A Living Flame

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. Exodus 3:2

Moses was intrigued by the burning bush and moved towards it to have a better look, but God halted his steps, for he was stepping onto holy territory. The bush was on fire and yet the fire did not overwhelm it, consume it, or damage it in any way. It’s no wonder that Moses was intrigued – how was this even possible?

The Lord had a huge task lined up for Moses; a task that would catapult him way beyond his own abilities. Before explaining the task to Moses, however, God gave him a glimpse of the power of the One who was equipping him. Standing in the holiness of God, feeling the power and intensity of His presence, Moses was being shown the promise of being inside the will of God and trusting Him completely.

We often hear the phrase – being ‘on fire’ for God – and it is so great to see, but even better to feel. Unfortunately, the fire can dwindle and the flames fade to a soft glow. Fire is a living thing because, just like us, it needs oxygen to survive; without it, the fire dies. We can be on fire for God and yet, we can often experience burn out. This can happen when we start fuelling the task or activity with our own strength, our own breath, and sometimes we just don’t have the puff to keep it going.

Our intentions may very well be good – God has asked us to plough a field and he supplied the energy for us to accomplish that task, but we want to please him, and we’re on fire, so we plough two fields, maybe three! Next task, same thing, we overextend, overexert, overreach, and over time we become overwhelmed, consumed, and even damaged by the effort.

The ability to be on fire for God, yet not consumed, is only possible when we remain within the parameters of God’s will and allow the breath of the Spirit within us to keep the fire alive.