Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heav’n-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860
Listen as you read. This is a very simple flute and harp version.
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On Tuesday we considered the first two lines of this stanza, which contained a powerful and dynamic illustration of how to love God. In these last two lines we will consider three more elements wrapped up into one final illustration of the Spirit’s work, consuming us with a passion to love God. Are you ready to catch fire? Let’s think about this.
Kindling
Have you ever tried to start a fire with no kindling? Those fire-starter bricks are really helpful but even with those some kindling gets the whole process going much more quickly. So what exactly is kindling?
Small sticks and twigs that are easily combustible. This is the role of the Holy Spirit when it comes to lighting a fire of love in our hearts for God. There are moments when we draw near the flame of God’s love and can feel its radiant warmth. When those moments pass however our lives cool far too quickly. When need the kindling of the Holy Spirit to help keep that flame close to the logs of our lives.
It was like this at Pentecost when the Spirit came on the first disciples. They were waiting as Jesus had instructed them. They were ready. God’s love was filling their hearts. Then the heaven-descended Dove came upon them and provided the kindling they needed to get the fire going.
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:3-4 ESV
In the imagery from the hymn the material that first kindles the blaze is the very presence of the Holy Spirit. Are you ready to welcome Him to come and be that quickening fire-starter in you, as those first disciples did? If you are, first ask Him to reveal anything in your life that would hinder His kindling work, confess that and then ask Him to come and kindle a love that flows from the throne of God into your heart.
Altar
My heart. This is where the Holy Spirit kindles the flame. This is where God’s love burns. This is the place. And that is a very important thing. But it is only the place.
I would contend that the Holy Spirit kindling helps to bring the flame of God’s love to a critical temperature upon the altar of my heart. All the conditions are right for combustion, but the flame and the kindling not only need a place to burn, my heart, they need some material, my life, at least for the purposes of the this illustration.
Certainly, nothing can extinguish the flame of God’s love. Period. But if that flame is going to burn in me, even in my heart, it needs some substance to burn. That substance is my life. I must offer my life, on the the altar of my heart, so the kindling of the Holy Spirit can cause the flame of God’s love to ignite it. For that reason, I implore you to offer your life to God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 ESV
My life is combustible. Think about it. We burn with passions for all sorts of things. Those passions consume us to the point that we sometimes have little left for other things or people that matter to us, including our loving and gracious God. If we bring our lives too close to any of these other flames, they will catch fire and leave nothing in their wake but smoke and ashes.
Maybe you are feeling the effects of having drawn too near to some other flame today. That choice may have left you charred and smoldering. You may even be wondering if there is anything left to offer God.
The good news is that there is. God’s mercy is great and new every morning. That does not mean we should just abuse it. Rather we must receive it and then choose to respond to it by offering ourselves regularly to Him as an act of worship. In this spiritual worship, the Holy Spirit comes as kindling to light our lives on fire on the altar of our hearts with flame of God’s love.
Flame
This would all be for naught, if it were not for the flame of God’s love.
I asked earlier if you had ever tried starting a fire without kindling. Hard to do, but possible. If you have no material to burn, you could scrounge around to find something to burn of less value than the resultant fire. If you do not have a safe place to start the fire, you could start it somewhere else, but it is going to leave a mark at best. But if you have no flame, all your other efforts are useless.
This is especially frustrating if you are cold, wet, hungry, or…all three! A flame can warm the frigid, dry the soggy, and feed the famished. This is important when it is your flesh that is being tended, but also when it is your soul.
The flame of God’s love warms the cold soul. It dries the dampest and feeds the ravenous. It can do so much more than that, if we will bring our lives as a sacrifice upon the altar of our hearts.
Will you bring your heart near the flame of God’s love? Will you welcome the kindling of His Holy Spirit? Invite the Spirit of God to come and do His work in you today.
Spirit, help me to see how much I need Your kindling work. Remove any fear that may be keeping me at a distance. Show me where I am cold, damp, and hungry and remind me that the flame of God’s love can change all that. Do Your work in me today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Podcast 6.5 Transcript
Welcome to Thursday Thoughts at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s think about this.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
…I heard around the throne…the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:11-12 ESV
To love God with this kind of adoration we draw inspiration from His messengers who never cease to give Him the praises due His name. They are undivided in their affections toward the living God. Ask the Spirit to help you mimic them.
One holy passion filling all my frame;
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 84:2 ESV
In this verse the Psalmist seems to be mimicking the angels love, his soul, heart and flesh longing to be in God’s presence and sing His praises. Can you with sincerity say you long for God’s presence to the point of fainting? I can not, but I want to. Ask the Spirit to give you such a consuming passion.
The kindling of the heav’n-descended Dove,
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:3-4 ESV
And what a beautiful picture these last lines create. Welcoming the flames of God’s consuming fire into our lives. The Spirit is the kindling, the substance which makes getting the fire started much easier. Ask Him to reveal anything in your life that would hinder His kindling work.
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 ESV
This confuses the imagery a bit making my life the sacrifice instead of my heart the altar, but it helps illustrate the point. God’s love is what sets the kindling of the Spirit on fire, and this activity transpires on the altar of my heart. Ask the Spirit to light that fire in your heart today and every day!
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has come to your mind, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then I will read our text once more.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heav’n-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
Take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Holy Spirit Kindling – https://pixabay.com/photos/wood-kindling-lena-trunk-1073503/
My Heart An Altar – http://dee-lightfullmoments.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-fire-must-never-go-out.html
Thy Love the Flame – https://normansennema.com/archives/16397
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