(Picture taken from: http://www.joy-in-the-am.com/2011/01/beauty-from-ashes.html - The Joy Blog)
Scriptures:
“2When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you
go through rivers of difficulty, you
will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be
burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord,
your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for
your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.” (Isaiah 43:2-3 – biblegateway.com – NLT).
“I have refined you, but not
as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.”
(Isaiah 48:10 – biblegateway.com – NLT).
“These trials will show that
your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies
gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith
remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and
honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (1 Peter 1:7 – biblegateway.com – NLT).
“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.” (1 Peter 5:10 – biblegateway.com – NLT).
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When we go through our trials and
tribulations (the fire), God knows what it will take to bring us out!! He
has already prepared the way to bring us out; OUR way of escape – we
should not compare our fire to another person’s fire!! BUT sometimes
that way is not always an easy way!! Sometimes we have to go THROUGH the
fire to escape out of the fire!!
Jonah, in the midst of his storm
(fire), was thrown into another problem (2nd fire) (but really, it
was a blessing); he got swallowed up by a great fish. Jonah was in the belly of
that fish three days and three nights before the fish spewed him up on dry
land; before he was delivered out THOSE fires (Jonah
1:17; 2:1-10)!!
We see here that
Jonah went from one fire to another fire. But God had mercy on Jonah and saved
him even though he had disobeyed Him; God is still faithful to us even if we
are not faithful to Him!!
Sometimes, we get thrown into the
fire by others and other times we jump into the fire our own selves!! Jonah
jumped into the fire his own self; first fire, he ran from God by trying to
escape on a ship to Tarshish (Jonah
1:16), second fire was a result of trying
to escape the first fire!! We just have to do what God says do, when He says do
it!! No matter how we ended up in the fire, God will have mercy on us and pull
us out; but the way He pulls us out is NOT always how we expects Him to pull us
out!! Hahaha, just as we think we’re coming out the fire, it seems as if we are
either going back in the fire, or going into a new fire!! Either way, we are
never alone God is always with us!!
Don't despise the fire of God; it
comes to purify you!! God knows how much fire it will take for each of us to be
purified; to burn off ALL impurities and dross!!
How many have ever boiled neck bones
(I am from the South:)? Some of you might not know what a neck bone is:)) but
that was the only thing I could think of for this example. You cook the neck
bones for a longggg time because you have to keep pouring off the water to
remove that nasty looking stuff that floats on top as you boil them!! When I
did cook them, I would change my water at least 4 times; I made sure they were
clean-then put in whatever else I was going to put in them like rice or
potatoes!! Spiritually, God keeps putting us through the fire until all
that nasty stuff from our soul stop floating on top (stop coming out of our
mouth through our heart, from our soul; until we can walk in His love and
display His character and not the character of the old man)!!
We are new creatures in Christ once
we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and the old man is dead (2
Corinthians 5:17; Galatians
5:25) (our old character is done away
with because we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who live but
Christ who lives in us)!! We cannot behave like we use to when people hurt us
or things happen to us; we cannot clown like we did in the world and tell
people off and cuss them out and do all kinds of other things as we used to do
(but the soul is screaming with us "DO IT!! Don't let them say that to
you!! Tell them off)!!" In essence, we cannot continue to be hellions and
profess to be Christians; there MUST be a difference in us once we
accept Christ!! So we will go through the fire in whatever way God sees fit
until ALL impurities are gone from our soul!! We cannot put off the old man and
embrace the new without the fire!!
Ephesians
4:22-24 says:
“22 throw off your
old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and
deception. 23 Instead, let the
Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new
nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (biblegateway.com –
NLT).
God sees us as
being righteous because of His Son but He wants to perfect us in His ways so we
can walk in His character and be people of morals and Integrity!! God is
perfecting us for that Great Day, the return of His Son Jesus!! The fire
refines our faith!! Peter said in 1
Peter 1:5-7 – whole
Chapter of 1 Peter 1 (biblegateway.com – NLT):
“5 And through your
faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation,
which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure
many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as
fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere
gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you
much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the
whole world.”
The Holy Spirit is working in us
doing everything that needs to be done so when Jesus cracks the sky, we will be
caught up with Him!! Salvation alone is NOT enough; you must have that
relationship with God where you can put off the deeds and works of the flesh!!
What I mean is you cannot go to the altar after the invitation to accept Jesus,
say the sinner's prayer and keep doing what you were doing before you accepted
Christ!! We have a new life to live once we accept Christ as our personal Lord
and Savior!! Paul tells us this in Romans
6:1-7 (biblegateway.com – NLT):
“1Well then, should we
keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of
course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or
have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we
joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with
Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious
power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we
have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he
was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with
Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves
to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from
the power of sin.”
