I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32)
This is a great and terrible phrase: “fully involved.”
It’s terrible when you’re talking about a fire. When a fire is fully involved, it means the entire structure is on fire, flames are visible in all areas. No one is going in. No one is getting rescued. All they can do is try to put out the fire and see what’s left.
But it’s a great phrase when you’re talking about someone’s level of commitment. If you are dating someone and heading for marriage, you want them to be fully involved.
When you hire someone, you want them to be fully involved in the success of the company.
When your team spends millions of dollars for a new player or coach, you want them to be fully involved in making your team a winner.
And when it comes to my walk with God, this is how I want to be: fully involved.
Like a fully involved fire has completely engulfed the structure, I want my fire for God to completely engulf my life.
A fully involved fire has spread to every room; every space is on fire.
A fully involved fire is obvious to outsiders because they can see the flames through every window and door and even through the roof.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
That’s fully involved.
Romans 12:11 tells us to be “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
Jeremiah 29:13 talks about seeking God with all of our heart.
In Revelation 3 Jesus warns against being lukewarm, or in other words, not fully involved.
Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”
In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize people “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
When the Holy Spirit came in Acts chapter two, there was a fire that separated and rested on each of the disciples in the upper room.
Revelation 4:5 describes a scene with seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God.
I don’t want to contain this fire. First Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit.”
I want the consuming fire of God to be fully involved.
I want outsiders to see the evidence of the Spirit’s fire in every space of my life. Not just one day week. Not just when I’m doing something religious, but all the time, in every space…the fire of God is involved.
FULLY involved.
May God bless you today.
I’m Doug Apple.
