“In the same way that gold and silver are refined by fire, the Lord purifies your heart by tests and trials in your life.”
It must have been hot in the fiery furnace in Babylon.
Nebuchadneezer had ordered that the heat be turned up to blazing hot for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
It must have been hard to look at that fire and still say no, that they would not do what the King wanted them to do because it was against their personal beliefs.
I wonder what Daniel felt too, sitting alone in the dark, thrown into a pit with predatory lions prowling round and round. They sealed him in the darkness. All he had was his faith in God and the constant noise of the prowling back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The lions probably fought too in the darkness. It must have been quite terrifying to the average person but Daniel kept calm. He believed he would be okay.
And he was.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked in and they calmly walked out.
As did Jonah.
Although, admittedly, Jonah was a little bit more hesitant and scared and it took a lot of tests and trials before he would approach Nineveh to deliver the message he was appointed and anointed to give. He walked in to deliver the message and he walked out with no harm to him, despite what he feared
God has you in the palm of his hand. Right, isn’t that what they say?
Now Paul, he was an interesting sort of fellow. Paul had a different kind of anointing. Paul went around persecuting Christians. He was only doing what he was ordered to do. He was paid generously for his work. He just wanted a comfortable life for his family. He just was following orders but he knew in his heart, he must have known, that something was off.
Paul was met on the road by a bright, shining light or maybe an angel or something…but whatever it was, it changed his mind instantly.
Paul, who had been actively persecuting others, suddenly turned around and began helping them. It must have been an odd and awkward turn-about for him. He must have had a lot of folks that couldn’t stand him in their hearts. It must have taken a lot of messages, a lot of persistence, a lot of self-questioning, a lot of Holy Spirit anointing, and a lot of communication for others to start to believe he was different now.
Paul walked in to persecuting others. He saw the error of his ways and walked out of persecuting others.
And then, Paul walked on to helping others and spreading messages. He is considered one of the great leaders of the Church today.
It takes a lot of walking to become one. It takes a lot of stay the course, no matter what, and a willingness, such as in Paul’s case, to right your wrongs and see the error of your ways and correct your actions.
The 11 disciples must have been terrified after they saw what happened to Jesus.
They were hiding in an upstairs room, all huddled together, and some of them, like Thomas, were doubting and questioning everything, and causing even bigger lack of confidence and faith in themselves.
But the Holy Spirit.
You see, sometimes we gotta walk in to trouble, and choose to walk out of trouble, and then the Holy Spirit comes to help us to choose to walk on and spread our message to others. It’s only through the Holy Spirit anointing and belief in the Holy Spirit, we can do that.
And when we got the Holy Spirit, we can proceed to walk on.
The disciples went everywhere. They went high. They went low. They went to this town and that. They climbed mountains. They entered valleys. They crossed rivers and bridges and streams. They knocked on doors where no one answered. They knocked on doors that were slammed in their faces. They knocked on doors where the inhabitants probably looked sketchy. They knocked on doors where folks could have hurt them or tried bad magic stuff on them. And they kept walking.
Enter a town, knock on a door, if you are not received, brush the dust off your feet and keep stepping. Keep walking. Keep up the momentum.
Keep rolling like a snowball down a hill, picking up more and more until its the size of a giant boulder or it turn into an avalanche.
You see, in the movie Mulan, when the evil horde shows up on the ridge with their million man army, Mulan runs straight towards them, she positions herself in danger’s way, and she uses friends’ help to light that cannon. She doesn’t go after the enemy himself.
She goes after the mountain.
She knows the only way to win, is to use the mountain….to create the avalanche of holy rollers working and operating in the Holy Spirit, walking out in faith to spread the Word.
And she gets hurt in the process but it’s worth it in the end.
A lot of the disciples got hurt but without them where would we be in this world?
Without commandments, without laws of conduct, without constitutions, without freedom and liberty….what would our lives look like? What kind of world would our children grow up in?
Sometimes, we gotta take a stand or we fall for everything. These are tests. You need to look at them as tests. You walk in to trouble, you face the trouble in the lion’s den or the fiery furnace, and you walk out unscathed with faith, and then you take what you learned from those moments and you walk on to tell others the good news of God’s mercy and love.
Walk in, walk out, and walk on.
I didn’t really write this. I asked the Holy Spirit to write it and I would just be a conduit.
I get preachy. I know it annoys and irritates. But the Holy Spirit irritates people’s demons.
Sometimes, you don’t know why you don’t like someone.
They say, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.” And you say, “Enough already, stop being annoying!” I get that. I also get when folks say stuff like, “You’re a hypocrite or your words don’t match your actions!”
People don’t like harbingers. People don’t like preachy or what they perceive to be holier than thou. I get it. But maybe you need to ask yourself why people bother you when they are only trying to help others and spread good news and motivation. Why is your spirit irked or vexed by them? What is it in you that feels this irritation?
Anyway,
December 21, 2020 – the Christmas Star returned to the night sky.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
Good things are coming for the good people of the world. The days of honesty are here and the days of lies and deception are going away. The days of traps and trickery are going away.
He is the way, the light, and the TRUTH.
Easter is coming.
“Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing, let the whole world know that today is the day of reckoning…..roll the stone away, let the guilty pay it’s Independence Day.” Martina McBride
We just gotta believe.
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