Lev. 6:9b, 12a, 13 NIV

How can we keep the fire burning?

Three times the Torah repeats the importance of not allowing the fire on the altar to go out. In order for fire to keep burning, three elements are necessary: fuel, oxygen, and heat. If one of these is missing, fire cannot burn. The fire that was on the altar in the tabernacle had fallen from heaven. The priests had the task of keeping that fire burning at all times. The heat was in the flames and in the burning coals. Oxygen came from the air around it. Wood was the only thing that needed to be added.

That teaches us how important it is to keep the heavenly fire burning on the personal altar that each one of us has within. Every morning more wood must be placed on the fire.

What is wood?

Wood is the product of the life and death of a tree. It is written that the Torah is a tree of life, compare with Proverbs 3:18. Yeshua also compared himself to a tree, compare with Luke 23:31; John 15:1. This teaches us that the flammable material that keeps the flame alive in our hearts is the Torah and the Messiah. The life and death of Yeshua has created enough fuel for us to burn for eternity in the presence of the Eternal. Every morning more fuel must be added to the fire in the heart so that we can burn constantly before the Eternal.

Fuel is added to the fire through prayer, praise and studying of the Scriptures, which all those who are faithful engage in each morning. The only way to keep the heavenly fire burning in our lives is to keep adding more fuel. It must be a daily activity.

Dear disciple, if you feel that the fire in your spiritual life is about to go out, then you need to take this command seriously and you need to pray, read, and study the inspired Scriptures every morning.

There is oxygen in the air. The Hebrew word for wind is ruach - רוח. Ruach is also translated as “Spirit”. This teaches us that the Spirit of the Eternal is oxygen for spiritual fire. If the Spirit is missing in our prayer and reading the fire will die out. Likewise you should not let heat be lacking in your dedication to the Eternal. Heat symbolizes the love and intensity of our devotion, in Hebrew kavanah - כונה.

Make sure that the fire does not go out in your life!

Shavua tov,

Ketriel