Empty Me

Last night I put the song "Empty Me" by Jeremy Camp into my blog. But I didn't really think about the words too much. I didn't let them sink in, so I want to do that now.

Empty Me
By: Jeremy Camp

Holy Fire burn away,
my desire for anything
that is not of you and is of me.
I want more of you and less of me.

Holy Fire burn away,
my desire for anything
that is not of you and is of me,
I want more of you and less of me, yeah.
Empty me,
Empty me, yeah,
Fill, won't you fill me,
with you, with you, yeah.

Holy Fire, burn away,
my desire for anything
that is not of you and is of me.
I want more of you and less of me, yeah.
Empty me,
Empty me, yeah.
Fill, won't you fill me, with you, with you, empty me now.

Well won't you empty me, well won't you empty me now. repeat x2
I want more, I want more, I want more of you, Jesus.
I want more, I want more, oh.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus, oh yeah,
Thank you, Jesus, yeah.
Holy Fire, Holy Fire, Holy Fire, Holy Fire.

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Let me start with the first line: "Holy Fire, burn away my desire for anything that is not of you and is of me, I want more of you and less of me." Is that really my prayer and my cry? Do I really have a desire for God to take away anything that's not of Him? Or do I enjoy my sin and my selfishness too much? I think many times we like to sing the 'pretty' words of a praise song, but we don't actually mean what we're saying. Because it would be pretty big and pretty deep if we did mean them. This request of God should not be taken lightly. This is because in order to be filled with Himself, He has to 'burn away' those things that are not of Him. And I don't know about anyone else, but getting burned HURTS. It's not a pleasant experience.

However, this reminds me of the verse that talks about us being like gold refined in the fire. Yes, it's going to hurt to be molded and shaped by God. But it is absolutely essential in order to become more like Him and His Son. No, it's not fun. Yes it will hurt. But it is worth it in order to become less like ourselves and more like our Savior, who gave Himself up for us when we were still His enemies.

The other part of the song goes, "Empty me, Empty me... Fill, won't you fill me with You, with You..." Our prayer needs to be that we are emptied. Completely emptied of ourselves. Our sin, our selfishness, our ungodly desires. God wants to fill us with His love, compassion, righteousness, and many more things in order to make us more like Him. But here's the thing: we have to be willing to allow this to happen. Oh, we may sing the words all the time, but I don't think that we mean it nearly as much as we sing it.

I was encouraged by my friend Danielle yesterday while we were in a meeting for the women's ministry exec team on campus. We were sharing prayer requests, and she talked about how her desire was for God not only to mold her and shape her, but to absolutely BREAK her. Now that's a really bold prayer. Not many people are willing to be broken by God, because this would mean extreme heartache and pain. But Danielle's willingness is such a challenge to me to look within myself and see if I have the same willingness to pray that prayer.

And my question to everyone who may read this is that very thing. Are you willing? Are you willing to take that step of faith to be broken by God and be completely emptied of yourself? It may be one of the hardest things in the world to do, but we must be broken at some point in order to become more like God and His Son, and to grow in our faith. So what is it going to be? Are we going to remain stagnant and 'comfortable' in our faith? Or are we willing to become uncomfortable as God shows us the things He wants to change in us, and even go through some pain as we go through the process of transformation?

Hm... That's just some food for thought. It's definitely a question that I have to constantly ask myself as well. And at this point, as much as I'd like to say that I'm willing to be broken by God, I'm really not 100% sure if that's true.