Sunday, February 17, 2008

Dear God,

When I stand to preach, I have this burning fire inside myself. I know what is at stake. I know the investment I am making.

When I stand to preach for you, I fervently pray. "Oh Lord, let nothing stand between you and your message. Cleanse me from within so that I may offer your word." I pray for open hearts including my own. I ask for your power, your strength, your courage. I look out over the faces and I know many, if not all have a longing in their heart for you. I do not want to disappoint them. I want to give them something of you to take home.

Have I always been this way? Or am I getting closer to retirement and I want to give my best in these final months? I don't know. Perhaps it is the receptivity I find on some faces, a receptivity to hear the living word of God. It's easier to preach to a crowd who is interested in what is to come rather than one who is not.

I realize more every day how powerful your living word is, how it can get under people's skin because it is a living organism. I feel the urgency in my soul to share the truly great news of God. I know what happens to people when they come to the realization that your living word is authentic and has the power to transform human lives. I am seeing the fruit of your word.

Let your fire burn,
let it burn within.
Let the fire
of your love
rage,
like an uncontrolled wildfire.
Burn inside your church;
set it afire
with your spirit.
Let your people
welcome the fire
of the Living God.
Who are we
but a shell,
an empty shell
without your fire?
What can we do?
What difference
can we make
without it?
Burn, Lord,
burn within me.

Love always, Andrea