My Heart Is On Fire By Doug Apple - A Short Christian Devotional To Open The Scriptures And Make Your Heart Burn Within You!

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) You gotta have the want to. That’s the title of an old book on my shelf by Pastor Allan Oggs. You gotta have the want to. As we square up for a new year, 2019, do you have the want to? Even if you feel battle weary, even if 2018 wore you out – maybe you don’t have the motivation, maybe you feel depleted, maybe 2018 drained you – but do you WANT to do better? Do you WANT to rise up and be all that God wants you to be in 2019? WANTING it is the key. Look at Matthew 5:6, where Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...” It doesn’t say, “Blessed are the righteous” though the righteous are surely blessed, but it says, “Blessed are those who HUNGER AND THIRST for righteousness.” In other words, blessed are those who WANT it. I’ve spent the year 2018 doing a deep dive into the Psalms, and my reading today stopped suddenly at the powerful Psalm 107 verse 9, “For He satisfieth the longing soul

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” That’s what it says in Psalm 34:10. Now I might need to explain the King James English. When it says, “shall not want any good thing,” it means you won’t be lacking any good thing. Of course you WANT good things. You desire good things, and here’s how you get them. You seek the Lord. You seek the Lord by drawing near to Him. We enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. We come boldly before His throne of grace. We draw near to God in our personal prayer time, alone, seeking Him, seeking His truth and His light and His heart. When we seek the Lord, then His will begins to unfold in our lives. We obey Him more; and when we walk in His ways, we become more pleasing and more attractive to other people. When you are living a life that is pleasing to the Lord, it is a life full of love and joy and peace and patience, and people like that! People will be drawn

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) I love this little phrase, “by the power vested in me.” Like they say at weddings. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.” It means you didn’t have the power, then someone “vested” the power in you. That’s the way it is in our Christian life. There are things God wants us to do, but we can’t do them faithfully in our own power. We need His power to work in us. For example, it’s not easy to forgive people like God wants us to forgive, but we can do it…by His power vested in us. It’s like we’re saying, “I can’t forgive you for that, at least not in my own power; but by the power vested in me...I forgive you.” God’s power is vested in us through His Holy Spirit inside of us. God puts His Spirit inside every believer when they are born again, and He begins His good work in us, exercising His power to bring us to maturity. So when Jesus says, “Love your enemies,” and you really do have an enemy? In the flesh, in your own ca

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) It’s one of the most powerful illustrations in the Bible, if you just think about it. If you lean on a broken reed, it will pierce your hand. Ow! I don’t even like stubbing my toe or stepping on a Lego. I can’t imagine using a reed like a cane or a walking stick, leaning on it, and having it give way and pierce right through my hand. But that’s what happens when we trust in things that aren’t of God. You’ll find the illustration in 2 Kings and Isaiah and Ezekiel. It’s when the Israelites want to trust the Egyptians instead of trusting the Lord their God. Just imagine leaning on a reed, and it breaks, and it pierces right through your hand. That is when you put your trust in something other than God and His principles. When you lean on lying, but God says be truthful. When you lean on anger, but God says His joy is your strength. When you lean on revenge, but God’s way is forgiveness. When you lean on alcohol to help you make it through the

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) First John 4:18 says that “perfect love casts out fear.” Here are three ways that happens. One is, when you really love someone, then it drives out your fear of them. Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” The problem with enemies is that they stir up so much emotion, you can’t even think straight. And one thing they make you feel is fear. They are out to get you. That is a fearful thing. But when we obey Jesus and love our enemies, which we can only do in the power of God’s Spirit inside of us, then that love drives out our fear of them. It’s the same for people who give you anxiety or make you nervous. When you love them with God’s love inside of you, then all fear is driven out. You are free to truly love them as God wants you to! Another way perfect love casts out fear is when other people fear you. Who knows why they fear you. Maybe you have power over them, or hold an important part of their life in your hands; but when they know that

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. And I am one. I want to be that mighty tree in Psalm 1, planted by the water, delighting in the Word of God, full of the water of the Word, dense with it, heavy with it. Strong with it. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. And I am one. I want to be dense with the Spirit of God, full of the Living Water of John 7, filling me, like a mighty tree, dense and mighty and alive...to every branch and leaf and twig and sprout...full, and growing, in the Spirit of the living God. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. And I am one. Mighty in Christ Jesus. He is the Vine. He gives the life. He gives the strength. He gives the power. He gives the wisdom and the knowledge from His lim

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) How does a tree get its water? If you as a person want to get water, you take a drink. You pour it into your mouth. But how does a tree get water? You might think, “Well, water falls on it, and it soaks it up, like a sponge.” So if you take a bath, it’s a like taking a drink? No. People take in water through their mouth. And trees take in water through their roots. The life-giving water starts at the roots and it flows to the rest of the tree, one tiny little drop of life at a time. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Life flows from the vine to the branch. So what does that look like in real time? How does that spiritual life, that living water, flow from Jesus to us? I think we’re usually looking for big things, the thunderstorm, the flood, the spiritual tsunami that sweeps us into God’s plan. But I think it’s more like how water flows from the vine to the branch: one tiny drop of life at a time. For example, here’s a

