ton of sense. They talk about him as though he’s an actual person they talk to. You can’t bring a situation to them where they won’t somehow bring Jesus into it. There will be a solution somehow found in Jesus. Either praying about it, waiting for him to resolve it, or encouraging you to trust him in it. 

Growing up I had a neighbor, Tim, who was like this. I confess I didn’t understand how Jesus was his answer for everything. What I did know, Tim was my friend. I could trust him. He was always there to listen, kept my confidence, encouraged me. He even taught me how to drive a stick shift car. (The epitome of patience and encouragement.) No matter how bad things got, for him or for me, there was a confident hope he brought to every situation. He pointed to Jesus often, that Jesus was the answer to whatever it was we were dealing with. I’ll be honest, I didn’t buy it. I believed in Jesus but couldn’t understand how Jesus was supposed to help me deal with the actual problems I was facing. There was a peaceful confidence in him, in trusting his situations to Jesus, that didn’t make sense to me. 

Fast forward 30 years, I get it. I understand what he was telling me all those years ago. More than that, I have become that person who loves Jesus. I find so much joy in chatting with a friend about Him. How awesome he is, how he showed up in a situation, how His Word, the Bible, has the answers for everything. He is my first and last thought every day. How did this happen? How does a person go from hearing about Jesus, knowing about him nearly all her life, to falling in love with him? Where every breath and thought and action you want to be from him and for him? The answer is easy. You meet him.

My husband and I met online. The first time I learned of his existence was from words written on a page. He sounded amazing. He cooked, loved coffee, the outdoors. I liked what I read. And then I met him. I spent time with him. And fell head over heels in love. Friends, what’s amazing is it’s not much different with Jesus. Meeting Jesus is different than knowing about him. It’s different than believing in him and even reading about him. Meeting Jesus is encountering him, his presence. 

Jesus is not simply a man we read about in a book. He is fully man, fully God, a King, a miracle worker, a Savior, a comforter, a counselor. He is an all-consuming fire that will fill your heart and soul in ways unimaginable. He will give you hope in the worst of the worst. He is the only one who can look at the darkest parts of your life, your deepest wounds, see the ugliest parts of who you are, and in all of that, LOVE you. In that love, he takes any shame and regret, and rewrites that story. He will show you nothing we go through is wasted in his hands. He makes beauty from the ashes of our lives. 

No human can love us the way Jesus does. No human can take wounds from childhood and heal them. No human can take the lies we’ve heard our whole lives, whether it be the lie that you aren’t good enough, not worthy, damaged, alone, unloved, broken. Jesus takes those lies and tells you the truth of who you are – that he knit you in your mother’s womb. That he has a plan for you. That there isn’t a moment of your life you haven’t been loved by him. You are precious. You are seen. You are known. You are chosen. You are loved. 

When you meet Jesus, these truths become realized. I use the word become as in any relationship; the strength of the relationship comes from spending time together. The depths of his love are hard to comprehend, but as you spend time with him, you will hear him speak his love over you again and again and again. I encourage you, if you haven’t met Jesus yet, don’t wait a moment longer. Click here and meet him. Seek him in prayer and ask “Jesus, will you tell me how you feel about me?”. There is nothing like hearing His voice, His words. I haven’t met a soul whose eyes aren’t brighter after hearing Jesus speak to their hearts. 

For those of you who know him, I encourage you to spend time with him today. Even if your day feels packed, carve out time and sit with him. Read the Bible and seek him in prayer. I often refer to the Bible as a conversation starter. The Bible is alive and active. As you’re reading, God will point out a word or a phrase that will seem to stand out more than the others. In those words, there is something God is looking to speak to your heart. Once you’ve spent time in the Bible, I encourage you to go to God in prayer/conversation and ask him “What are you showing me? What would you like me to know?”. God wants to speak to you and will speak to you.

If you’d like to learn more about reading the Bible, prayer, or hearing God’s voice, you can find additional resources below: 

Reading Scripture:  calvarylg.com/readscripture

Prayer: calvarylg.com/prayer

Hearing God’s voice: Blog Post

Blessing you with the joy, peace, hope and love found in Jesus.