set. on. fire.

I opened my eyes to a ball of fire. At least that's what I thought my eyes were seeing at 5:45 on that hot and humid summer July morning. The blazing orange hue enveloping my bedroom was so intense that, upon opening my eyes, I popped straight up in bed. I was sure the room was on fire. It only took a moment for my fears to be dispelled. The room wasn't on fire with destructive flames and melting heat. There was indeed a fire burning but it wasn't of the destroying variety. The fire came from God and it was raging for His glory.
Every wall of my room was glowing. The light was so bright that I thought I must have overslept but when I looked at the clock it wasn't even six in the morning. I was up early and so was God. I rose from my bed and made my way over to the window expecting to see a postcard worthy sunrise. Surely an amazing ball of fire in the morning sky must be producing this unbelievable glow bouncing around my room. To my surprise the sun wasn't all that bright. In fact, the sky was hazy. There was a light cloud cover blocking the fullness of the sun. How could my room be so bright when the sun was shaded, far from being at its brightest? I wondered to myself.
As if on cue, God's presence came bursting from the light. He was in the glow on the walls. It was God who was filling my space with burning orange, yellow and red. God didn't need the sun to set my room on fire. He was doing it by the power of the great I Am.
For a moment or two I just stood there in my room in utter awe of the colors and brilliance on display. The silence of the morning, the shining light in the room and the undeniable presence of God's Spirit left me stunned speechless and motionless. All I could do was sit back and absorb the magnificence of the moment because that's what it was, truly magnificent.
As unexpected as the glow had come, it vanished again. The room's light faded. The orange glow disipated and the haze of the humid morning entered the room. But the Spirit of God stayed behind.
In those precious moments in God's presence He delivered into my room and into my heart a burning passion for His Holy Spirit. With His all-consuming light came an all-consuming craving for a pure heart hungry for the indwelling of Christ. When the display of fiery-bright light ceased to dance across the walls of my room it danced right into the deepest crevasses and corners of my being. God didn't blow out the blazing light display in my room, He just moved it into a raging inferno set within my soul.
God doesn't always come in a burning bush. Sometimes He comes in a burning room. But when He does come, it is undeniable. He burns with such an intesnity that the onlooker has no other explanation for the blaze. It must be God. It could only be God. The sun didn't do it. It wasn't a dream. God came to my bedroom and He delievered to me passion, purpose and purity. He came with fire and the most brillant light to show me the power He was about to place in my heart.
Now it is time to go forth with that blazing passion. It is time to take the fire God has set within the depths of my heart and let it guide and inspire me to live for Christ, live like Christ and live by Christ. God didn't set me on fire to roast marshmallows. He came to me with fire to burn for the glory of eternal salvation. For the glory and majesty of the Lord's great name I have been set ablaze. In all ways, for all my days may my prayer be for a pure heart that forever burn with the power of God's Holy Spirit.