In order to go back with Jesus, you
cannot still be doing what you did before you accepted Him; you cannot just
confess Him as your Lord and Savior and keep doing you-not trying to grow in the
things of God!! You cannot; salvation does not work like that!! Once you give
your life to Jesus, you cannot keep doing your own thing; you must seek the
will of God for your life!! See why the fire is necessary? We CANNOT do
this by ourselves!! We need God!!
Once we give our hearts to Jesus (accepts Him as our personal Lord and
Savior) our spirit man is renewed but our soul (old man) is not!! That is why
we must allow God to purge us with fire and get that stuff out of our soul!!
That is why it is such a battle within us once we accept Jesus, the soul wants
to keep doing the old things and the spirit man wants to serve God: the spirit
is willing but the flesh is weak!! That is why Paul said he had to beat his
body in subjection to the things of God and we must do the same (1 Corinthians 9:26-27)!!
The
unregenerated soul tells the body what to do but we must be led by the Holy
Spirit and not by our soul!! We must allow the Holy Spirit to purge our souls
so we can be led by Him!! The soul house the mind, will, and emotions so you
see, these things are what make us tick: we are made up of three parts, the
Spirit, soul, and body!! So we are either being controlled by the Holy Spirit
or by our soul whether you realize it or not!!
The fire does not feel good but it is
good for us!! When we go through the fire, we are not alone; Jesus is there
with us!! Remember the three Hebrew boys? When they were thrown into the fire,
God was in there with them protecting them; when they came out, they were not
scorched or burned!! There are many different reasons why we must go through
the fire but in the end, it helps us to be who God called us to be!!
We each have our own fire (trials and
tribulations) that we must go through at times but I want to encourage you
today to be of good cheer; Jesus has overcome the world and no weapon that is
formed against you will ever prosper!! God is covering you with the Blood of
Jesus as you go through the fire; you will not get burned!! Let the Holy Spirit
have His perfect way in your life; He is God's Spirit and knows what He is
doing!! God is taking EVERYTHING that the devil meant for evil and
turning it around for your good because you love Him and are called according
to His purpose (Romans
8:28)!!
“2Consider it wholly
joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any
sort or fall into various temptations. 3 Be assured and understand
that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness
and patience. 4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience
have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly
and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing” (biblegateway.com -
Amplified Bible).
Make up in YOUR mind TODAY,
that you are GOING THROUGH THE FIRE; no matter how you got there!! Don't
focus on how you got there!! STOP blaming others, the devil, yourself,
God, and whoever or whatever for you being in the fire!! Just focus on allowing
God to bring you through it; allow the Holy Spirit to do what’s need to be done
as God brings you through the fire!!
FORGIVE the ones you
blame for putting you in the fire (yourself, God, and people)!! You must
forgive to get out the fire!! You must let that stuff GO and allow the
fire to burn it up; it is dross and needs to be skimmed from you!! It is not
worth it!! LET IT GO!! Release people who have hurt you so you will not
get stuck in the fire!! You will stay in the fire until you truly have released
EVERYONE who has hurt you!!
Forgiveness is a choice, NOT a feeling; it keeps our hearts soft so we will be able to
show others the mercy and love of God – the mercy and love God shows us each
and every day – NONE of us are perfect YET!!
Therefore, we need to give each other grace; when someone hurt us in
anyway, we need to give them the grace card (if you have never seen the movie,
“The Grace Card” you really need to, it is a great movie about forgiveness.
Christ has covered the person’s sin against us with His Blood over 2000 years
ago so let’s not allow the devil to keep bringing up what they did to us!!
Forgiveness is for us; it causes us
to obey the Word of God (Jesus) concerning forgiving others so we can be
forgiven by God and set free!! Also, forgiveness will keep the root of
bitterness from springing up in us!! This is what Hebrews
12:14-15 says:
“14 Work at living in
peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy
will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that
none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root
of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many” (biblegateway.com –
NLT).
Jesus said in Matthew
6:14-15:14 “If you forgive
those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”
(biblegateway.com - NLT).
Let God deal with the people who hurt
you; He is a God of justice and He said vengeance belonged to Him and He would
repay!! God does not need our help in repaying people who hurt us!! Release the
people who have hurt you; cancel their debts to you as Jesus cancelled YOUR
debts to God!! If we do not forgive others their trespasses against us, God
will not forgive us of our sins!! Don't be like the unforgiving servant in Matthew
18:21-35; the servant was unmerciful
(unforgiving) and was turned over to the tormentors - when we do not forgive
others, we are not showing them mercy - God shows us mercy so we should show
others mercy.
Unforgiveness is a terminal cancer;
if you do not get rid of it, you will die – spiritually and naturally!! Chose
to forgive so you can move on with your life and get out of THAT fire!!
God bless you all!! Have a great weekend
and next week!!
In His Service,
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks
NOTE: These materials are copyright
protected therefore you must request permission to reproduce any part of this
material. To request permission, please contact Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks: drdehooks@abusedwoman.org.
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