Walking with God

STOKING UP THE FIRE
Pastor William Wallace

As a boy I had the privilege of spending time with my grandparents in the days when most of the heating in the house was done with wood burning stoves.

It was also most important to never let the fire go out because it was much harder to get a fire started than it was to keep one going.

My Grandparents would constantly say to me, “Stoke up the fire son.” Which meant to take a metal rod and poke at the existing burning wood so that it could ignite and take quick flame to the new wood that was about to be placed on the fire.

This process of stoking the fire was necessary to keep the flames going so the house would stay warm, but it also a great picture of the importance of our daily walk with God.

Each time we are consistent in our Bible reading, prayer, memorizing and meditating of God’s Holy Word we are just stoking up the fire so that our heart house can stay warm.

David said in Psalm 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” And in Psalm 55:17 he says, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” David found that the only way he was going to keep his heart house warm toward the things of God was to have a steady time of fellowship with God.

One of the worst things to do on an icy winter morning in Summit, Mississippi, was to walk through that freezing house to that cold stove and start a fire from scratch. This is why it is so important to stoke up your spiritual fire every day of your life; because it is much harder to start a new fire than it is to keep one going.

William Wallace
Pastor
Central Coast Baptist Church
Marina, CA

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