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Twelve years ago, I was hanging out with a few friends as they were about to perform at a bowling alley in York, Pennsylvania. It was a father/son duo, and we seemed to have a lot in common from a musical standpoint. Consequently, I stopped in to catch their show. On this particular night, these gentlemen were not getting along very well. The father in the band was telling me all about his struggles with his son. With a mixture of frustration and disappointment in his eyes, he poured out his heart to me about their situation, "Definitely pray for us. My son and I need to have a come to Jesus!" I had never heard the expression used this way before, so it took me a few seconds to catch on to what he meant. As he continued to describe their situation, I realized he meant that having a "Come to Jesus" is like having a wrestling match to get to the bottom of things for the sake of the relationship. This father was essentially saying, "We're going to face the truth together whether we like it or not." That night I learned that when a dear friend says you need to have a "Come to Jesus," it's like saying, "We're gonna duke this out! We're gonna go mono a mano, face-to-face, man-to-man. It means, "Let's make time for a loving confrontation, and we are not leaving until everyone is in agreement!" As someone who has grown up in the church and been around believers my entire life, I must say we desperately need this mindset. Too many of us make room for excuses and falsehood when dealing with our brothers and sisters in the faith. Scripture teaches us that we are all one body with many parts. One part of the body can never say to the other part of the body, "I don't need you." Do we know this to be true? We claim to. Yet, we ostracize and "cut off" one another regularly. Most of us can see just how quickly humans, even Christians, can give up on those who disagree with them. Of course, when there are sin issues, they must be dealt with in a Godly way. Still, I've seen congregations split and abandon their posts over non-essentials such as musical taste, personal opinion, politics, and more. All this and more is what was swirling through my mind as I began to ponder God's response to all of this mess. I believe God's response would be for all of us to gather in a completely different way. We all need a genuine "Come to Jesus," and we needed it yesterday! With God's help, we could gather once again in "honest to God" truth when we worship. By His grace, we could all speak the truth to one another while remaining devoted to one another rather than dismissing each other as insignificant or non-essential. God's Word says this about the body of Christ; we are ALL essential. As we join together in Spirit, instead of going through the motions and gathering under false pretense, we could begin to break the strongholds which have been melded by our self-centered, watered-down, people-pleasing version of the gospel, which has led to the abysmal pond we all are wading in. Some call it modern American "Christianity." I call it "Churchianity," when we fear man more than God. Let's get real. It's not OK to do our own thing and make up our version of God's gospel. Let this song remind you that we all need to let go of the false version of ourselves we have created inside the church. We must stop lying to ourselves and bring every burden, hurt, betrayal, and disappointment to the throne of grace. That's what this song is all about. It's about getting real before God and being open about who you are before an all-knowing God who loves you. If you need to cry… cry. If you need to have a good laugh, enjoy being in His presence. Enjoy! Either way, no matter how you respond to this song, let it be a response that breaks your shackles and frees you to worship HIS way. As a side note, I had previously entitled this song, "Come to Jesus Party." If anyone wants to refer to this song as such, that would be fine. However, I named it "Bring the Fire" because it's the Fire of God that gives us the sobriety to break free from our lukewarmness. The Fire of God wakes us up from our slumber and brings us back to the truth in Christ. When a brother or sister sins against us, the Fire of God shows bold compassion for them and prays for their restoration. The fire of God burns away the cold-hearted apathy towards those we should instead be fighting for. In closing, we all need a profound "Come to Jesus," and we desperately need God to "Bring the Fire." How else will our cold, cold hearts come to melt away?