The Ring of Fire

We had a fire going in our burn pile late one Sunday afternoon. The pile had grown tall throughout the months with limbs and logs from the fall rains. At about 10:00, the fire was catching its second wind. My husband, wanting to sleep some that night, took all the proper precautions to ensure the blaze would remain contained. He sprayed down the ground around the fire pit, and he made sure no leaves or limbs were dangling over the side. As we prayed that night before going to sleep, we asked the Lord to guard the fire and awaken us if it needed attention.

I will sleep through just about anything. Sometimes, back when our kids were babies, Adam even had to wake me up to tell me the baby was crying. Adam, on the other hand, is quickly in defense mode and can hear the kids walk out of their bedroom from all the way across the house! So I slept fine that night, assured if there was an issue, Adam would hear it. When morning came, I asked him how the night went. He responded that it had been one of the most restless nights he’s had in awhile. He said, “I guess something about a blazing fire that could completely consume you, keeps you on high alert.”

If you spend time studying the scriptures, you’ll notice there are many passages that warn and admonish us to be watchful and alert. Mostly, I’ve thought of those in reference to our enemy and his schemes or watchful for the Lord’s return. But Galatians 5:1 has pricked my ears and readied my heart to another kind of alertness.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

In Martin Luther’s commentary to the Galatians, he quotes this about that verse, “Be steadfast, not careless. Lie not down and sleep, but stand up. Be watchful. Hold fast the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free.”

Do we act like a people who have been freed from the requirements of the law? We no longer must carefully adhere to rules and regulations in order to earn God’s favor. We are called Sons and Daughters of God Most High! These verses tell me, we must guard that freedom as Adam guarded our home that night against the fire. He realized there was great potential for danger- one that could consume us. Legalism, or trying to work to obtain favor with God, is a snare of Satan and is also one that can consume the believer and steal away every ounce of joy, peace, love, kindness, goodness, patience and self control…against such things there is no law! We must trim every branch, clear away the leaves and wet down the ground around us, taking great pains again this enemy!

Be consumed, Believer, with the freedom of Christ. “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Don’t you dare go back to slavery!

All You've Ever Wanted was my Heart by Casting Crowns

Putting it In Our Own Words,

~Julie