It reminds me of what my dear friend Bettie once shared in her blog post about the intentional prairie burns in Wisconsin that are designed to make the soil more fertile. You can read her beautiful and encouraging post here: Holy Ground, Holy Fear. When it seems like God’s fire has left nothing standing: look closer and see Jesus – the pure Word of God and His holy peace – arising there. That’s where God’s giving – of His Son’s living sacrifice for us all – has only just begun.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.
Daniel 3:19 ESV
The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psalm 12:6 KJV
I bless us to look upon the ashes of our life and to see Jesus arising there. I bless us to look and see that it is God who has created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task; and that it is God who has created the destroyer to cause havoc for our good.
I bless us to see how no weapon formed against has ever and will ever succeed against us, because, just as the three men in the fire, we too will refute any accusation raised against us in Satan’s court, as the fourth man – Jesus – rises in the fire with us to vindicate us, as the fire burns away the ropes binding us. I bless us to taste and see that we are not our own, but Temples of the Holy Spirit set apart and holy unto God in Christ Jesus.
I bless us to know and experience in our whole body and soul, and proclaim with great confidence, that the purifying fire of God’s love is for us and not against us. I bless us to bless God for sending His all consuming fire and to declare that fire boldly not as His punishment, but as the glorious heritage of the Lord’s servants, proving our righteousness is from Christ alone. I bless us to rejoice in our afflictions, to know and remember that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. I bless us to know and experience that hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
FIRE
On the fire
You lay
All my dreams
Of striving
They'll see.
You gave
Your all for me
All my earthly
Held in esteem
In Your love burning
To ash consuming
The dross
Your Spirit's burning
It's finished
Declaring
Nothing but the Cross.
My heart ever leading
To stay
When I'd rather go
To go
When I'd rather not
Birthing holiness in me.
Kindling
Freedom
From fear
Moment by moment
In jealous flames
An all consuming
Love flaming in me
Jesus
Pure gold
Revealing.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
Matthew 24:34 Berean Study Bible
He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Daniel 3:25 ESV
Shalom Aleh 