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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Fire in Our Bones"

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There was a man of God who served the Lord with all his might.  He spoke boldly that which the Lord instructed him to do.  This man truly loved the Lord and desired to please him.  And yet, he was a man.  A mere man.  Subject to all the temptations of Satan.  Subject to discouragement.  Subject to weakness.  Subject to failure.  And yes, subject to blaming God for it all and even desiring to give it all up.  Now, I know that there are those who would say that if this man truly loved God, he would not let it go that far, but friends, I beg to differ with that opinion.  It is true that there are a great many people who claim to be Christians and claim to love the Lord, who won't serve Him and won't try to please Him and far too often blame the Lord when things don't go just the way they figure they should.  This is so very true in many, many cases and in a lot of these cases, I agree that these people don't even know the Lord, much less love Him.  There are however, men of God, true men of God, who fall victim to the very temptations I have just mentioned and even more. 

One such man was a man named Jeremiah.  Now, Jeremiah was a prophet of God if there ever was one and yet, he became so discouraged that he accused the Lord of deceiving him and even went so far as to say that he would not make mention of Him nor speak any more in His name.  This poor man was ready to quit.  What was it that kept him from going ahead and quitting and finishing his service to the Lord?  It was that the Lord was not through with him and it was His precious Word and it was a Fire in his bones.  In the book of Jeremiah and chapter 20, we read the sad story of this man's discouragement.  "O Lord, thou has deceived me, and I was deceived:  thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed:  I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the Word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily.  Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name..."  Jeremiah 20:7-9. What a sad picture.  Jeremiah felt the Lord had deceived him.  He blamed the Lord for his derision.  He blamed the Lord for people mocking him.  He even said the very Word of the Lord was a reproach unto him and a derision.  Oh how sad.  But friends, if you will but read the rest of verse 9 you will see that the very Word of the Lord which Jeremiah had exclaimed to be a reproach to him was just the medicine he needed to keep him going.  To keep him holding on.  "But His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." 

Friends, my most sincere prayer is that this little article will serve as a very real and lasting blessing to some who may read it as the Lord placed it upon my heart just this morning as I prayed.  Now, this particular scripture was not a part of my daily Bible reading, but the Lord made it part of it as He so graciously showed me that none of us are above discouragement and temptation, but that so very often, the very thing we see as reproach is what we really need.  I must admit, there have been times since the Lord saved me that I really didn't feel like praying, but the Lord allowed me to see that, that was when I really needed to pray the most.  The Lord knows my heart and He knows when I really don't feel like praying and He would much rather I come to Him and be honest with Him, saying, Lord please forgive me for I really don't feel like praying, but I feel I need to, than for me to just not pray and try to work things out for myself.  I must also admit that there are times when I really don't feel like reading my Bible, but the Lord has shown me there too that those are the times when He has the most to say to me.  Those are the times when His Word become as a fire shut up in my bones as He implants them in my heart.  Now, I didn't say that what He has to say to me at those times is always what I would really like to hear, because just like Jeremiah and everyone else we read about in the Bible with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, I am not yet perfect.  What I am saying though, is that at these times I have just mentioned, I find that this is when I find myself the most humble.  If you look the word humble up in the dictionary, you will find a wide assortment of definitions for the word, but humble could really be defined as "Power under control".  Think of the person you would consider to be the most humble person you know.  Now, there are many people we could consider to be very humble indeed, but if you are a Christian and I mean a real Christian, you will have to admit that Jesus Christ is the most humble person you know.  What great power He possesses and yet He at all times has it under control.  Now, who is this Jesus?  He is the Son of God and it is through Him that we have the privilege of coming before God in His great throne of grace.  Now friends, mortal man cannot find greater power than that and yet it is never under more control than when we go to Him in all honesty when we don't really feel like praying to begin with and admitting it to Him.  And just think, He knows it anyway.  Lord, I pray that Your Word will be an eternal fire in my bones as I realize that I am no greater than Jeremiah and I too am susceptible to all the same feelings that he was and even more.  Lord, please help me to always realize that the times when I feel like it the least is when I need it the most and whether it be the privilege of prayer or of studying Your Word or serving You, let me always be aware that it is all made possible by Your will through Jesus Christ.  And Lord, as You have given me this little article I pray that You will use it to strengthen the heart of and encourage some dear brother or sister who You may allow to read it.  And above all Father, let it be for Your glory.

There is a group of people with a sparkle in their eyes;

You know that somethin's diff'rent the moment they pass by.

Now, sure they've got troubles, they've got heartaches too;

But instead of their complaining, they're saying Hallelu.

They are filled with the Spirit,

Filled with the Spirit of the Lord.