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Don’t water down your will do. What does that mean? It’s so easy to shoot someone this email or text, and it’s just two words: Will do. Just two words, and yet your reputation, your character, your core integrity hinges on those two words. If I say, “Turn out all the lights before you leave,” and you say, “Will do,” then you had better do it. If I say, “Stop and see me the next time you are in Tallahassee,” and you say, “Will do...” Uh oh. If I say, “Say hi to your mom for me,” are you going to say, “Will do?” Don’t water down your will do. If you say “will do,” then make sure you do it. Of course it’s not about saying “will do.” Don’t start legalistically avoiding the phrase “will do.” It’s about keeping your word. It’s about doing what you say. It’s about being trustworthy. It’s about letting your yes be yes and your no be no, like Jesus said in Matthew 5:37. I love what the old timers used to say. Your word is your bond. If you tel

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) “I wanted her to live her life.” “What?” “My mother. She had some bad things happen in her life.” “What did you want her to do?” “I wanted her to love it anyway.” That’s a quote from a movie that really stuck with me. Although his mother’s life was riddled with hard things, he wanted his mother to love her life anyway. Have you ever met someone who was just a downer? Either life had given them a beating, or else their life wasn’t so bad, they just thought it was; and they became a downer, a crabby little Eeyore singing woe is me and raining on everyone’s parade. Well, what can you do if life gives you a beating? Love it anyway. You can embrace it and run with it and milk it for all it’s worth. I think of Jesus’ parable of the talents. Some were given more than others, but all were expected to take the hand they were dealt and play it for good, for improvement, for growth and expansion and increase. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Here’s a prayer I’ve been praying lately, “Lord, let this land yield her increase.” It’s based on Psalm 85:12 where it says, “The Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase.” I think your “land” can be whatever God has given you, whatever opportunities you have. I think your job is your land. Your family is your land. Your business is your land. Your church is your land. I think we can learn from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents that God gives us raw materials, or land if you will, and He is looking for an increase. Of course we can work and work and work and work, but like it says in Psalm 127, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord gives the increase, we labor in vain. And so I pray, “Lord, let this land yield her increase.” And then I got to thinking, “You know, that word ‘let,’ it’s kind of weak. It seems passive. “Lord ‘let’ this happen.” I don’t want Him to let i

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Here is a teaching that will literally revolutionize your life. It’s called The Three Levels of Forgiveness. The first level is Rookie Forgiveness. Rookie forgiveness is when you get hurt, you suffer for a while, and then you forgive. The question is, how long do you wait between the offense and the forgiveness? How long do you suffer in anger, hatred and bitterness? A week? A month? A year? Half your life? What if you do like the movies and just blast your offender and take your revenge. Would that solve the problem? No, and here’s why. The offender will die, but the offense lives on! It will live on inside of you until… Until you forgive. So how long do you wait to forgive? Why wait at all? And that brings us to the second level of forgiveness. After Rookie Forgiveness, the second level is: Instant Forgiveness. This is where you forgive your offenders instantly. As soon as you see the offense coming, you forgive before it even

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) “Yeah, but how can I overcome the flesh? That’s what someone asked me, and it’s a good question. Different sins can get hold of different people – Christian people – and sometimes they even battle those sins, and lose. So what’s the answer? How can you overcome the flesh, and the sin and temptation that go with it? My advice is don’t try to tackle it head on, but turn your attention elsewhere. Dealing with the flesh can be like dealing with a toddler. You can fight all day with a toddler about that thing they are fixated on, but sometimes it’s just better to say, “Hey, how about a popsicle?” Then they squeal with delight, run to the kitchen, and forget all about that other thing. In the same way you can battle your flesh all day long. “Drop that sin. Drop that sin. Drop that sin.” But the flesh wants to hold onto it. So what do you replace it with? Instead of fighting the flesh head on, you present yourself to the Lord, and keep present

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) I asked a young man how his spiritual growth was going. He said, “I’m reading the Bible a lot, and several devotionals.” I said, “And how is that impacting you?” He said, “I’m always looking for personal applications – how I can apply what I learn.” And that, my friend, is one half of spiritual growth, what I call outwardly inward. You read the Bible, you hear a sermon, you read your daily devotion, you listen to a teacher, you talk to Christian friends and hold one another accountable. That is outwardly inward. It starts outside of you, you receive it, and you allow it inside of you to change your heart and mind. And then there is inwardly outward. What is that? That is when the Holy Spirit inside of you is teaching you and leading you, convicting you and encouraging you and cheering you on...from the inside of you. In John 7, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be inside of us, and would be like rivers of living water, flowing from the in

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Maybe you’ve sung it a thousand times. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace! The triumphs of His grace. When I sing that line, my heart cries out with joy: I am one! I am one of the triumphs of His grace. He set me free! He delivered me from the net of the fowler. Have you ever heard that illustration? Psalm 91:3 says, “Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler...” A fowler catches birds, so imagine the tricks. Maybe he throws down bird seed and all the birds come out and eat. Then he drops the net and they are caught! That’s what the world does, and our sin and our flesh and our selfishness and our pride. Out goes the tempting seed, and in we rush, right into the stupid place, where the fowler is waiting. Have you ever been caught in that trap? A lot of birds die in that trap, and yet here I am, a trophy of His grace. How many times has th

