Burn Baby Burn

“Set a fire down in my soul…”

“Set me ablaze set me ablaze, ‘Til its all I know…”

“Consuming fire, fan into flame a passion for your name…”

“All consuming fire, you’re our hearts desire, living flame of love, come baptize us, come baptize us…”

“So light the fire in my heart again…”

“Oh take that fire from the inside, outside keep on burning…”

Have you ever noticed in worship songs, how prevalent fire is? I noticed this more recently during a bible study group where we sung a few worship songs and there was a request for “Set me ablaze” and we’d already played “Set a fire”. If we’d felt like it, we could have had easily had a worship session with four songs in total and all four would have fire or flame in it somehow, somewhere. Before I go on, I do want to make a small disclaimer: the title of this blog is actually a song by MercyMe.

Now, I’m not aiming to slam worship songs with fire – I think most if not all are great. I thought it might be of interest to look into how fire plays out in the bible. Forgive me if this is not what you expect, but what can you expect from a pyromaniac? All I want to do is point out three examples of where fire is mentioned in the Old Testament and then in the New Testament and I’ll let you try and piece together the common theme (beside the obvious one).

The Old Testament verses that I have picked out all come from Exodus:

• “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, he (Moses) looked, and behold, the bush was burning, and was not consumed.” – 3:2
• “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night as a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” -13:21
• “Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” – 19:18

The New Testament verses are from a few different places:

• “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one more powerful than I , whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” – Matthew 3:11
• “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” – Acts 2:2-4
• “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’.” – Hebrews 12:28-29

I’ll let you figure out the common theme, let the embers burn and feel free to fan them into a great discussion. Give the fire inside you a helping hand today and spend some time with your Heavenly Father.