Rev. Ray and Pat Amos

Jeremiah 36:22

“Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him.”

It sure has been cold lately, but it is winter.

Who remembers waking up on a cold morning in a feather bed? The temperature inside the house was about the same as the temperature outside, but that was okay because you had about fifty pounds of cover over you. No one wanted to come out from under the covers, but someone had to be the first.

Then, there was the sound of someone shaking the grate in the stove. Ashes and sparks fell into a pan, and the slumbering fire awakened. There was no adjusting a thermostat. Soon the house was warm, and you could just back up close to the stove and bake.

Those days are just a memory now, but what is unchanging is the fact that when our eyes open to a new day, God is already up; and as the gospel song says, “When the world seems cold, and your friends seem few, there is someone who cares for you.”

Jesus warned us of a time when there will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most believers will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). It looks like that time has arrived. It is time to shake the grate again in the fires of the church. We can’t stay under the covers all day: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you” (Isaiah 60:1).

Ralph Spaulding Cushman wrote, “Set us afire, Lord, Stir us we pray! While the world perishes, we go our way Purposeless, passionless, Day after day; Set us afire, Lord, Stir us we pray.”

John Wesley told of the experience of having his heart strangely warmed. The two who walked with Jesus on the Emmaus Road said that their hearts burned when they walked with Jesus along the way. “Come Holy Spirit, Come with fire, and rest on us.”

Grace and Peace, Rev Ray Amos

“Link to YouTube Video – Someone Who Cares – Melissa Brady.”