Wild Ember
Fire is the KING of all survival skills.
With it you can regulate core body temperature, boil water, cook food, stave off predators, make tools, and signal for rescue. And if you’re lost and alone in the wilderness, fire can be your best friend.
I can start a fire in over 100 different ways, but one of my favorites to teach students in my WILD GOD Survival Courses is the Bow Drill. The Bow Drill is the quintessential survival fire-start that involves spinning a spindle into a hearth board to generate a small, fragile ember of smoldering wood dust. It’s a combination of pressure and speed and requires a great deal of patience and technique to master. I’ve taught thousands of students all over the world how to make fire with the Bow Drill.
But the goal of Bow Drill isn’t just to generate a smoldering ember.
The ember is just the beginning.
The ultimate goal is to place that ember into a prepared tinder bundle and blow it into flame.
The ember is created with one plan and purpose in mind—FIRE.
Anything less is failure.
Alone, the ember represents only potential. It has the possibility for greatness, but when exposed to the elements, it can quickly die out and become a cold pile of ash. Alone, it cannot boil water, provide warmth, or signal for rescue. It has no lasting impact and can disappear as quickly as it arrived with the slightest gust of cold wind or a single drop of water.
Unless the creator of that ember gently places it into a tinder bundle and skillfully coaxes it to flame, it has no hope of realizing the purpose it was designed for.
In and of themselves, embers are weak. But in the hands of a knowledgeable creator, they have the potential to save lives, transform landscapes, provide light, and warm a frigid soul.
An ember must be surrendered to step into its true purpose. There is no other way.
Depending on the circumstances, some embers take more time than others. The conditions have a lot to do with it. Is the tinder dry? Is it raining? Is there wind? Is it cold? Is the environment difficult?
But I’ve learned that in the hands of a skilled fire starter, all embers can be transformed into fire—regardless of the situation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Just like the Bow Drill, the God of the universe created each of us as a smoldering ember. But just like the students in my fire-starting courses, we have a decision to make with that ember. We can:
Leave the ember alone, subjected to the world around us, and watch it slowly die out and turn into a cold pile of ash.
Fan the ember just enough to keep it going, but never really put it into a tinder bundle to reach its full potential.
Surrender the ember into a tinder bundle and let it be blown into full flame that can change circumstances forever.
Embers can’t burst into flame on their own. They can only do so in the skilled hands of the Creator. The Lord who has ignited the ember within you has the desire, plan, and ability to finish what He has started.
Psalm 139:13–16 reminds us:
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
The Lord knew you before you were born and formed you with purpose and potential. But the realization of that true purpose requires surrender of the ember of your soul into the hands of the First Survival Instructor—who alone can blow it into flame.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 proclaims:
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
When an ember is taken to flame, it is under complete surrender to the Creator. The Lord owns the fire and works in and through us to achieve His perfect will. When we surrender the ember of our soul to the One who made it, we make the decision to be engulfed by—and used by—Him entirely.
We become a part of the fire, but it is His fire to use for His purpose.
His will becomes our will. Everything we are becomes God’s flame: our gifts, talents, relationships, careers, time, land, finances, experiences, failures, and successes. God doesn’t want 10% of our ember—He wants it all. That is what full flame requires.
John 15:5 explains this:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
With this perspective, we must be all in. We are no longer slaves to the things of this world—careers, money, even our own dreams. These things make terrible masters and will never satisfy. But when we place them all in the tinder bundle, all of them serve a greater purpose: to glorify God.
I spent 40 years of my life not understanding this concept—only surrendering parts of my ember—enslaved to my own ideas and the world’s definitions of success. As a survival instructor, I should have realized earlier that surrendering the full ember is necessary. There is overwhelming peace when you hand over everything to Someone more skilled, more loving, and far more capable than you. Someone who knows the purpose, even when you may not.
Psalm 24:1 states:
"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."
The ember, in its entirety, is now a part of something bigger, more powerful, more meaningful, and more impactful than it could ever be alone. God can and will use the fire ignited from your ember to shape eternity—just as a survivor uses fire in the wilderness for shelter, warmth, and rescue. The irony is that we must choose to relinquish that ember back to Him.
Matthew 5:14–16 challenges us to do just that:
"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
You may feel like the conditions surrounding your ember make it impossible to catch flame. But that’s a lie. It doesn’t matter what your ember has been through, what’s been done to it, or even what you’ve done to it. It doesn’t matter how cold, weak, or small it feels. The Fire Starter of your soul has the skill, the desire, and the plan to bring it to life. He’s not limited by circumstances. All you have to do is surrender—and let Him handle the rest.
The question we must all ask ourselves is this:
What will we do with our ember?
Will we let it die—exposed to the elements of the world, never becoming what it was meant to be?
Will we fan it just enough to keep it alive, but never surrender it fully—never stepping into the flame of our true purpose?
Or will we place it completely into the hands of the One who created it, trusting Him to breathe life into it and ignite a fire that burns for His glory?
Your ember was created with intention. But flame only comes through surrender.
GOD IS WILD!
You may not be able to control the fire, but you can choose how you respond to it. If you're feeling the heat right now, don’t rush out of the forge—lean into what God is doing in you. Here are a few ways to reflect, pray, and seek His purpose in the wild this week:
IN THE WILD
Verse to Contemplate:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
— Galatians 2:20
Questions for the Wilderness Journal:
Does you life feel like a smoldering ember right now—full of potential, but at risk of burning out?
In what ways have you tried to ignite your own fire apart from God? What were the results?
What would it look like to fully surrender your "ember" to the hands of your Creator today?
Are you holding back part of your life from God's flame? Why?
What has God already ignited in you that could be used to bring warmth, light, and hope to others?
Prayer of the Day:
Lord Jesus,
I surrender the ember of my soul into Your hands. I know You created me with purpose, and I want to burn for You. I no longer want to hold back or smolder in fear. Blow Your breath over the ember within me and ignite it into a flame for Your glory. Use every part of me—my past, my present, and my future—for Your will and not my own. I trust You as the One who formed me, saved me, and now calls me to burn brightly in a dark world.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Wilderness Application:
Go outside and practice building a small fire from scratch—using flint, a ferro rod, or even a bow drill if you're able. As you work, reflect on the patience and care required to grow an ember into flame. Ask God to do the same with your heart.
Find a quiet natural spot, close your eyes, and imagine God breathing gently on the ember of your soul. What is He inviting you to ignite?
Sketch the process of fire starting in your journal—hearth board, ember, tinder bundle, flame. Label the parts with areas of your life (e.g., calling, giftedness, fear, surrender).
Take a photo of a flame or candle and save it as a lock screen to remind you daily: your life was created to burn for something bigger.
Write a letter to God titled "My Ember." Tell Him what you’re surrendering and what you hope He sets ablaze.