Lessons I Learned from Watching a Controlled Burn

controlled burn

We once lived across the road from a hayfield. I love to watch the mowers, rakes, and balers. I love the smell of freshly cut hay. It would be OK with me if when the time comes I am so old no church wants to hear me preach, that I could retire to my own hay field.  I could mow, rake, and bale till my heart’s content.

Every February or March, my neighbor would burn his hayfield; torch the entire spread. Farmers call this a “controlled burn.” A controlled burn eliminates the thatch that deprives the grass of much needed rain water and nutrients.

The controlled burn also serves to rid the field of bugs and pests that jeopardized the growth of the grass. It also removes seeds of weeds that threaten the crop. The controlled burn removes lots of bad stuff.

A Spiritual Controlled Burn

Whenever I would watch the burn, I remembered these words from John the Baptist:

[Tweet “We are unwilling to let the Holy Spirit do His necessary work in our lives first.”]

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” – Matthew 3:11-12

We claim to want the Holy Spirit to fall among us and bring revival. We pray for it, but for the most part, it’s business as usual. I think it’s because a true Holy Spirit revival in our lives would be first painful, then exciting.
[Tweet “We have a lot of spiritual thatch and sin-laden bugs that we need Him to burn away.”]
We have a lot of spiritual thatch and sin-laden bugs that we need Him to burn away. Only them will the refreshing and nourishing water of God’s Word effectively feed our soul. We need the Spirit to remove the junk that chokes us so that God can bear fruit in our lives.

My Prayer

Oh that we would invite the Holy Spirit to remove every sinful attitude, thought, habit, relationship, and affection. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit brings a great repentance, and that it starts in my life.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:23-24
What sinful habits, attitudes, or thought choke your spiritually?
What ONE THING will you resolve to ask God to burn away TODAY?
[Tweet “We need the Spirit to remove the junk that chokes us.”]