Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Fire A Blazin'

God works in mysterious ways. It's been a few days and I feel I want/need to write a blog piece. I've not had time to even consider what it would be with the last two days being a whirl wind. I was emailing a wonderful new friend and as I typed a couple particular sentences, I thought "this is it". This is somehow wrapped into my next piece. Bear with me as I allow God's Spirit to speak through me and lead this writing. I want to share about fires...the dangers of fires and the benefits of fires.

When we encounter a fire in our life, it is so important to deal with it head on and make sure it is fully extinguished before we go on with life. If not, the risk could be very high as it could cause fatal repercussions in our future. I don't mean fatal necessarily in the sense of life ending with death. It could cause so many more fires to pop up--that could have been prevented--and the next thing we realize we have a massive forest fire in our lives and hearts. If we don't deal with the fire at hand but rather move on, we will find when another fire comes, it will be added to the current. You see the pattern? Fire added to fire added to fire equals a massive consuming fire. That's right, multiple fires in our lives that aren't extinguished will end up consuming us and it could take precious time from our lives spent trying to put out a huge fire instead of little ones along the way.

What happens is when we've not dealt with the fire of our pain, we face another fire and we run from it. We fear the fire in front of us will hurt us like the last one. So, we run from that fire and leave it still burning. That fire spreads to the past fire we've left burning and that is how you get the forest fire in your heart and life. If we would not run from the fire but rather stop and look, we would realize this fire is very small...that of a candle maybe...extinguishable by God's power.

Our best answer is to first face any past fires we have not fully extinguished. Then, when another fire comes, and believe me it WILL, we need to halt, face it with God, and stomp it out. Do not run from the fire! You cannot out run the fire! It will catch up with you so either deal with it now or deal with it when it has quadrupled and ran into other areas of your life.

Even if we feel we are enduring a fire because of someone else's actions, we still must deal with that.

So, I mentioned the dangers and benefits at the beginning and you want to know the benefits. The benefit is that if we are seeking the Lord, God can make good out of any fire. He is the Man! He is the one with the Almighty Fire Extinguisher!! Even with those fires stomped out, with God, you will see new life sprout up in your heart and life. God is everything: the Fire Extinguisher, the Life Giver, the Healer, EVERYTHING!

I'm sure you have all heard of the Refiner's Fire. Now that is one fire you do want to be in and I would even suggest pursuing. The refiner's fire is the fire of God. Malachi 3:3a says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

Bear with me as I'd like to share that story with you. If you've read it before, read it again. It IS my all time favorite email story circulating.

This verse (Malachi 3:3) puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Does that give you Holy bumps or what? Take this to heart.

God will not leave you in the fire one moment too long.
God will not take His eyes off of you the entire time.
God will pull you out when He sees His image in you!!!

Now is your fire worth that? I say Amen. Anything to make us more like Christ!

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Exodus 3:2

Be Blessed in Him,

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Almighty Fire Extinquisher...that's good! Great post.

Kelley said...

I love the lesson we glean from how silver is refined. I don't think it is a coincidence that only certain metals can withstand the fire and are able to be refined in this way. Some are too weak or brittle. Praise God for His faithfulness and ability to mold us.....

Thanks for your comments on my post today, I really appreciate your encouragement!

Anonymous said...

wow, what a great post! you have such a lovely blog!! God Bless!

Sheryl said...

First of all love the look!!

Great post. I know I'm in the fire right now, but it is the refiner's fire. Hoping to look more like Jesus.

Thanks for the emails, I'll have to update you soon.

Sheryl

Yolanda said...

This is confirmation for something I have been realizing in my own life for the past several days. I have a situation that has become a fire, and I tend to run from it; not deal with it, because it has a tender close family member involved.

I will add to the very first reply you have on this posting....Almight Fire Extinguisher, I release my GRIP for You to move in!

Yolanda said...

