Jesus warned in Matthew 24:12″ And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” So with that in mind; What has you fired up for 2017?

God has been chasing me with fire all week it seems, I can’t stop seeing it. Moses and the “Burning Bush”, Abraham’s,  “Burning Torch”. The Golden Lamp Stand, The Alter of “Burning” sacrifice, At Pentecost, “Tongues of Fire” . The sun for goodness sake is a ball of fire, every light bulb is a miniature fire, every car runs on fire, we read and see things are illuminated by fire, “God’s Love is a consuming fire” Hebrew’s 12:29…. Are you seeing what I’m seeing, if you are seeing at all it’s most likely illuminated by fire of some sort.

So what are you burning to do in 2017, what has you fired up so to speak? The other thing that has me intrigued this week has been Brother Lawrence and his story from the 1600’s related in the book,  “The Practice of the Presence of God the Best Rule of a Holy Life” Start reading it for free: http://amzn.to/2hE4MVH.  Here’s a sample of the way brother Lawrence Burned  his complete eighth letter in the book…See if you see the connection to burning for 2017.

“EIGHTH LETTER. (Concerning wandering thoughts in Prayer.) You tell me nothing new; you are not the only one that is troubled with wandering thoughts. Our mind is extremely roving; but, as the will is mistress of all our faculties, she must recall them, and carry them to GOD as their last end. When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by recollection at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth. I believe one remedy for this is to confess our faults, and to humble ourselves before GOD. I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer: many words and long discourses being often the occasions of wandering. Hold yourself in prayer before GOD, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the LORD. If it sometimes wander and withdraw itself from Him, do not much disquiet yourself for that: trouble and disquiet serve rather to distract the mind than to re-collect it: the will must bring it back in tranquility. If you persevere in this manner, GOD will have pity on you. One way to re-collect the mind easily in the time of prayer, and preserve it more in tranquility, is not to let it wander too far at other times: you should keep it strictly in the presence of GOD; and being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings. I have told you already at large, in my former letters, of the advantages we may draw from this practice of the presence of GOD: let us set about it seriously, and pray for one another. Yours, &c.”

Consuming; how can I be consumed with love like described is the question I am pondering. Being a Car Guy I so easily see the connection to an engine, the hotter it can run the more efficient it becomes.