Do you know how a log catches fire? There is more to it than meets the eye. To get the log to “catch,” it has to be heated to a temperature sufficient to evaporate the water within the wood. The bigger it is, the more heat the process takes. The wetter the wood, the longer it takes.
The wood won’t “catch” until the water within it burns off.
And what happens with wood happens with people. I notice that people tend to want spiritual fire to happen instantaneously. We pray for revival like it can sneak up and catch us without us noticing. Or we pray for personal renewal like God is going to zap us with it without warning. But that thing that happens with wood — that process of heating the log to burn away the water before the log will ignite — is probably a more accurate picture of how big revivals and personal renewals actually happen. Not overnight, but over time. Not by surprise but by design. There is a season of heating up. There is spiritual preparation.
The stuff that dampens our spirits has to burn off before there is enough heat to “catch.”
Try to light a wet log and you’ll end up frustrated. Try to start a spiritual fire before the heat is there to sustain it and you will end up frustrated. You can also do a lot of damage.
I don’t agree with the whole message but I like the title of a sermon written by Gilbert Tennent, an evangelist who traveled with George Whitefield. Tennent talks about “the danger of unconverted ministry” — of leading a ministry when he or she is not spiritually prepared. Gilbert says, “an unconverted minister is like a man who would teach others to swim before he has learned himself, and so is drowned in the act, and dies like a fool.”
In my years as a pastor, I’ve witnessed it more than once. It is that pastor who fails to take his own soul seriously. The same year Mosaic started, our Annual Conference birthed ten new churches. Thirteen years later, only three remain. Not all were the pastor’s fault. Some churches never “ignited.” But some pastors also left the ministry and two of them had affairs.
Friends, there is nothing more dangerous than going after a spiritual fire when there is too much “water in the wood.” Perhaps this is why Jesus told his followers (Luke 24:49): “Stay here … until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” We want to focus on the part where Jesus promises a filling of the Holy Spirit. But I would not be surprised to learn that Jesus himself emphasized the word, “Stay,” when he was talking to his followers. Because he knew better than anyone just how dangerous it is to get out beyond the covering of the Spirit.
This is what separates the crazy from the courageous in spiritual work. It is not the Holy Spirit (because let’s be real here: some of the most spirit-filled people also look the most crazy). What separates the crazy from the courageous is that ability to “stay here,” to wait for Jesus to prepare the wood before trying to start a fire.
This is why we preach spiritual disciplines over and over and over. These are the things that dry out the wood. Spiritual disciplines prepare our souls for fire. Scripture, prayer, group life, worship, confession, accountability — this is how we prepare the wood for the fire. Not preparing ourselves is how we build dysfunctional lives and dysfunctional communities.
And this is why repentance is so important. This is why Jesus began his own ministry on that word: “Repent.” Because he knew that you can’t start a fire with wet wood. Repentance is the heat that burns off the water and makes the conditions right for awakening.
The fire triangle is what they call the three conditions that must be in play for a fire to burn: heat, oxygen and fuel (some kind of combustible material). If our spirits are the fuel and the Holy Spirit is the oxygen, then repentance is the heat that creates the conditions necessary for the life of Jesus to live itself out in me.
Listen: Repentance is not about behavior management; it is about changing my spiritual condition so I can catch fire.
Repentance clears the way for the Holy Spirit to do his work so if you’re ready to start a fire … start there.