I surely did. I've gotten braces, and with that, I've shed a few pounds. And a new haircut.

I'm so amazzed that you noticed!

valerie said...

I love this post! There are several situations in my life right now that I'm dealing with. I needed this post today. I'm needing to get ready for work, so I am coming back to read it again and soak it all in.
Thank you for your comments on my blog. When my daughter was in kindergarten her teacher told me about a song by Wayne Watson (I think that is his name?) called "Somewhere in the World Today."
This is when I first really realized that there is someone out there...that person around my kids' ages that are also growing up and experiencing life and someday they will meet. I didn't dwell on it, but I did think about it from time to time.
My husband's mom died when he was 8 yrs. old, so that thought would come to my mind every now and then & I would pray protection for my kids' future spouses & for their families.
Years later, when they were in college, I joined "Mom's In Touch" and we met once a week for an hour of prayer. That taught me so much about praying for my children.
Anyway...sorry to ramble on and on.
I do appreciate your comment. It's nice to "meet" you!
Blessings today,
Valerie

Kim@Seasons of My Heart said...

Hey there~
I have looked..and looked for the author to the quote I used on my blog....and I simply cannot find it.

Sorry!!!

Kim~

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

May God find his reflection in me this day! Thanks for sharing this powerful post.

peace~elaine

SKY4KAT said...

Fire burns and it is painful and we learn at an early age not to play with it, touch it and to stay away from it. No wonder we pull back from it to try and protect ourselves.
What a concept indeed to learn to stand in the hottest part of the flame -not alone - but wrapped in Gods protection as He allows the impurities to melt and ooze out from the hidden places in our heart. There they can be seen and dealt with.
I love your visual pictures as well as the mental ones you write on our eyes.
Katrina
in Colorado

Amy said...

That was a beautiful post, Paula!

I too love that story...I love that He never takes His eyes off of us. That is so comforting to me.

God Bless,
Amy:)

P.S. Melissa was very thankful for the emails and links that you sent her. Like me, right now she is a little overwhelmed with all of our last minute preparations, but she was very much looking forward to the encouragement to be found on that website.:)

Shirley Mary said...

First of all, I LOVE the new face on your blog! Seeing that beautiful bright pink flower just lifts the spirit.
I received your latest comment on my blog. I have been trying to get to each one that left a message. I haven't been out of town but I had unexpected company from Ohio. They left Tuesday and I'm expecting another couple tomorrow night sooooo I haven't had as much time for the world of blogging. But it is wonderful to have dear friends to visit.

All of your post have so much to benefit from. And I know it must be a joy for the Lord to be using you as a vessel to work through.

Reading the "Fire A Blazin" I thought about the verse in Ephesians: "above all,taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Satan continually sends those fiery darts and you are right, if the fire is not completely out, we would be running from fire to fire and it wouldn't take very long until our strength would be GONE and then the enemy would right there! And the shield of faith IS the Almighty Fire Extinquisher!

mary

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Wise words, friend.

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

You know...I have created some of these fires on my own, walked into a few without seeing the problem but each one has been a refining process no matter how painful or the scars that remain. I try to look at each difficult situation through God's eyes otherwise I would probably be a very bitter angry women.
Thank you for this post.

In His Graces~Pamela

connie said...

Thank you for posting this today... I am so glad you are now a friend...
Connie
GBU

Kristen said...

I loved this post..esp the part when you talked about new life sprouting from where the flames once burned. My husband's home town had huge fire a couple years ago burning over 7,000 acres. I remember seeing the devistation one day thinking it looked like war zone, but a few months later, the new growth was so green and beautiful. You weren't able to see where the fire had originally been.
I know I've been in "that" place before, but praise God that he put out the fire and blessed me with some new growth!
Have a wonderful weekend!

GOD'S LADIE said...

Love this post! Great word! Refiner's fire...the silver...oh yes..think I can relate that...GOD BLess!

Pam said...

Amen sister...