“If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand, Your Majesty. BUT IF HE DOESN’T, PLEASE UNDERSTAND, SIR, THAT EVEN THEN WE WILL NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have erected.” (Daniel 3:17-18 TLB).
Facing the fiery furnace, the three Hebrew children refused to compromise their BELIEFS or change their BEHAVIOR. In other words, regardless to what others Say, it will in no way alter what HE has Said; and regardless to how you may ACT, my CONDUCT as a CHRISTIAN will remain UNCOMPROMISED! Can you imagine the effectiveness the Church would have today if this was a Daily Standard for Living? Reminds us of the admonishment found in: Romans 12:1-2: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (MSG).
How different might we be if we stopped compromising just so we can be the same as everybody else? Remember that’s how Israel got in trouble with Saul, wanting to be like everybody else! 1 Samuel 8:4-9, “Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. When Samuel heard their demand—“Give us a king to rule us!”—he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to God. God answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.”” (MSG)
You have to be real careful with blending in, and compromising your character and integrity. It’s dangerous to want to be like everybody else! Israel wanted a king and got one, but they had no idea that the king they desired would behave in such a manner as to lose the kingdom. And when you attempt to be the world’s missing piece to their puzzle, you will always have a distorted image, a blurred vision, and ultimately you will forfeit becoming the masterpiece of workmanship that God had desired of you from the beginning of time! Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].” (AMP).
Are you really willing to compromise and make the bad mistake of missing out on the good life that God has prearranged for you, just so you can fit in and be like everybody else? I think not!
Which is why I love the Hebrew boys so much. They were Unbending, Unyielding, and Uncompromising! Are You?
Listen to what they told the king, “…Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18 MSG)
With the words, “…EVEN IF HE DOESN’T…”, they took their faith to a higher level! You see, they knew God COULD prevent it, but not that His plan called for it in this instance. However, their CONVICTION was so powerful that they would still rather DIE than Deny or Disappoint their God! Is your conviction that steady, strong and secure? Are you in a position of faith that you refuse to possess the faltering faith found in the book of James 1:5-7: “If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. ONLY IT MUST BE IN FAITH THAT HE ASKS WITH NO WAVERING (NO HESITATING, NO DOUBTING). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. FOR TRULY, LET NOT SUCH A PERSON IMAGINE THAT HE WILL RECEIVE ANYTHING [HE ASKS FOR] FROM THE LORD.” (AMP)
So, is your Faith Firm or Faltering?
Truth is, faith does not guarantee that God will bring you OUT of everything you’re IN! I know believers don’t want to hear that, but it is the truth. Think about it: Many of us have had our faith strengthened by watching someone else go through, even when they didn’t come out!
Listen: One of the things I cherish most is pastoral counseling. However, some of the hardest times I’ve experienced at it have been in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabs, and hospices. Places where holding on to hope is often a difficult task. After all, who wants to sing when the doctor just amputated their leg? Who wants to dance when the Oncologist says its cancer? Who wants to rejoice when the surgeon says their heart is beyond repair? Who wants to praise God when they’ve come home to an eviction notice? Who wants to bow down in worship when you have a mortgage, car note, and tuition and yet you received a pink slip right after lunch? Wouldn’t you agree that these aren’t exactly the ideal situations that make us want to sing, dance, rejoice, praise and worship?
But believe it or not, ministering in these places I’ve come across some serious faith fire starters! Like Mama Cane in hospice who said she refused to die before her 90th birthday, so she made her family give her a birthday celebration in hospice. And when did she die? When she was 90 years old by 3 days. She never wavered. She said both her parents died too soon, and she was determined to make it to 90! I asked her why 90? She said simply, “I don’t know really, I just feel like you’re really old when you get into triple digit birthdays?” I couldn’t laugh with her then, but I laughed later when I realized she was teaching me how to GO THROUGH, even if I don’t COME OUT!
Ms. Michelle who had diabetes so bad they amputated both her legs would say to me every Saturday, “when you get to church tomorrow you make sure you run a lap for me, I would hate to come in there and embarrass you by outrunning you on my hands.” Again, I couldn’t laugh then, because what she was going through was so harsh, but somehow she still managed to make me smile and encourage my heart by strengthening my faith. I learned from her as well that every GO THROUGH doesn’t guarantee a COMING OUT!
