Good morning! I stopped by to tell you this morning that you may be in or about to go through some heated situations, but God wants you to know that He has purposed these heated times in your life. The goal is to refine you, to unbind you and to remind you that He is your starting point! So the heat is on!
Consider Daniel Chapter 3 and the story of the 3 Hebrew boys. Recall that these young men took a stand and each refused to bow down to the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had commissioned to built. The first thing that you have to know is that today is your day to take a stand against some stuff that has been built up in your life or some things that other people have tried to place in your life and give a larger presence or give more precedence that our Holy God. You already know in your heart, mind and spirit that you can't bow, you can't bend, you can't move and you can't blend to anything that's not of God. Instead you've got to tell yourself as these young men did, that even if God doesn't deliver me, I KNOW that HE can because in fact, He is my starting point and He is the only one true and living God.
Second, once these men decided to take a stand, they saw that the enemy had attempted to lay a trap. See there were some folks who didn't like these young men. They didn't like Daniel. They didn't like how God was blessing them, promoting them and working in their lives so as a result of their own insecurities, selfishness and misunderstandings, they wanted to get rid of them all. So they plotted and maneuvered to get the king to build the image, knowing that these young men would take the stand to not bow, and then they'd have their chance to finally get rid of them. Don't you know that there are some folks that the enemy is using to try to snuff you out? There are some situations that the devil is using to trying to get rid of you. It may be intimidating, but you have got to learn how to take a stand and to say like these young men did, "It's for God I live and it's for God I'll die!"
Next, these young men were sentenced to be thrown into the fiery furnace because the king could not go back on the word of his decree so the enemy thought that these men were down for the count. As a matter of fact the king ordered for the fire to be turned up 7 times hotter than normal. He was upset that these young men wouldn't do what he wanted them to do. You better understand that the enemy is so determined to get rid of you that he will put it in some one's heart to turn up the heat in your situation. The heat may get turned up on your job. The heat may get turned up in your home. The heat may get turned up in your own mind. And just like with the 3 Hebrew boys the heat gets turned up so much so that even the very person throwing you in gets consumed! But I'm came to tell you that sometimes we spend precious energy and time thinking about the person taking us into the heated place or taking us into our fiery situation. But don't worry baby because that person is going to be consumed! Your goal is to remain focused on the fact that God's got you in His hands. Don't be afraid because the enemy sends his most mighty men to bind you up and cast you into the heated situation. Don't focus on that person other than to know that they are positioning you into a place where you can see for your self that God is your starting point.
Notice in the story that folks could see what the 3 Hebrew boys were going through because when you read it says that Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. Although they had thrown three men into the furnace bound when they looked there were four men walking around. See your adversary wants to see you down and bound. He wants to watch your destruction. I find the perspective of the story particularly telling. You see the story didn't say that the 3 Hebrew boys testified or talked about the 4th person in the furnace. Instead, it said that the very person who ordered their destruction saw 4 folks walking around in the furnace and was astonished! When you make God your starting point, the enemy may think he has you bound and down in a hot situation that's going to break you down, OH! but God will show up and walk around with you in your furnace. Not only that, but He will cover you and protect you and let the enemy watch it all!
What you need to know today is that God is concerned about you. So much so that He will allow a hot situation to occur in your life. But the heat is meant to refine you. It's meant to burn things off of you, but not to touch you. It's meant to unbind you or free you of the ropes and ties and the things that have bound you up. And finally, you need to recognize that God is always there with the purpose to keep you and protect you in the very midst of the heat when it has been turned up hotter just for you, that's only because that's what it is going to take to get some stuff out of your life and off of you. Endure it. Accept it. Trust God in it.
Last and this is for free, one day last week, I thought about the scripture that talks about how sometimes we cannot feel God on our right or on our left. But God told me and told me to tell you not to worry, because as long as God has filled you then He's feeling you whether or not you feel Him! And because He's feeling you, you're covered! Have a blessed and bright day and remember today to take a stand on the word of God and make Him your starting point!
