Soul on Fire

"Tell you what -
over the next few posts,

let's take a look at what it means
to be on fire in our faith."

That's where I left the end of yesterday's blog.  Let's start with one verse that says a great deal about what it means to have a heart for God that is on fire.  Romans 12:11 - "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."  Words like zeal.. fervor... serving.  They mean something when it comes to demonstrating a heart that is on fire for the Lord. 

Zeal - great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.

Fervor - intense and passionate feeling.

Serving - to be useful to somebody in achieving or satisfying something

We can't sleepwalk through life, especially when it comes to our faith.  I once attended the Dale Carnegie Course for Public Speaking and one of the great lines we learned in that class was "Act enthusiastic and you'll be enthusiastic."  Granted that axiom may be designed for the business climate, but it holds true in every venue of life.  We may not always feel excited about all things in life and perhaps we might decide to withhold our energetic personality.  Somehow, we need to fight through the lethargy of daily life and demonstrate that we are excited about what our faith has in store for us!  

The second part of that verse is about the depth of that energy - what is the emotional response that undergirds our energy?  What fuels that inner joy that can sustain the enthusiasm when life gets hard?  It's our fervor.  It's that intensity of the emotion - the love that we feel from God's amazing love and grace.  His love and grace matters - it makes a difference.  

As a result of all of these two things, then serving the Lord will be the most natural thing we can do.  Doing all that we can to help others know why we are excited about our faith is about serving God.

Tomorrow, we'll look at what can douse the flames of our zeal and passion.