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"I guess the single [Rooms on Fire] is about when you're in a crowded room and you see a kind of person and your heart goes, 'Wow!' The whole world seems to be ablaze at that particular moment." ~ Stevie Nicks, Record Mirror, May 20, 1989
The Stevie Nicks song "Rooms on Fire" was released in May 1989, it was the first single to be taken from Nicks' fourth solo album, The Other Side of the Mirror. "Rooms on Fire" was fairly successful on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching No16 in both the UK and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. This was to be Stevie Nicks highest charting solo work. The song, according to the liner notes of Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks, was inspired by Stevie's brief relationship with Rupert Hine.
"The night I met Rupert Hine was a dangerous one. He was different from anyone else I had ever known...He was older, and he was smarter, and we both knew it. I hired him to do the album before we even started talking about music. It seemed that we had made a spiritual agreement to do a magic album...in a fabulous Dutch castle, at the top of the mountain. We recorded it in the formal dining room...where, upon the walls hung all these very old and expensive pieces of art...looking at us...we were never alone.""It always seemed to me that whenever Rupert walked into one of these old, dark castle rooms, that the rooms were on fire. There was a connection between us that everyone around us instantly picked up on, and everyone was very careful to respect our space...our TIMESPACE, so we all lived at the castle for about four-and-a-half months. I went home with him to England to mix the album at his studio...he left in December. I joined him there in London in January. We left immediately for his studio, Farmyard Studios, somewhere outside London. It was like being in a cottage in Wales, it was a little spooky...the atmosphere was like nothing I had ever experienced. Then something happened to him that simply made it impossible for us to ever be together again. I left him there...the rooms were still burning, but the fire had been stolen from us. It wasn't over love, in fact...it had nothing to do with love. It was just a bad situation. I came back to Los Angeles, a very changed woman. And now, long nets of white...cloud my memory...Now I remember the rooms, the music, and how truly magic the whole thing was...""Alright," said Alice, "I'm going back...To the other side of the mirror." ~Stevie Nicks, Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks liner notes (1991)
Comes your real life and the life that you know
It seems like it was the creation of some of those same old things
It seemed to be the only thing left out in the light
She had trusted many...
But been unfamiliar with...
Almost everyone but you
Well maybe I'm just thinking that the rooms are all on fire
Everytime that you walk in the room
Well there is magic all around you, if I do say so myself...
I have known this much longer than I've known you
She had trusted many...
And then there would be someone who would enter into her presence
That she could sense for miles...
She dreamed of her wanton luxury
And she laughed and she cried... and she tried to taunt him
And he hated to be separated...
From that picture... No...
Well maybe I'm just thinking that the rooms are all on fire
Everytime that you walk in the room
Ooh, well there is magic all around you, if I do say so myself...
Well I have known this much longer than I've known you
Long nets of white cloud my memory...
Long nets of white cloud my memory...
Ooh... there is magic... all around you...
Everytime you walk in the room...
Well maybe I'm just thinking that the rooms are all on fire
Everytime that you walk in the room
Well there is magic all around you, if I do say so myself...
Well I have known this much longer than I've known you...
[Repeat]
The song is about the presence of another that turns the place you are in on fire. It's about a personality that is so dynamic, so mush the centre of attention that you feel attracted to him or her. this is how Nicks felt about Richard Hine. That when he emerged into a room it was like the room was on fire and Nicks whole attention was arrested and centred on him. A magical experience that should never end. For Nicks it did and she went back to the US.
Jesus promises his disciples a "Rooms on Fire" experience. an experience that would arrest them and focus all their attention on him. Jesus promises the filling of the Holy Spirit. So what was it that Jesus promises the disciples?
Luke 24:36 - 48 36"While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
This is a "Rooms on Fire" promise. "Power from on high" and he said they would be clothed with that power. They could not fail to have their attention arrested, the could not fail to be changed, they could not fail to be different when the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus continues his teaching about this in the 1st Chapter of the book of Acts of the Apostles.
Acts 1: 1-9 1"In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water,but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Jesus makes it very clear that this "Baptism" (Infilling, pouring into, plunging into) will happen in Jerusalem and they will carry the fire to the ends of the earth. Truly a "Rooms on Fire" experience. For the disciples this would be their defining moment. For Stevie Nicks in the song it was the moment that she had been waiting for all her life, she was arrested by the presence of another and this would be true for the disciples as well. The disciples return tot he upper room to pray......
Acts 1: 12 - 14 "12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk[c] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the roomwhere they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the womenand Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
They return to the upper room where they have been before, many times. this was the same room as they had the last supper in. It was to be a significant room in the history of the early church. If we were to continue the reading it was a room that they held leadership elections to determine the replacement apostle in replace of Judas. then on the day of Pentecost the room was ablaze with fire.
Acts 2:1-4 "1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
"Rooms on Fire" not with the presence of a man but with the presence of Almighty God, the presence of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Wind, Tongues of fire, a moment in their lives that they would never forget. A moment of empowering by the wild Spirit of God. this spirit Jesus says in John's Gospel had the purpose of glorifying him. Making his presence in the world seen and heard. A moment of 100% attention where the followers of Jesus receive compassion for the world and are ablaze with the power and presence of God.
Acts 16:13-16…13"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14"He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15"All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.…
What a moment in the history of the church when the presence of Jesus swept into that upper room and set the place ablaze with Holy Fire. A Fire that is still burning in the hearts and lives of God's people today. "Rooms on Fire" was significant for Stevie Nicks. "Rooms on Fire" would come to be relevant and significant to millions of followers of Jesus in a worldwide scale. We cannot live the christian life or be effective followers of Jesus without the powerful significant ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It would be my pray today that you experience a "Rooms on Fire" experience that transforms your life and sets you world ablaze with the presence of Jesus. So much so that you cause "Rooms on Fire" where ever you go with God's holy presence in you.
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