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) He covers Himself with light, as with a garment. He’s wearing a robe of...not white...but LIGHT. A robe of light. Psalm 104 says it, and let that sink in for a minute. The Lord our God wraps Himself in light. I don’t know if you’ve ever studied the properties of light, but they are amazing. And if you think God created light when He created the sun, moon and stars, think again. In Genesis 1:3, on Day One, God said, “Let there be light.” Then He didn’t create the traditional sources of light until DAY FOUR. It’s impossible to imagine this, because when it comes to light, all we know is light that comes from a light source. But when God wraps Himself with light as with a garment, it’s not because a spotlight is on Him. It’s not because He is wearing a garment full of light bulbs like some crazy Vegas show. He is wrapped in pure, total, original light. The kind of light that came before the sun, moon and stars! And it’s like nothing we’ve eve

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) The ink is going to run. If you don’t think of that, you’re going to make a bad newspaper ad like the one I’m looking at. The words are white, surrounded by color. I’m sure it looked good on the computer screen, but they didn’t think about the end result, so the ink bled into the small, white letters making them impossible to read. When you design a sign, don’t start on your computer screen. Go out and stand where the sign will be posted. Start at the end and work backwards. One local church spent the money and posted a beautiful billboard; but I guess they didn’t go look at the site. The billboard was surrounded by trees, but what did they do? They made the billboard green, too! This is great advice in so many areas of life: start at the end and work backwards. I want to grow old and live out my days with the wife of my youth. I knew that the day we married, so looking at that end helps me make wise decisions today. Parenting – wow. My

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) How to Read Medieval Art. That’s the name of the new book I picked up at the library. How to Read Medieval Art. So you mean there are hidden messages and clues in the art, like a mystery? I’m in! Give me that book. Then I read something very interesting in the foreword, which was written by Thomas P. Campbell, the director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s also known as The Met in New York City, it’s the largest art museum in the United States, and it’s among the most visited art museums in the world. In the foreword he points out that much of medieval art is based on biblical themes. Now listen to this. He wrote, “To modern readers and museum visitors, the narratives of the Judeo-Christian tradition may be as unfamiliar as those of Egyptian gods.” Wow. So here we are, with more Christian publishing, more Bibles, more books, more media, more websites, more preaching, and probably more churches and evangelism than ever. And yet medieva

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Have you heard of the dynasty of King Jeroboam? No, because it never happened. Oh, it SHOULD have happened. The dynasty of Jeroboam was foretold by the prophet. In First Kings 11:38, it was Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh, who told Jeroboam that God was going to make him king, and that God would give him a family dynasty...IF he would listen to the Lord’s commands and do what was right in God’s eyes. And you know what? That’s what I want to do! It’s my heart’s desire and my prayer. “Lord, I want to listen to Your commands. I want to walk in Your ways. I want to follow You, Good Shepherd, every day!” And that, my friend, is how you build your family dynasty. You establish your family dynasty on the foundation of God and His ways. Look around and see. Families that put God in the center and walk in His ways – those are strong families. They aren’t riddled and pockmarked with divorce, adultery, abuse and neglect. So how are you doing with

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Are you drinking the Kool-Aid or the living water? I mean, where are you getting your values? On what foundation are you building your life? Are you plugged into TV all day? Is your favorite news channel like an IV pumping Kool-Aid into your veins? Is it soap operas? And you know that show you’re binging on is basically a soap opera, right? That’s why you can’t stop watching. But all these things impart values and morals. Our books. Our novels. The people filling our news feeds. The click bait. We keep going back to the same sources and drinking the artificial...but colorful!...Kool-Aid. Meanwhile, we have an amazing source of living water – the Holy Spirit of God who lives inside every Christian believer. (John 7:38-39) Living water – it’s a spiritual spring, teeming with life! It’s the Spirit of God inside of us, flowing within us...but we have to tap into it. We seek God in prayer and praise and Bible study, and we tap into His li

