Fire!
By Rachel Armenta
“Young man, I suggest you go out and set yourself on fire,
and people will come just to watch you burn.” -- D.L. Moody
The aroma that wafted through the house practically dripped with spicy flavor as the red hand on the stovetop timer clicked and began to buzz.
I snatched the dish towel hanging on the oven door to pull out Sunday’s dinner, and proudly whipped around to display my creation to my father, brother and friend seated at the kitchen table.
They stared agape – not at the savory dish in my hands, but at the dish towel engulfed in flames.
The edge of the checkered cloth had swept across the red hot element as I reached into the oven.
In a state of shock and horror all I could think to do was wave the casserole dish around wildly, which only served to feed the fire.
Everyone around the table jumped up and scrambled towards me. I fairly tossed the casserole onto the counter while Dad grabbed the towel and stomped out the flames. Austin and Andrea stood wide-eyed watching the whole spectacle.
While I nursed my singed knuckles, Dad assessed the melted sole of his shoe and Austin and Andrea enjoyed a nice laugh over the whole incident.
There’s just something about fire. It evokes emotion. It demands a response.
Its very nature causes people who would never come near to rush toward the sight.
When someone yells Fire! everyone within shouting distance responds.
Thousands of years ago on the backside of a desert wilderness, Moses was drawn back into God’s plan by a shrubby bush engulfed in flames.
In Exodus 3:3 Moses says: “I will now turn aside and see this great sight.”
Moses was intrigued; compelled to take a closer look, he was ultimately positioned right into God’s destiny for his life. God got Moses’ attention with a burning bush.
We as born again Christians must be like that burning bush in a dark world. We must burn with a flame that lights the way for lost souls and for a future generation.
Living under the blessing of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we have access to the greatest fire of all: the fire of the Holy Spirit. When we have been filled by the Holy Spirit there is a radiance that illuminates every aspect of our lives. God’s purpose is to position this attractive light strategically in order to draw other precious souls unto Him: unsaved souls, backsliders, and generations of church kids who are about to reach a point of decision.
Church kids are a unique subculture of people. Growing up in church and in a Christian family made me feel like a Christian. It was just a matter of fact. Like being one quarter Polish because my grandmother was full-blooded Polish.
Dad and Mom were 100% Christian, so in some way that made me feel 100% Christian as well. I was a Christian by culture, not a Christian by conversion. It was all I had ever known. It was what we did as a family, where my social circle was, and where we spent most of our week. But the facts and knowledge did not grip my heart. It wasn’t until the age of thirteen that Jesus Christ reached into my prideful religious self and became my personal Lord and Savior. I was saved, wanting to go to heaven and serve God, but there was something inside of me that wanted more.
It wouldn’t be until a few years later that I had a Holy Ghost, set-on-fire dish towel experience.
Adam Porter, who now pastors in Washington, was the teen Bible study leader in Prescott. He was radical, filled with the Holy Spirit and had a love for people and God that was absolutely contagious. Anyone within talking distance of him couldn’t help but want the fire that burned in him.
Adam encouraged a generation of muddled, half-hearted church kids to call upon the throne of God for the supernatural fire of the Holy Ghost.
We did and God answered. Something greater than ourselves came upon us and changed the situation, because what God introduces changes things.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
Adam didn’t slip something into our water. He just let Almighty God use the Holy Spirit to shine through him so he could be an example for a group of apathetic teens.
Not only were we filled afresh with the Holy Spirit, but there was a boldness and a passion that burned in the youth. Teens from all over Prescott began to get saved and one friend of mine prayed with 64 of his fellow classmates.
We street preached anywhere there was a group of people, teens laying hands on teens and seeing miracles of healing. It was as if God grabbed a flame thrower and ignited the youth.
God used the Holy Spirit flame in one man to set on fire an entire generation of church kids willing to claim it as their own.
I am so grateful that Adam Porter was used by the Holy Spirit to inspire my generation and kindle a fire of example that burst into flames.
Like the burning bush, God ignites us in power and grace to be a fire for Him that will not burn out. As a Holy Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ, I want to maintain a willing heart to carry that same kind of illuminating fire to others.
Here is a heritage and a legacy that must be sparked in future generations. If we have been filled, then we have a debt to overflow and burn on for the next generation.
As God causes us to catch fire, the lost and the church kid will come running to see the sight.