Press the arrow to listen to Delirious sing History Maker as you read today’s devotion about priorities.

Scripture
…I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6

Observation
Fire tends to go out. The crackling light in the dark chills into lumps of soot. There is a fire in me and it tends to burn out. God started it, but I must be reminded to tend it. The very work I do for him is what extinguishes it.

The problem of fire is that while the flames moves the fuel does not. The dry wood in the airflow soon burns out. Other parts could burn but the fire cannot move them. There is a tendency in any ministry to start with grand plans and then suffocate the fire in the details. The devil distracts us not by taking us away from our work but by burying us alive under it. The great danger in ministry is being busy doing the wrong things. There may be smoke, but that is no promise of fire.

Fires needed to be tended. Flipping, poking and feeding make the fire burn brightly. If I chew through a job description I will soon burn out. Each day and even each hour I need to adjust my fire again.

Application
Each morning I awaken to a cold stove. The laughing fire of the night before is now just sad ashes. Fires must be built again with fresh kindling and the coals snoozing under the ashes. I need to ask again and again, What did God last ask me to do? What am I gifted to be? What will take the kingdom of God forward today? What can I do this day of significance? What relationship will spark new life?

Prayer
Father, it would be an embarrassment for a torch runner to arrive at a packed stadium with a flame snuffed out. All my running can put my flame out. Keep my flame alive. What I fear will extinguish me is the fuel around me. There is enough of it to suffocate the fire. So today, give me skill to arrange my fire well. Set me on fire and gather the cold in to feel me burn. Amen.