June 29, 2022
Praying Friends,
Thank you for praying for our prodigals and for revival. While this may seem a small thing to you, let me assure you that it is not. Prayer is your link with the most powerful resource you have — your heavenly Father, your almighty God! His ability is limitless, and His will is perfect!
Are you resolved to trust God no matter what?
The Hebrew writer, when listing the people of faith, said that there were some who “quenched the power of fire” (Hebrews 11:34).
Consider the statement of the 3 young Hebrew servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the powerful and furious Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar who had threatened to hurl them into a burning furnace of fire: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
That’s the resolution of faith in full view! They were opposing the will of the most powerful man alive, yet they stood together with God.
They knew God was able. They believed He would do what was best. They entrusted themselves to His will regardless of the outcome. The full story can be read in Daniel 3.
This is what Christians do every day.
You go to a foreign country to serve the Lord, not knowing the end result.
You raise your children in God’s fear, unsure of how they will turn out.
You go to the hospital for a biopsy, not knowing what will be found.
You lie in chronic pain, wondering if life will ever get better.
You live in lands of great persecution with the possibility of death every day.
You lose your employment and wonder how you will manage.
The list goes on. It’s life. You live your life with God and at the same time resolve to trust no matter what the outcome may be.
For these 3 young men in ancient Babylon, it came to a point of intense pressure. It was a clear choice between right and wrong, good and evil, faith and fear.
They resolved to trust God.
As the heat of the furnace increased, so did their tolerance for it. God worked a miracle and protected them from the flames. In response to their faith, He also joined them in the flames. As they walked around in the midst of the blazing furnace of fire, there was a fourth person who walked with them (Daniel 3:25). It was the presence of their God.
When you go through the fires of life, sometimes the heat is unbearable, but God promises that they will not consume you and you will not be alone. As He walked with the 3 young Hebrew men in the flames, so He will be with every child of God through trial and suffering.
“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you…‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’” (Isaiah 43:1-3 ESV).
The resolve of faith means that we trust in God and leave the outcome to Him!
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel
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