I re-posted a post this
past week on Facebook originally posted by Georgian Banov where he experienced
the love of God as a fire burning in him:
“God's love for you burns wild, it's not just a
warm fuzzy feeling.
It's all-consuming!
When I encountered the burning fire of His love and
presence for the first time I jumped in a cold puddle in the middle of winter
to try and cool off!
I didn't even think twice about it, I just dove in!
I was so hot I thought I was going to physically
burn to dust.
I begged Him to stop for fear I would die! And He
did, and I was suddenly very cold and wet, with an aching regret that I'd ever
asked such a blissful encounter to stop.
That's when I promised I would only ever tell Him
"More!" If I was going to die, what a wonderful way to go!
I declare fresh encounters over anyone whose heart
is responding to this right now. Such real and tangible expressions of His love
for you. More, Lord, we say, more!"
I said I would share
this week about when I first experienced this deep, personal, burning love in
this week’s blog article so here goes:
Other than feeling overwhelmed
with peace when I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior on October 31,
1973, I found a deeper experience of this during my quiet time with the Lord at
five in the morning one day in the fall of 1987, at mission school. I was in a prayer room by myself and had just
read in Psalms. There was no particular
scripture that stood out that morning so I sat down on the floor beside the
prayer bench and started talking with the Lord.
Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the thoughts and feelings of how deep
His love was for me. I actually felt
like he had picked me up and set me on his lap to hold me close. It was so all-encompassing that I could have
rested there for hours and hours, and I thought I had but come to find out it
was only about 20 minutes. Finally I
said, “Lord, I am so overwhelmed. It is
too much for me to bear.” He gently let
me go but lingering with me all day was this spark of burning deep inside my
soul. He had touched me and it was so
strong I was determined to never let Him go!
Was it the only time I
connected with Him so deeply? Praise God
it was not! I sat on his lap and was
comforted many many times since then:
when I went through the loss of my Mother, then my Dad, then my illness,
to say a few…but even this morning as I sang along with a Shirley Murdock CD I
became so overwhelmed with that burning love that I had to stop and wipe my
eyes as tears of joy freely flowed. You
have heard the old hymn, “I Keep Falling In Love With Him, Over & Over
& Over & Over Again”? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gq9w2B-fto This is what that fiery love is like, a spark
that is forever fueled, forever fanned, and forever growing – like the bush
Moses saw…continually burning by the power of God but never consumed and turned
to ash.
You may ask, “How do I
obtain this fire of love”? Beloved
Brothers and Sisters, you cannot “work it up”.
You already have that spark
within you…allow the Holy Spirit to cause it to grow. Dig deep into His Word; it is His “love
letter” to you. Fall in love with Him “over
and over and over again. Spend quality
time alone with Him and ask Him to give you a fresh encounter…then allow
yourself to be touched every day, throughout the day, by the wonder of it
all. You will start to experience this “real and tangible expression” of His love for you!
God sent His mighty pow’r
To this poor, sinful heart,
To keep me ev’ry hour,
And needful grace impart;
And since His Spirit came,
To take supreme control
The love-enkindled flame is burning
in my soul.
Tis burning in my soul,
Tis burning in my soul;
The fire of heav’nly love
Is burning in my soul,
The Holy Spirit came,
All glory to His name!
The fire of heav’nly love
Is burning in my soul.
“More, Lord, we say, more!”