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Yes, yes, yes, I know I’m supposed to love people...but how? I think we all know that if we are on our way to Jericho and we come across a beaten man, we’re supposed to load him on our donkey and take him to the inn, right? Like the good Samaritan. But life is full of people and their drama, full of neighbors and friends and strangers and people we like and people we don’t like so now what? We’re supposed to love them...but how? First let me note that love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) So the more we let the living water of the Holy Spirit flow in our lives, the more we will love people, automatically. And the more we quench and grieve the Holy Spirit by our own sin and selfishness and disobedience and laziness, the less we will love people...automatically. But I’m getting to a prayer we can pray, and this has really set my heart on fire. Philippians 1:9 says, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more i

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) What might you have been excellent at if you had powered through? Let me say it again. What might you have been excellent at – if you had powered through? See, we’re all made in the image of God. He created us, and He packed us with individual gifts and talents. But it’s raw material. It’s like the planet. God created it, and He packed it full of astounding raw materials. And I think we have only just begun to discover all the amazing things He put here. The same is true with us. Every one of us. He packed us full of raw materials, but they are hidden. They are under the surface. It’s not obvious. We have to dig, excavate, plow, work it. I hate to see young people squandering so much time. I hate to see anyone wasting time, but especially young people, who are still so much like an undiscovered land. What might they be able to do if they just worked at it? That’s the problem with raw materials. They require a lot of work. Phil Coll

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) We lay down our lives for the brethren. But you don’t want to go to church. First John 3:16 says, “...we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” That’s our Christian brothers and sisters...the brethren. It’s our fellow Christians and our fellow church members, and we’re supposed to LAY DOWN OUR LIVES for them. But you don’t want to go to church. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (NIV) When you lay down your life, you give up your own wants and desires. You say, “What I want? I give that up. I give it up to be with you, to love you, to help you, to serve you, my brothers and sisters.” Man, what would the church look like if we did this? God has placed every believer in the body of Christ, and we all are assigned a particular part in the body. We all have gifts and talents and resources to be spent in the service of the body.

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) I want to be a just man, like Noah. Genesis says Noah was a just man, and he walked with God. I want to be a just man, like John the Baptist. Mark 6:20 says that Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man...and holy. I want to be a just man, like Joseph of Arimethea. Luke says, “Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man.” I want to be like that: a good and just man. I want to be a just man like Cornelius. Acts 10:22 says Cornelius the centurion was a just man, one who feared God and had a good reputation. Hardly anyone in the Bible is called “just,” but I want to be like them, a just man. Proverbs 9:9 says, “Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” “Lord, I want that. I don’t want to be a fool who can’t learn his lessons. Lord, I want to be a just man who increases in learning.” Proverbs 20:7 says the just man walks in his integrity. His children are blessed. “Lord, I want to be

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Selfishness is like a pac-man. It just keeps eating and eating and is never satisfied. If you live to please yourself, you will never be satisfied. I want this. I want that. I want her. I want him. You can consume all the dots, gobble them up, every dot you see, and you won’t be satisfied. Selfishness is sin, and you don’t gobble up sin. It gobbles up you! Selfishness wrecks marriages and families. It wrecks businesses and churches. And it will wreck your life. To the degree that you are selfish, to that degree you will be hollow. But there is a glorious alternative! Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him. (2 Corinthians 5:15) As Christians, the key is that we no longer live for ourselves, but for God. We take our eyes off of ourselves, off our desires, our wants, our selfish little baby wah-wah-wahs. And we fix our eyes on Jesus! We focus on Him and we run towards Him! We want

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Think of the crown of thorns, brother. When you think you’re going to sin a little, and it’s okay, because Jesus forgave you, or will forgive you, or whatever….think of the crown of thorns, brother. Of all the things He suffered, man, He suffered for our SINS. Those sins that separated us from God, He suffered for those. He suffered so we could be forgiven and made right with God. And then we’ll so easily return to the hog slop...after a meal with the King has been prepared? “But I’m saved, Doug, I’m free! I have the righteousness of Christ so I’m free from the bondage of the law. I live under grace, so I can pretty much do whatever I want.” I’m saying take a good, hard look, under the bright light. Then answer the question, “Is it sin?” If it is, drop it. Drop it immediately and walk away. And if you need a little motivation, remember that our forgiveness came at a price, and a transaction was made, and if you are a saved, born again Chr

