Purged By Fire
My Dear Friends
When you look at your reflection in the mirror today, what did you see? Do you see what God sees? Have you been bruised and broken-hearted lately? Do you feel like you are going through the fire? Is your whole world crumbling in all around you?
It is so hard to go through the fiery hardships of life, without someone coming along side us with a squirt bottle of prayer cooling the fire down. Prayer will help cool the fire, and sometimes put it out.
When I see a friend or family member hurting, I feel like calling in the fire department and having the firefighters come with their fire trucks, to put the fire out. We will never know why God lets us go through the fire.
Have you ever tried to cut a tree down with an axe head that has not been put through the forger's fire? The axe head would just crumble and fall to pieces. We are a lot like metal. If we do not go through the fire, we will crumble under pressure.
A good chef’s knife will not hold its edge, if it has not been put through the fire before it is sharpened.
It is the same way with a new recruit to the army. They know what they are doing picking the strictest Sergeants. Some times the new recruits would like to give the Sergeant a kick you know where. Later in the year when the soldier is in the battlefield and the bullets are flying overhead, they will be glad that they had tough training under a strict Sergeant.
God must be preparing you for something special, when you are being tested by fire.
Fire burns and hurts. Fire makes us strong. Fire purifies gold and silver.
Today God wants you to learn how to put the protective clothing on, that he speaks about in the Bible. If you go out in a rainstorm without a good raincoat, you will get wet! If you go and get honey from a beehive without protective clothing, you will get stung. If an astronaut goes to the moon, he has to wear a space suit to protect him. When a soldier goes into battle, he has protective camouflage clothing he must wear. Have you ever seen a soldier dressed for battle in bright red or orange? No, they must blend in with the background. If a firefighter goes to fight a fire without their protective clothing on, they could be burnt or die.
In Ephesians 6, it tells us about putting the full armour of God on. Once it is on, we need to check and see if it is on each morning. When a soldier is in battle, he keeps his armour on until the fighting is over. He has to be ready at a moments notice to fight the enemy. Do not walk out the door of your house, without having the full armour on. We need to take a stand against the evil oppressors of this world. Never do it without having clothed yourself with the Full Armour of God on. If you do, you will get hurt.
Dress yourself with this Full Armour today and keep checking to see if you have it on each morning. Check your family and see if they are fully dressed with this powerful armour. Teach your friends and family how to put it on and check it often to see if it is fitting correctly. Don’t even let a crack open to the darts of the enemy.
Stand tall as you go out into the battlefield holding on to God's word the Sword of the Spirit. Satan will use the people who are closest to us to try to discourage us with fiery darts, and even some times hurt us. Do you have your Shield of Faith ready to guard yourself from the lies and unkind words coming your way?
We are bigger than Satan is. We have a God who sent His own Son to die for us on the cross as our Power Source.
God has given us the Holy Spirit to be our Sergeant. Do we listen to the instructions He gives us daily as we prepare to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Have you sharpened up your sword (by reading and studying your Bible yet today?)
Jesus feels the fire you are going through and will continue to go through. He went to the cross because of that fire. He took the sins of the whole world from the beginning of time to the ending of time on his shoulders that day. He is up in heaven right now praying to God His father on our behalf.
Hold on tight to the Belt of Truth. Are the mean, cruel, angry words, spoken against you, the truth? If not, do not believe them. Check them out. Take them to the word of God in prayer. Look for the truth about the situation in the bible. Remember God created you in His image. Do not let the lies of this world tell you any different.
Check your feet to see if they are walking in Peace! If not, read how to allow your feet to be protected. If you ever need help God is there to guide and direct you. So often Satan will whisper in your ear, go there do this. God has called us to walk the strait and narrow path to Him. Do not get off this path or you will get hurt. The enemy is standing behind the tree waiting to devour you. Think before you open your mouth in anger. Will I regret the words I am going to say? You can never put the words back into your mouth, after they have been spoken.
Listen to him as he whispers through your Helmet of Salvation into your ear. Many times God uses the Holy Spirit to whisper truths into our ears. "Do not make that choice. Your friend is in need of prayer. Read this book."
We are to busy to hear Him. Our minds are listing to the radio, television, or thinking about the computer program that we are working on. How do you feel when you are trying to talk to someone and they are distracted. How do you think God feels when He is trying to get our attention and we do not hear Him?
We have been told that we are His sheep and the sheep will recognize the shepherd’s voice.
Feel his presence in your heart, under your Breastplate of Righteousness. He is closer than a phone, and you will never get a busy signal. Let his love pulsate from your heart all through your body. Pass it on to everyone you meet. God and Jesus want to live in your heart. The door is there, but They are waiting for you to open it up to let Them come in. The latch is on the inside, and only you can open the door.
Read and study Ephesians 6: to find out more about how to dress.
Love from your sister in the Lord, who has gone through the fire in my past and am still going throgh it.
Ethel
December 2010, this was written years ago, and I still need to look into the mirror and see that I have the protective covering of the Holy Spirit protecting me with the Word of God, each day. Those fiery darts really hurt. So do the lies of Satan when you start to believe them. I need to keep telling myself that I was created in God's image and that He never ever created any junk.
© Ethel Hiday Wicksey
http://ethelswritings.yolasite.com/
