🎥 Video 2A: Two Fires in Every Conflict

Hi, I am Haley Steiner, a CLI presenter.

This course is taught by Professor Brian DeCook.

In this lesson, we begin with one of the central pictures in this course.

Every conflict has fire.

Something ignites.

A word is spoken.

A decision is made.

A promise is broken.

A criticism lands.

A look is misunderstood.

A wound is touched.

A fear rises.

And once conflict ignites, the question becomes:

Which fire will shape my response?

In this course, we will talk about two fires.

The first is the Wildfire.

The Wildfire is a conflict response fueled by the flesh.

It spreads through anger, fear, pride, self-protection, revenge, gossip, bitterness, control, and accusation.

Sometimes the Wildfire is loud.

It sounds like yelling, blaming, threatening, or attacking.

But sometimes the Wildfire is quiet.

It can look like withdrawal.

Cold silence.

Inner resentment.

Rehearsed grievance.

Sarcasm.

Or secret conversations with the wrong people.

The second fire is the Peacefire.

The Peacefire is the place where we turn toward God in conflict.

We slow down.

We listen.

We surrender.

We receive grace.

We ask Jesus for the next faithful step.

The Peacefire does not mean pretending nothing happened.

It does not mean becoming passive.

It does not mean letting harm continue.

It means we refuse to let the flesh govern our response.

James 1 teaches us to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

That passage is not telling us to ignore truth.

It is teaching us that our first reaction is not always our wisest response.

Here is a simple map to remember.

An event happens.

We interpret it.

A desire rises.

We respond.

Then the response spreads.

Event.

Interpretation.

Desire.

Response.

Spread.

The same event can become Wildfire or Peacefire, depending on what governs the heart.

You cannot control what another person says or does.

You cannot control whether they repent, listen, apologize, or change.

But you can turn toward Christ before you add fuel.

So when conflict ignites, pause and ask:

What fire is forming in me right now?

Is this the Wildfire of the flesh?

Or is Jesus inviting me back to the Peacefire?

Before moving on, bring one recent conflict to mind.

Name the event.

Then ask Jesus:

Lord, what fire shaped my response?