Fire Ministries International
January 2023
Dear and Precious Friends,
The first thing on my heart to mention is that our beloved brother in Christ, Robert Mayne, went home to be with Jesus on December 26, 2022. Many of you are already aware of this, however it is greatly in my heart to honor this beloved brother and what he meant and still means to us. We miss him deeply and feel the loss of him constantly, as he was a man who lived the Lamb daily to all of us. He carried Christ as salt and light, bringing the living Jesus in ways that just emanated out of him and through his constant poured-out care. He was a fragrance of Christ in our midst and that sweet aroma of Christ in Robert will be missed and appreciated always. Robert spent some of his final days in Ireland during our July Retreat. During that time our Father lavished His love on Robert in some special ways, in ways that would bless Robert like fishing on the Wild Atlantic Way, and also giving him special time with the Lord Himself and fellowship with the Irish who love him so much. The picture that is above this note is taken from Robert’s time in Ireland this past July. May we all continue to pray for Robert’s family and all those whose hearts miss him.
This semester in Bible School I am teaching a class called “LOVE in the Song of Songs”. In this email, you can find links to watch or listen to the classes that have already been taught. Although I have taught shared from the Song of Songs before… I have never experienced the Holy Spirit in this way. It feels like He has a divine passion to help us all break through in areas that would keep us from the all-consuming love that is in God’s heart! Areas like “separation anxiety” … “fear and rejection” … “works mentality” … “loneliness and depression”. All of these are merely symptoms of not knowing His heart and what He has done to make us one! May we be “liberated by our lack” to RUN into Him and be filled with all His Fullness instead of striving to be what only HE CAN BE in us! I share this with brokenness and longing, for I need and desire to know His heart in these ways so much more. Let’s pray and cover one another as we seek to press past every obstacle to be with the One we love.
Yes, the fire continues to burn in this ministry and the Lord is moving in preparation in several areas for the things of His heart in regards to 2023 and how we will continue to pour Him out this year. I will be sharing more later as we continue to hear from the Lord’s heart and attune ourselves to His will. Your prayers are appreciated.
Hidden Under His Wings and Close to His heart with you!
Kelly on the behalf of Fire Ministries
In Song of Songs 1:5, we find the Shulamite declaring that she is dark yet also beautiful. Oftentimes, when someone speaks of their lack, they are filled with a sense of depression and failure. Yet with this lady, there is a sense of joy and even excitement. We hear this same tenor of heart in Paul when he says, “I am crucified… nevertheless Christ lives in me!” (Gal. 2:20).
The phrase “I am dark” could be referring to the fact that there is “no good thing in our old fleshly nature” (Rom. 7:18). Many people see their own flesh as beautiful and godly, therefore finding no need for the beauty of Christ within. However, after a season of working hard for the Lord under the extreme heat of sun/Son (as we saw in Ecclesiastes), we begin to see that we are unable to fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) and melt under the pressure.
The more we labor to be good and act correctly, the worse it gets (Rom. 7:17-19). Life under the Son has exposed the Shulamite’s inward selfish motives (Psalm 19:6b). She has found herself utterly corrupt as she sees the contrast between her life and the life in her Groom/Christ (Rom. 7:18a). She no longer clings to her own righteousness but chooses to embrace Him as her life.
Her beauty is now derived from “Another”. She is no longer the source of her own virtues or her own beauty.
Her “darkness” has not brought her into depression and self-loathing, but rather into the wonder of being found in Him, the Son, Who is all her righteousness (Phil. 3:9). In a very real way, this crisis has caused her to relate to her Beloved as one who is joined/married rather than one who is separate and living from their own resources.
Because we love the Lord, our desire is to be beautiful to Him. We experience a crisis when our flesh is exposed and that which we held before God as our beauty is found to be so very ugly. We fear yielding to the penetrating work of the Cross that exposes our “hidden darkness”. It is never pleasant to see reactions and motives of utter corruption come forth from deep within!
Many choose to hide from their own flesh simply to escape the sense of shame they feel as the Cross exposes their selfishness. However, this Shulamite is past all the blubbering of her own conceits. She is liberated by her lack and driven into deep and wonderful identification with Him Who is becoming her beauty, her all. Truly, it is worth it all to be found in Him, having nothing but Christ as our everything (Phil. 3:7-8)!
Here she is declaring that the deep in-working of the Cross is forming her into HIS habitation. The exposure of her corruption has prepared her for what is truly beautiful in His eyes. She is now likening herself to the curtains of his tent. She sees herself as a tent that houses Him, covering Him like the curtains within which He dwells. She no longer sees herself as the one filling her tent, but now He is the resident within her. She is now identifying as His vessel and declaring Him to be the treasure inside (II Cor. 4:7).
Before applying His Cross to her heart, she functioned as His worker, His preacher, and His vineyard keeper. Now she abides as His house, a member of His Body, and a vessel filled with His Life. She is in a new relationship with Him based on union.
The blessed door into that relationship has been her death with Him, not her beautification for Him or a personal spirituality that sets her above the other virgins. She no longer preaches herself but Christ (II Cor.4:5). He is the treasure, and she is His container; therefore, she glories in the Cross of her own crucifixion, for this blackness of her own death has brought her into the brightness of His Life shining in and through her.
The literal tents from Kedar were made from the wool of black goats. We can spend all our time focusing on the beauty of the tent and forget who is dwelling within. Our true beauty and identity come from the One Who is dwelling in us: Christ our Life. What a blessed relief to know that He is all our righteousness. We can rejoice in the sacred trust of being His Body, His dwelling place.
She has no time for melting under the stares of her accusers, those who want her to make a fair show in the flesh so that she too might escape the true circumcision of the Cross of Christ (Gal. 6:12). Rather than joining with them in their religious show, she speaks to them in a way as if to draw them into the wonder of her new discovery. The Cross is her new best friend, for it is bringing her into blessed union with her Beloved. To them the Cross is offensive, but she wants them to see in her the wonderful in-working of Calvary. Her blessed awakening is not centered on just the discovery of her dreadful flesh but that through embracing the Cross of her own crucifixion she is being liberated into the realm of Life in the Son.
