The Order of The Burning Heart
By Anita Brechbill
You can pick them out in any crowd. The congregation where one or two of them worship is fortunate indeed. They move to a different drumbeat than the “run of the mill” professor. They seem to be tuned in to music and a message that others do not hear.
They gravitate to a prayer meeting like bees to clover or steel to a magnet. Their eyes grow bright with unshed tears at mention of the Name of Jesus.
They are in love. Their Bridegroom has promised to come for them at an appointed time which the Father holds in His hands. Every day is a day of anticipation for “…unto them that look for Him shall He appear…”
They seem not to care for the praise others prize. They carry heavy loads without fanfare or fuss for there is a Strong Arm on which they can lean, and His strength flows into them. The dry seasons under which others grow faint and fade only cause them to drink more deeply at the Fountain of Living Water. Their inner resources are limitless for this stream flows out from under the Throne of God.
While others weep with self-pity over their lot, their eyes sparkle with joy that they are counted worthy to bear the cross and suffer with Christ. They care not to refer to themselves; you must find out their good deeds from others. They do not allow men to build monuments in their honor for they have in Heaven a “better and an enduring substance.”
What is their secret? Has an invitation, an opportunity been given them from which others are shut out? How came they by this radiance, this strength, this artesian joy which springs up in dry places?
Their longing hearts could not be satisfied by the liturgy of faith. They have “entered in” and are intoxicated with the “substance.” They have pressed on, on the basis of the promise, and now hold in their hearts the “evidence.”
Hear them singing as they climb still higher on sunlit slopes. They have responded to the call, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come…” “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me…, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. …This spake he of the Spirit.”
The invitation is still open.