“And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.” (Ex. 19:18)
GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME.
“The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” (Lev. 6:13)
Redeemed from fire by fire! Yes, T.S. Eliot said it well. Consumed by either fire or fire. Consumed by grace or sin. Am I on fire for God? I have been charged by God to never let the fire go out! Guardians of the Flame!
How do I live with fire? How do I feed the flame so it never goes out? What is this heroes journey? To slay a dragon, to save a city, to live in such a flame.!To light yourself on fire and live there. Where does such a life come from? It is not five of the six archetypes inside each of us. It is not the Orphan, the Innocent, the Wanderer, the Altruist, or the Warrior, but it is the Magician, the Mystic, the Priest.
You must step across the line of mere mortal and flesh, and into Spirit and Priesthood. Blessed art thou Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you! Only God can create a bush that is on fire but not consumed. Try to do this in your own power and you will fail. It will be a strange fire, not of God, and you will be consumed, not eternally sustained. “Priesthood is a supernatural lifestyle of surrender”. (Try to explain that one.) It is mystic. It is the highest level of existence in unity with God. And every one of us is called to it. Being a Christian is more than just being a good person, it is a Priesthood.
Priesthood is a supernatural lifestyle of surrender.
If you’ve never truly been on fire, and if you’ve never truly surrendered, then you know not of what I speak. Neither do you likely believe it, and certainly not crazy enough to try it, after all, look at all the things you might have to lay down, and then what? What if you could not get them back? What if it really did cost you something, like it cost our Lord? Even that fear of not getting it back betrays you. You are not Mystic, not Priesthood, but you are still in a fearful, selfish, carnal state, and you have not tasted of God’s ultimate peace, or joy.
I find myself writing words stronger than I expected. Can I explain any of this? Hhmm, Jesus walked on water. I think water offers us a lesson. I use to be a terrible swimmer, and because of that I had a fear of drowning. My wife, who is an excellent swimmer, tried teaching me how to float, so if I ever got in such a situation, I could simply lie on my back and float. It sounded good. It made perfect sense, but there was one problem. The more you “relax”, the more you “let go”, the better you float. If you tighten up like a rock, you tend to sink like a rock, and sense I had a fear of drowning, guess what? I found it extremely difficult to float. It was very hard to relax and let go when fear was gripping me. Try it some time. You’re scared to death but you’re going to begin mentally relaxing each muscle, slow your breathing, and command your heart to slow as well. Mentally, it is a very hard thing to do, to slow the racing heart gripped in fear.
Nevertheless, floating was there for me. It was there all the time, I simply did not have the faith to tap into it. I was resisting the water, instead of surrendering to it, like a mighty eagle surrenders to a current of wind. Most of us live as little flapping sparrows, not soaring eagles. But don’t we all long to be the soaring eagle? God longs for that for us, and he offers it.
So what does this have to do with feeding the flame in us? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!!
If we will not surrender to the supernatural habits of a priest in Christ, i.e. a quality prayer life, faith, fasting, obedience, God’s Word, and God’s holiness, then the fire will never be sustained. This supernatural flame that fills the universe with passion will be lost to us.
Do we not believe God’s word? Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will…?
Yes, this is too much for five of the archetypes in us. But not too much for the Mystic, it is where he lives! It is where he burns with passion and thrives! Because he has learned the surrender that feeds the fire! He has gone to the cave and received a God-given vision! Now he is on fire with it, like Merlin who got the vision for Camelot! And then he raised up a King Arthur, who drew the sword from the stone!
No, you would not want to live such an authentic life. That life burns too hot for most of us. We would not dare to be so alive.
A book I once was impressed with, I have puled from the shelf to remind myself of. No, not everything I read is scriptural, but I must admit this book impressed me, about these six archetypes in all of us, and a heroes journey. The book is: “The Hero Within”, by C.S. Pearson. Of course the teaching has passed through my own filters, but I’m mixing some of that into this series. There will likely be more.
Fire purifies. There is a supernatural path bordered with flames, and so alive, not many dare to walk it. Just the Mystics, the Priesthood. The Spirit of God can take us there, if were willing to enter into that supernatural surrender, get a vision from God and burn with it! It’s hard to think about yourself when you’re filled with such passion. As a matter-of-fact, you won’t even miss yourself. Good riddance to the one that was slowing you down. The true Mystic and Priest understands. Just as I eventually learned to float, so can anyone seek God and learn of this way we speak of. The Bible is the authority on this powerful life, and Jesus is its author. (“For we walk by faith, not by sight:”) II Cor. 5:7 Faith…a powerful supernatural force practiced by God’s Priesthood.
It is the bird with broken wings that Soars... 
Amen Don! Your strong words were inspired by the fire!