Mr. Mobley was another animal altogether! He Over-Enjoyed his sponge baths at the hospital! LOL! But he would always say “there are no angels who will do this for me in heaven, so I have to get it where I can get it”. Mr. Mobley had more health issues than all the doctor books with all the diagnosis in all the world! And yet, he always managed to make people laugh by twirling his cane, or juggling his pills, or telling the doctors that since there was no hope left for him, his hospital bills should be deleted! No change in his health, no charge to his Medicare! Hilarious! And once again, I learned the valuable lesson that your GO THROUGH doesn’t grant you an automatic GET OUT!
However, I think my most memorable lesson was taught to me by little Cheyenne. Born with Leukemia, and yet had a smile that literally lit up the world! Every time I visited with her I would walk in ready to share God’s love, a Scripture, Prayer or to just Give Her My Shoulder so She Could Lean and Cry. BUT, little Cheyenne had different plans for me in every visit! I would walk in and she would be ready to play cards, checkers, watch a scary movie, dance to some crazy country song, or even finger paint! She would drive me absolutely nuts! By the time I left, I was ready to go to bed and take a nap, and she was sitting up waiting for the next victim to enter her room thinking she was going out without a fight or without some fun! She transitioned at the tender age of 12, and even days before she was on her way to heaven, she would charge anyone coming to visit her $5 per tear, if you came in crying! Her statement? “I’m going to spend eternity with God, you guys are the ones who should be crying because you have to stay here in the world” LOL! I’m sure you’ll catch on to the lesson I learned from her as well…GO THROUGH, doesn’t mean COME OUT!
Understand this: God can take you out of your situation or simply bring you through it to build and rebuild the faith of others. So, when He leaves you in it longer than you’d like to stay, be encouraged, He’s only developing in you – Furnace Faith that will Keep You On Fire, and Cause You to Contagiously Ignite Others as Well! You see, this is the type of faith that refuses to fail no matter the intensity of the heated circumstances it finds itself in! It’s the faith the Hebrews boys possessed, “I Know He Can, But Even If He Doesn’t, I’m Still Good, Because He’s Still God!”
Furnace Faith is dead to doubt and blind to impossibility! It believes that God can do absolutely anything, but fail! It trusts Him even when it doesn’t understand Him. It follows His instructions even when they make absolutely no sense at all! It doesn’t waver even when it finds itself in circumstances that attempts to knock it off its feet! Furnace Faith Knows That If God Doesn’t Bring Me Out of the Fire, He’ll Still Make Sure I Don’t Get Burned!
Furnace Faith reaches up through the threatening clouds and lays hold of the One who has all power in heaven and on earth. It makes the circumstances bearable and the future hopeful. Furnace Faith believes that even if you do have to go through the fire, God will go with you! There’s something about going through, but not going through alone that makes a difference!
Prime example: Anyone who knows me knows I’m claustrophobic! I absolutely detest small, tight or confining spaces. In fact, I refuse to be positioned anywhere that I can’t see an immediate exit before I even enter. It’s so bad that I even hated playing ‘hide and go seek’, why? Because I was never hiding anywhere you couldn’t quickly find me! LOL! Well, a few years ago I was suffering with migraines really bad and I remember the doctor saying I’m sending you for an MRI. I got to the place and saw the machine, and instantly started sweating! I switched into panic mode quicker than you could bat an eyelash! But I tried to be a big girl and go through it anyhow! Did it work? Absolutely not! I wasn’t in that contraption 30 seconds before I was pressing the button for them to get me the heck out of there! For the life of me I couldn’t fathom what would make them think I would be distracted by them playing music, as if I wouldn’t realize they had my live body in a machine that looked like a coffin! Well, the technician was a smart man! Sam was my ace! He said “you don’t know me, but I’ve been doing this for years. I know what I’m doing and will not leave you or allow anything to hurt or harm you. Let’s try something that I’ve come to find helpful with patients who are claustrophobic. He said you’re going to go back in, and this time, I’m going to put my hand on your right ankle. I’ll keep patting it until you’re done. It will take about 10 minutes. And I promise to pat the whole ten!” To this day I still don’t know why that made the difference! But Sam may have given me a little clue. When I was done, I thanked Sam, and said I have no idea why something so simple made such a big difference. He said “It’s simple really. Most people don’t have a problem with going through, they just have a problem with going through alone. My pats let you know that I was in it with you.” For some reason, that’s how I feel about God. Even if He doesn’t bring me OUT, just knowing that He’s IN there with me, makes the difference!
