Fire!

Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame,
Send the fire!
Thy Blood-bought gift today we claim,
Send the fire!
Look down and see this waiting host,
Give us the promised Holy Ghost,
We want another Pentecost,
Send the fire!

God of Elijah, hear our cry:
Send the fire!
To make us fit to live or die,
Send the fire!
To burn up every trace of sin,
To bring the light and glory in,
The revolution now begin,
Send the fire!

'Tis fire we want, for fire we plead,
Send the fire!
The fire will meet our every need,
Send the fire!
For strength to ever do the right,
For grace to conquer in the fight,
For power to walk the world in white,
Send the fire!

To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire!
To live a dying world to save
Send the fire!
O see us on Thy altar lay,
Our lives, our all, this very day,
To crown the offering now we pray,
Send the fire!

--William Booth
______________________________

Lord,

Whether you send the fire or not, I will serve You. But oh, see these around us, who need to be drawn to the fire, to be cleansed by the fire, and to be set on with the fire for You. Send the fire, Lord Jesus!

Act II

No, it's not popcorn...

My second "official" act under my resolution was to purchase a notebook -- I'm keeping a log of the things that I do for a whole week, so as to better be aware of the activities that I spend my time on. By Saturday, I will have a week's worth of notes, which I will then review and see what needs to be changed, added, or removed from my life.

Also, I would like to know, along the same lines as I asked regarding Facebook: For those of you who talk to me online, what has my conversation been on instant messenger (whether it is Facebook chat or MSN Messenger)? Am I really being useful, or do I just make interesting conversation? Do I "provoke to love and good works," or do I talk about whatever is interesting at the moment?

Resolution: August 13, 2008

While contemplating my life direction recently, I thought about some of the things that I do and how they are related to God's service. There are a lot of things that we do while hardly taking any thought as to whether they are really something we should be doing: for example, how often do we sit down to watch a movie at the end of the day while neglecting to take the time to do more in-depth study of God's Word, or simply starting a conversation with Him?

All this to say that I believe it's really wrong to live parts of our life without taking thought to the effect of those activities on the state of our relationship to God. I also think I need to do something about it...so to start anyway, I resolve:

To quit doing any and every activity that does not work godliness. If it be what I watch (movies, videogames), what I read (novels, websites, other books), what I say (online discussion, face-to-face conversation), what I do (games, work, leisure activities), what I spend money on (food, gifts, projects, music), what I choose to listen to (music, speeches, comedian monologues), or people I associate with (classmates, acquaintances, friends).

So, my first action under this resolution is to ask you all -- what have my actions on Facebook been?

Have they been entertaining?

Or have they provoked you to godliness?

Or have they been pointless?

Or have they been informational?

Or...


I'd seriously appreciate your thoughts.