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Do you have The Jesus Fire? That’s a question I’ve been asking people lately. “Do you have The Jesus Fire?” Unfortunately most people are telling me, “No,” or “I don’t know,” or “Not like I used to.” One man told me, “I guess I just don’t have the fire like you do.” I told him, “As a believer, you have the same fire as me or any other believer. It’s the same fire of the Holy Spirit inside all Christians.” The question is, are you fanning the flame? Or are you quenching the Spirit? What do I mean by The Jesus Fire? I get that from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11, where John said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit...and fire. So I call it The Jesus Fire, and when I say, “Do you have The Jesus Fire?” I’m basically asking, “Is the Spirit of God rising up in you as a roaring fire?” If the answer is yes, then hallelujah! Thank God! If the answer is no, now what? Now you need a healthy dose of James 4:8, “Draw near to

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) In the morning my alarm goes off. I roll out of bed, get down on a knee, point a finger to heaven and say, “Reporting for duty, Sir.” I want to hit the ground running for Jesus. I want to be the guy in 2 Timothy 2:3, “...a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Being a soldier in a huge army simplifies some things. A soldier doesn’t have to make up things to do each day. He is TOLD what to do. He has orders, and his agenda is to obey those orders. You don’t do whatever you feel like. You don’t do what everyone else is doing. You don’t go with the flow or look out for number one. You do what you are TOLD to do by your commanding officer. So being a good soldier of Jesus Christ simplifies your schedule. It also simplifies your education. So many people today are trying to figure out what they want to do to and what education they need. But a soldier submits himself to the commander, and the commander orders the training that prepares the soldier fo

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) My eyes are ever toward the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord. That’s my own personal mix of Psalm 25:15 and Psalm 27:4. Add to that the message of Psalm 101:3, I will set before my eyes no vile thing. What a contrast! We can ever turn our eyes toward the Lord to behold the beauty of the Lord, or we can set before our eyes vile things. And when we set before our eyes vile things, it BLINDS us to the beauty of the Lord. You say, “Man, I’m TRYING to see the beauty of the Lord, but I’m not seeing it.” Maybe it’s because you are setting before your eyes vile things, and it’s blinding you to the beauty of the Lord. You say, “What is the beauty of the Lord, anyway? It’s not like we can look into heaven and see it.” You can look into your HEART and see it...if Jesus is there. If God is in your heart, you can easily see His beauty in the work He is doing sovereignly in your life. You can see His beauty in His creation. You can see His beauty

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Second Corinthians 2:11 says we are not unaware of the devil’s devices. Whenever I read that I think, “Oh yes we are.” Jesus called Satan “the father of lies,” so if you ever fell for the lies of a man, how quickly will you fall for the schemes of the master deceiver? He’s as smooth as a snake, but here is one way to smoke him out. Ask the question, “What then?” For example, you had a terrible week and you just need some relief. Then someone invites you to a place where the alcohol is flowing. There’s your relief! But what then? You get drunk and forget your problems, but what then? Get drunk again and forget again? But what then? See? Asking “what then” pokes holes in Satan’s stupid, gassy temptations. They cannot hold up to the What Then line of questioning. So you’re having problems in your marriage. Meanwhile, this other person really understands you. They get you. They even like you! You’d rather go spend time with them than g

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Wisdom preserves you. If you want to save yourself, if you want to preserve yourself, get some wisdom! Proverbs 4 says, “Get wisdom...she will preserve you.” (NKJV) One great example is your teeth. What are three obvious things that wisdom says will preserve your teeth? Well, it’s wise to brush your teeth. It’s wise to floss your teeth. And it’s wise to go to the dentist for regular cleanings and checkups. Follow this wisdom and your teeth will be preserved. And yet I know so many people who chuck this wisdom out the window. And what is going to happen? Their teeth are not going to be preserved. Think of tobacco products. Wisdom says, “Don’t use tobacco products and you will be preserved.” Now I’m thinking of the woman my age who has been smoking, I guess, since high school, and when I saw her Facebook picture I was aghast! She almost looked old enough to be my mother, because all that smoking was sucking the life out of her. Wisdom, th

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Here is a simple prayer you can pray anytime, for anyone, starting with yourself. Four simple words: turn Thee unto me. Turn Thee unto me. Yes, that’s the old King James English, and it’s pretty simple. It’s a simple prayer saying, “Lord, please turn towards me.” And when the Lord turns toward us...well imagine a shepherd surrounded by sheep. Then imagine the shepherd turning his attention specifically to one particular sheep. He kneels down. He cares for the sheep. He loves on the sheep. He checks on the sheep. A sheep never feels more loved and secure and KNOWN than when the shepherd turns toward that particular sheep. And that’s what this prayer encapsulates. “Lord, turn Thee unto me.” It’s asking for God’s specific attention, for His specific favor and care and love and mercy. It’s asking for His guidance and wisdom and light. It all comes when the Shepherd turns Thee unto me. So you can pray this for yourself, just like David did