Freedom in the Fire

December 30, 2013

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

    I pray that you fear not, for the Lord thy God is with thee.

    Today I want to talk to you about “Freedom in the Fire”.  
There are few things that strike fear into people’s hearts like a fire.  It totally consumes, it destroys and disfigures.  It is hard to control.  In Christian circles, we refer to troubles and trials as fires for the very same reason.

    Now I want to tell you a true story about three people who faced a literal fire in their lives.  Their names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, but you might know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These three were captives living in Babylon at the time of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Now the king had erected a 90’ tall golden image of himself and made a law that when the royal musicians played, all were to bow and worship the image.  These three men (often referred to as the Hebrew children, though they were in their early twenties) worshiped the one true God Jehovah and refused to bow.  

Nebuchadnezzar responded by turning up the fire in a crematory furnace to the point that the flames shot 100’ out the top of the furnace and told them if they’d not bow to the image, he’d throw them in.  They responded, “Our god is able to save us, but if He doesn’t we still won’t worship your image.”  What courage that took!  That fire would be excruciating, disfiguring, melting off their flesh.  This was not an idle threat.  It was what they were choosing by their refusal to worship an idol.  So Nebuchadnezzar had them bound and thrown into the fire.  The flames were so hot, the men throwing them in died from the heat.  But the three men did not die.  Their bonds were burned off and they were walking around in the furnace untouched by the fire.  The king saw this and saw One he perceived to the the Son of God walking among them.

    Beloved, if Jesus lives in you, you don’t need to

fear the fire.  Stand up for what you believe; what you know is true and right.  The only thing the fire did to the three men was burn off their bonds.  Their clothes didn’t even smell like smoke.  When we obey God and put our concern for our own safety second because we trust Him to take care of us, He will set us free in the midst of the fire.

Don’t fear your fires, my friends.  Jesus will be in them with you and can use them to set you free.

Oh, for grace to trust Him more, Raelynn