“Give me oil in my lamp
keep it burning, burning, burning
Give me oil in my lamp I pray;
Give me oil in my lamp
keep it burning, burning, burning
keep it burning ‘to the end of days’.”
Someone sang this last night at Elizabethtown House of Prayer (EHOP)–which i LOVE, by the way–and it just resonated with me. I have no idea how long ago it was that I heard this song, but probably it was with children. It’s just a little children’s song…but it is the sum of my prayers these days!
I have a great life, but I am still in a place at all times when I am desperate for the Lord to fill me with motivation, joy, and energy FOR the life and daily tasks and relationships He has given me. I am lazy, I am lost…I would choose TV and sugar over obedience and love, I would. Every day would be a struggle over SELF, in one way or another. If it wasn’t laziness or depression, it would be ambition and accomplishment, pride, overachieving. He is my hope, my new mercies every morning to live my days with Him and for Him. And I also think of how I need His fire to burn in me, not just for fire and motivation to obey, but the refining fire of holiness. I want to come out of every season of the soul, every season of this temporal life, the good, bad, and ugly, shining. Our faith is imperishable, it is better than gold, (1 Peter 1) and my prayer is– both in the small everyday trials and at the end of days– that I (my faith) would come out shining! His fire in me is the only way.
Also, in this song, we’re asking Him that when He returns, we’d be ready. We’d be those watchmen on the wall…we’d be those brides waiting, with plenty of oil for the whole night long, not running dry mere moments before the Groom arrives to retrieve them and rescue them! I think about how much attention we pay to everything temporal and how little attention we pay to everything that matters. He tarries His return because He waits for the sons of God to wake up and be found in Him upon His arrival. I’ll end this post with one more song about the same thing…it’s by Misty Edwards, and this is just a snippet of it.
“Come be the fire inside of me
come be the flame upon my heart
come be the fire inside of me
until You and I are one…”
Oh my goodness, I’ve not thought about this song in years. I remember singing this as a little girl. I think I’ll be singing it all day.
I’ve been so busy being sick, trying to get better, etc… etc… I’ve put God on hold. I think of Him as my friend and I’ve been sort of ignoring Him. Lately though I feel that beautiful, sweet little knock on the door of my heart. A little tinge of excitement as I think about opening the scriptures… I’ve really missed that!