Fires

I didn't see it coming.

Just when I had gotten back up again, WHAM!  Another direct hit.

Off balance.  I feel myself falling.  I start waving my arms to keep myself upright.  More like desperate pleas of prayer to the throne of grace.

Fiery trials.  You know you will have them; you just don't know when. 

Then you have two choices:

    walk through-

    or get burned.

It's one thing to endure unexpected fiery trials.

It's another thing to willingly walk into them.

I know of three men who willingly walked into the fire.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Instead of worshipping a golden image, they chose the fire.

Could God save them from the fire?  Yes.

Would He?  They didn't know, but they still chose the fire.  This is what they told the king:

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."  Daniel 3:18

Their response so enraged the king, he demanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than it had ever been, and it consumed the very men who led them there.

And yet, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked forward into the flames.

And then a glorious thing happened! 

Those watching saw four men in the fire, not just three!

"He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."  Daniel 3:25

Jesus Himself was in the fire with these men!

No matter what my fiery furnace be, Jesus Himself is with me.

If you are a child of God, He is with you too, whether they be unexpected trials, or fiery trials we choose to endure for the cause of Christ.

Isaiah 43:2,3a says, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:" 

When we face the fiery furnace, may we face the fire with faith, not to extinguish the flames, but with faith to transform the lives who may be watching.

    But that's just me!

"We may pass through the fiery furnace, we may pass through deep waters, but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed.  We shall emerge from these trials and difficulties better and purer for them if we only trust in God."  George Q. Cannon

Even If

by Mercy Me 2017

Chorus:

I know You're able, and I know You can,

save through the fire with Your mighty hand,

But even if You don't,

My hope is You alone.

I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt,

would all go away if You'd just say the word,

but even if You don't,

My hope is You alone.

You've been faithful, You've been good,

all of my days,

Jesus, I will cling to You,

come what may,

'Cause I know You're able,

I know You can.