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) So there you are, looking in the mirror again. Every morning, looking in the mirror, and making adjustments. How much of our life is spent looking in the mirror and making adjustments? But thank goodness we do! I’m not sure I want to live in a world where y’all aren’t making those daily adjustments. But what if you didn’t have a mirror? I mean literally, what if you went day after day without being able to look in the mirror, see what you look like, and make those daily adjustments? You’d be a mess. As we say here in the South, “You’d look a fright!” Well the same thing happens spiritually. Every day we need to look in the mirror of the Word, the Bible, see what we look like, and make adjustments (James 1:25) If we don’t make those daily adjustments based on the mirror of the Word, we look a fright...spiritually, that is. One good thing is that the Word of God stays the same, like a mirror that gives a true reflection every time. Imagin

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) When I was helping little leaguers stop dropping the ball, I would tell them, “Squeeze it into the glove!” I know it seems obvious, but really, they didn’t all know to do that, to just squeeze the glove and hold it once they had the ball. Now if you’re laughing at the poor kid who didn’t know about squeezing the ball into the glove, let me ask you...have you ever dropped your phone? Is your phone screen cracked right now, even as we speak? You gotta squeeze it into the glove! I mean, there you are, your phone is in your hand...and then you drop it. It just falls out of the glove, so to speak. You gotta take more care. You gotta get a handle on it, get a firm grip on it. Otherwise it’s going to slip and you’re going to drop it. And the same is true with God’s Word. And it’s far more important than catching a baseball and more valuable than your phone. You gotta squeeze it into the glove! So the preacher preaches a great word, and there w

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Here is a phrase I use a lot in my prayers: Thou knowest. When I face uncertain circumstances (and aren’t they all) I simply turn my mind toward heaven and say, “Thou knowest.” What should I do? “Thou knowest.” How should I use my time? “Thou knowest.” Where’s the money going to come from? “Thou knowest.” How should I pray for my kids? “Thou knowest.” It’s my way of expressing my serious lack of knowledge to the Lord, submitting to Him, and running toward Him in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I surely don’t know how the world really works and what I’m supposed to do...but He knows. God knows. The Lord almighty knows. El Elyon knows. It goes back to Ezekiel 37, when God took the mighty prophet Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones. Imagine the quiet. The wind. The solitude. The arid land. God says to His prophet, “Can these bones live?” And here’s where my phrase, “Thou knowest” comes from, because that’

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) Lately I’ve been all cranked up about the old hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” What powerful, encouraging words! I decided to learn and memorize all the lyrics, I mean, how many songs do you know ALL the words to, right? And sometimes the words aren’t worth memorizing, like those hymns where sing “verse 1 and 3, and definitely not 4, but maybe 5.” Well “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is worth singing and memorizing all the way through. Just listen. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee, Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, wi

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32) So today I’m red hot on this verse fragment, from Daniel 12:3. It says, “...they that turn many to righteousness...” That’s what I want to be! I want to be one of those people who help “turn many to righteousness.” There is a righteousness, and it is God’s righteousness. There is no shadow of turning in God’s righteousness. It is not as shifting sand, but it is solid as a rock. It does not change with the wind, or with our ever-shifting culture. There is a righteousness, solid as a rock. It is God’s righteousness, and I want to help “turn many to righteousness.” I want to point people to God’s ways, His principles, His statutes, His precepts, His laws. I want to say, “Hey, look, here is God’s righteousness, in all its beauty and splendor and power." Let’s live like this! Let’s live in God’s boundaries, by His principles, according to His ways and no other! Whatever path we are on, let’s reset the GPS and turn toward God’s righteousness.