This face says it all!
Apparently when I’m teaching I’m a little expressive (read dramatic).
I got the privilege of speaking to a group of ladies last month , and they’ve stayed in my heart. We put aside all the things pressing on us to make room for the Holy Spirit.
Apparently when I’m teaching I’m a little expressive (read dramatic).
I got the privilege of speaking to a group of ladies last month , and they’ve stayed in my heart. We put aside all the things pressing on us to make room for the Holy Spirit.
Kate calls these my teaching eyes! I think I am going to have to drink less coffee.
So, pull up a chair, I'm sharing the story with you today...enjoy:
I really, really wish I had a photo from this year’s candlelight service, but I was a little distracted. This year instead of getting a yearly photo of my kids, I managed to catch my hair on fire, melting my sweater also in the blaze. For those of you who did not just dissolve into laughter because you have heavy gifts of mercy, I was not injured in the inferno. I am counting that a miracle. My niece and her husband were the primary witnesses of me micromanaging the boys, who were behind me, when I caught fire.
The picture I really wish I had was their faces! Sheer panic! My poor nephew couldn’t decide when an appropriate time would be to put out his wife’s Aunt’s boob. Luckily I heeded their exasperated cries of, “Aunt Lauren, you’re on fire!” Later in the evening the catch phrase became, “Remember when Aunt Lauren got lit at the Christmas Eve service?”
I literally can’t stop laughing about it because it is so me! Catching myself on fire. Seriously, if you have known me any length of time you are not surprised, right?
I’ve realized that this is literally what I want people to remember about me. Not that I couldn’t be trusted with a candle, but that I was ablaze with the Holy Spirit. I want the Spirit to shine in me and literally light up rooms. The key is that I don’t want it to be about me and that is hard because well, we as humans all want it to be about us. This flame that I want to light up the room also has to be a consuming flame. That’s the hard part. For me to shine Jesus, I have to dim. I have to get rid of all the things that hinder that flame.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
I asked Brian, now 13, to illustrate this verse for me for my conference in Florida. Kate added the finishing touch with her words to show what the logs symbolize. We can kindle the fire of the Holy Spirt when we feed it the right things.
Each of these commands relate to each other. Rejoicing and praying without ceasing keep the Holy Spirit active. Recognition of God in our lives through thankfulness, feeds the Spirit. When you feed a fire, you tend it, you stir up the embers, and you add fuel. Rejoicing, praying, and thankfulness stir the embers of the Holy Spirit and feed that flame.
When we neglect to do these things, we are pouring water on the flame. When we are ungrateful, prayerless, or even negative, we extinguish the gift of God. We literally douse Him under the weight of our unbelief.
Most of this fanning or quenching of the fire takes place in our thoughts.
Instead of feeding the Spirit by rejoicing with thankfulness and praying about everything we let our thoughts lead. We let our feelings determine what we do.
If we don’t direct them to the truth, Satan will use them to distract and maybe derail us.
Father, help us take charge of our thoughts. Let us bring them under your protective gaze. Teach us to direct them to rejoicing, thanksgiving, and prayer. As we exercise these, kindle the Holy Spirit in us and make us lights in a world that is mostly stumbling in the dark. In Jesus name, Amen.
My daughter, Kate, calls these my teaching eyes!
I think I am going to have to drink less coffee.
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