There Was Another In The Fire
You know you are walking into your next level of faith and your relationship with the Lord when you honestly can give thanks in all things in all circumstances. On the days when we are in the natural and don’t feel like life is worth living, are you still able to glorify God and look for His goodness amid what you are facing? I genuinely believe faith is grown, and you start to understand that even amid a storm or a battle or in a fiery furnace of life, you’ll see God show up in ways you never even imagined. I believe these things take place for us to have our faith grow and improve our reliance on him. It is in these moments that we proclaim to the top of our lungs that He is God! He is the only true God, and He is the God of miracles!
The heat of life strengthens my belief in him, and the WHYs confirmed that I believe in God. My question would be, how would you know that he’s the God of miracles without having to have him perform a miracle in your own life? How do you know that he’s the God of provision and your ultimate provider without going through an area of being supernaturally sustained in a situation where you saw God miraculously move a mountain you could have never climbed on your own? How do you know how to wait upon the Lord taking a step of faith in a fiery furnace? I am coming to realize this is what it means to abide in him to be able in all things, in all circumstances, to be able to glorify his name and to say that in the midst of whatever I’m facing, God is always good and my provider. The Holy Spirit is fire, and he’s the God in the fiery furnace of life too.
Hillsong wrote a song and part of it goes like this “There was another in the fire, Standing next to me, There was another in the waters, Holding back the seas, And should I ever need reminding, Of how I’ve been set free, There is a cross that bears the burden, Where another died for me, There is another in the fire, All my debt left for dead beneath the waters, I’m no longer a slave to my sin anymore, And should I fall in the space between, What remains of me and this reckoning, Either way, I won’t bow, To the things of this world, And I know I will never be alone.”
I don’t know about you, but this is not always an easy fix for me. And as of late, the world seems like it’s lost its solid foundation; I need the reminder God is with me, and I am not alone. He was faithful once, will be committed again. I write this blog today as I rest and wait upon the Lord. Each person in this life will go through areas of growth where we have to decide if we truly believe what we say we believe. What if trials in our lives, we started to look at them as opportunities versus obstacles. The Bible is clear that we live under the new covenant, which means we need to know that all attacks come from the evil one. That means all sickness, disease, infirmity’s on our body are evil, but this is where God is amazing. If God lets those things run through His fingertips into our lives, it has a purpose. What if we changed our viewpoint and started to believe that God has chosen to prove his love for each of us through life’s obstacles. For us to learn to find in the faith which we are in Christ and the authority we have as new creations in Him. To take a standpoint of shelter and rest that we could demonstrate to the world that our God is still in control, that what the enemy meant for evil God can use for good for those who believe in him.
Now, there is a verse for those who are truly walking with him. I think many miss it so let us read this verse together: Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” So if I am a child of God and walking in the light of his word, when things arise in my life, they don’t affect me like they used to, because Jesus has given me the power through his Spirit to have a heavenly perspective. It’s in these moments that we need not doubt his mercy, or doubt his grace or provision. To remember Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. We need to have the strength and the courage to believe in His promises and know that His promises can come through the rains in storms of life. Healing can come from tears when we feel like our expectations are not fulfilled, or there is a physical affliction on our bodies. Maybe the growth of kindness and understanding can sprout out of a strain in a relationship. Hope and faith could grow out of a financial situation where we haven’t seen a breakthrough yet, but you are claiming God’s promises about his blessings, faithfulness, and money. What if these moments are moments of his mercy and his grace in disguise because the fire is necessary for us to have growth. I found this revelation as I reflected on this verse, John 15:1-8.
The Vine and the Branches – John 15: 1 “I am the true Vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the Vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “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. 6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
There is no doubt now in my walk with him that Jesus will, for me, is to bear much fruit in my life and to be more like him. Even in the fire. The Holy Spirit is the source of goodness. The Holy Spirit only produces the fruit, and Jesus gave us that analogy right here with the Vine as the life source flowing through the Vine, that is what produces fruit in us. If we have the Holy Spirit ignited inside of the believer, we can do what he did and have that same good fruit manifesting in our lives. We shouldn’t be withered up by the heat or drowning in storms of life, but because of our life source, we should be bearing fruit through these situations. Have victory, move mountains, and command the storm by keeping our focus on Jesus.
I know when I reflect on my past, I see and remember how God was faithful, it was during some of my darkest moments that I saw God do the most miraculous things. It is when I cried out to my dad in heaven when I was between a rock and a hard place he reminded me he is faithful. He did this with stories in my own life and ones found in his words in Bible stories. There are going to be moments in our lives where we call out to our God in faith, and we have to speak his word to see the outside perspective. We have to talk to that storm, or we speak to that mountain in the name of Jesus, and we watch it move; we watch him part red seas in our lives. We get to watch him do supernatural things in our lives by the power of Jesus’ name in prayer. It is those moments that is our testimony of his faithfulness. It is those moments we feel and sees our faith grow so that we can speak to a lost and dying world and let them know that our God is not dead but our Redeemer is alive and the word of God is active, and the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the power of our testimony, and because he is alive, I can call upon him in the midst of whatever the enemy throws my way and versus focusing on the storm or focusing on the enemy’s attack. I take authority over it in the mighty name of Jesus. I love how J.R. Macduff says it “We must trust the Lord through the darkness and honor him with unwavering confidence even during difficult situations. The reward of this kind of faith will be like that of an eagle shedding its feathers is said to receive a renewed sense of youth and strength.” It makes me think of this verse when I am in the fires of life meant to refine my character to make me be more like Christ.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 – That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Psalms 1:1-3 – 1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditates day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
I will keep soaking in his word and washing in it, believing the fact no matter what the enemy throws my way, I will keep my eyes on him and believe in the depths of my soul he will not only hold me through it all. I will come out refined and even better on the other side. So if the fires of life are what grows my faith, I can produce more fruit, then I say Glory to the King. I will claim these truths and nothing else. I will praise Him in the storms of life! Lauren Daigle says it like this in her song Trust in you “When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move, When You don’t part the waters, I wish I could walk through, When You don’t give the answers, As I cry out to You, I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You, Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings, There’s not a day ahead You have not seen, So let all things be my life and breath, I want what You want Lord and nothing less.”
Today I pray that no matter what you are facing, your heart cry would be to bear fruit that proves you are his, and he is yours. I am thankful for the fire because it shows me who he is and his heart. I get to see him walk in the fire with me and make me more like him. Refine me with fire Holy Spirit!
Author: The Holy Spirit
Editor: JJ Michael Smith
God bless,
igotasavior
I really enjoy reading these.