Longing For His Appearing

A few weeks ago I was listening to a preaching series by Mike Bickle called “Cultivating a Fiery Spirit”. As I listened, I would take notes to try and better absorb what was being said into my spirit. And yet, while it was very interesting, I wasn’t finding myself being deeply impacted by the teaching. Tonight, I thought perhaps I was ready to move on to another preaching series. But my loving and wise husband said to me, “Be careful not to move on too quickly. You don’t want to just sample preaching.” We were even just talking earlier about not sampling the Word – a little morsel here and there – but challenging ourselves to go deep in the Word and take the extra time to allow it to make a lasting impact on our hearts.

So, instead of moving on, I decided to take several of the key scriptures from the teaching, sit down at the piano and start to sing and pray into them. Immediately I felt the difference that it made for me to take that time and meditate on the Word of God and ask Him to make those things real in my own life.In Luke 24, two believers are walking down a road after Jesus’ death, trying to wrap their minds around what has just happened, and where do they go from here? All of a sudden, Jesus meets them on the road and begins to speak with them, yet they do not recognize him. He says to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe…” At many times, I feel that this is the condition of my heart – slow, dull, asleep. Yet, as Jesus began to reveal the scriptures to them, they discovered that their hearts began to burn within them. This is what I desire – a burning heart – a fiery spirit – a flame that cannot be quenched.I can’t help but feel an urgency in my spirit that this becomes a reality in my life – the verses that really struck me were Ephesians 5:14-16 ~ “‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” As another version says, “redeeming the time” – I want to redeem and make the most of the time I have on this earth to acquire a fiery spirit. I want those areas that are dead and asleep within me to come to life, to rise up from their slumber!!Interestingly enough, these verses are soon followed by instructions to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (vs. 19) – I believe that the key for me will be singing these desires in my heart to the Lord. Writing this now, several weeks after I first tried singing these prayers, I already realize that it can’t just be a one-time event. I need to pray and sing these things to God on a regular basis in order for them to actually take root in my heart. I need repitition – to pray without ceasing – if I want these desires to be fulfilled. My heart is slow to believe, slow to change, slow to act – it requires time and effort to rewire its circuits.