Back to our text, listen to the words of a heathen king who watched it all happen: “But look!” he said. “I see four men, walking around freely in the fire, completely unharmed! And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods!” (Daniel 3:25 MSG). How encouraging to know that our God never leaves us nor forsakes us? How wonderful to know that no matter what we’re in or what we may go through, He will never allow us to do it without His presence? And even when it doesn’t feel good, it does feel good to know that He’s Always a Very Present Help In Our Time of Need! Psalm 46:1, “God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.” (MSG)
Know This: Furnace Faith makes you as free IN the fire of affliction as you are OUT of it!
“Dear friends, your faith is going to be tested as if it were going through fire. Do not be surprised at this.” (1 Peter 4:12 NLV);
“Nay, IN all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37).
This is going to be a hard truth to embrace, but not everyone is healed of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and the like. But does that mean our God is not able? Absolutely Not! Matthew 19:26 says, “But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but ALL things are possible with God.” (AMP)
However, God also admonishes us: Isaiah 55:8-9, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (NLT).
There are some things we will never understand, but there will never be anything GOD doesn’t understand. He has plans for us and He’s already declared that He’s with us always.
Matthew 28:20, “…and lo, I am with you ALWAYS [REMAINING WITH YOU PERPETUALLY – REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE, AND ON EVERY OCCASION], EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.” (AMP).
Jeremiah 29:10-11, “This is God’s Word on the subject…I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised…I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – PLANS TO TAKE CARE OF YOU, NOT ABANDON YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU THE FUTURE YOU HOPE FOR.” (MSG)
Hebrews 13:5, “…FOR HE HAS SAID, ‘I WILL NEVER [UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES] DESERT YOU [NOR GIVE YOU UP NOR LEAVE YOU WITHOUT SUPPORT, NOR WILL I IN ANY DEGREE LEAVE YOU HELPLESS], NOR WILL I FORSAKE OR LET YOU DOWN OR RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU [ASSUREDLY NOT]!” (AMP)
So even when the outcome isn’t what we wanted or expected, we must maintain consistent, uncompromised faith! Changing circumstances and uncomfortable situations do not in any way change our God! He sees, He hears, He knows what is best for His children! Trust Him No Matter What! And Let Your Testimony Be the Same as the Hebrew Boys, I Know He Can, But Even If He Doesn’t, It Will Not Alter My Faith In God! Someone Possessing That Kind of Faith Puts Even His Enemies in Awe of His God!
“If you can believe in gravity, electricity, Wi-Fi, body cells, and so many other INVISIBLE THINGS, then you can also believe in that dream of yours that only needs your unwavering faith to come into your life.” (Roxana Jones)
“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” (Saint Augustine)
“The river just flows, no matter the obstacles or the speed. It does not control, it simply flows. Do the same. Use your unwavering faith, and go with the flow.”
“Without faith it is impossible to please God,” and without faith it is impossible for you to become great. The distinguishing characteristic of all really great men and women is an unwavering faith.” (Wallace D. Wattles)
“The gift of faith is the ability to sustain unwavering confidence in the promises of God in the face of impossibility.” (Dr. Michael Youssef)
“Faith is a choice; not a feeling. It means choosing to trust God even when life doesn’t seem to make sense.” (Dave Willis)
“What seems impossible one minute becomes, through faith, possible the next.” (Norman Vincent Peale)
Much Love, Dr. Shermaine #EnjoyTheRead #BeInspired #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeChallenged #ShareTheWord
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