Warmth

FRI., FEB. 20, 1987, 6:38 AM
FARM, FRONT OF FIRE

You feel the warmth that is sent forth from your burning wood, and this is a pleasant feeling on a cool, dreary morning. Warmth is a wonderful concept, despite the “bad-mouthing” it got in John’s Revelation. So I shall say here, at the outset, warm is not a concept that I “spew out of My mouth.” It is the positive one of being neither too cold nor too hot. What else can I say about warmth?

These chunks of wood that were once part of a great tree can, in their deadness, be cold and useless or they can “give themselves up to be burned.” This is a poetic way of saying each chunk of wood has within it the potential of warmth. Yet they cannot give this off without “assistance.” The fire is started, with material that burns quickly but rapidly. As the heat builds these large chunks become part of the fire and slowly give off their heat… until all that is left is gray ashes.

This is a fine example of the concept of human/spiritual interaction. Each human person has, within, the potential for “giving off heat,” the analog to spiritual growth. This potential is not the same in every person, for each is on a slightly different path or at a different place on the path back toward Me. In like fashion the chunk of wood to your right has more potential for giving warmth than the piece of branch burning now. But as it lies in the box its potential is not realized. It needs interaction with that presently burning branch and the other hot coals before it can commence to give off its warmth.

The fire itself is the analog to Me, the Holy Spirit. I am the ultimate means by which spirit is enacted and grows in the process. Yet My style is not to come spontaneously and ignite a cold log. My fire is maintained and enhanced by the chunks of wood, large and small, that are presently burning. As they give off their warmth they are being consumed, but they also are the means by which this large chunk can warm up and begin to glow and realize its potential for heat.

Each present chuck grew as part of a large tree. There was value in that total tree (even as it was value that you never enjoyed nor from which you profited). That process built in potential warmth, from the sun, which is the physical analog to Me, as the Triune God. Now you have added the large piece to the fire, and through the help of the other burning pieces it is beginning to give off its potential. It is giving up its present state of being in order to help give forth warmth.

Another interesting part of the process is that the chunks of wood themselves must be more than warm. They must be truly hot before they can give forth the warmth that benefits you. Physically, you know that much of the heat generated is “wasted” as far as our comfort is concerned. There must be great heat at the source for you to feel warmth where you are. This great “heat” is My presence and the loving giving of My working servants here in the earth. There is much in the total environment that prevents you from feeling the full heat and benefitting from it. Yet even the warmth you feel sustains you in comfort.

The sense in which John’s statement is a true one is the sense that it takes real heat at the source to produce warmth for others. If the logs in the fire were only warm you would not feel any more warmth than if they were cold. So heat translates into warmth, and warmth is what you can appreciate as a form of sustenance.