JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE IN THE FIRE OF SPIRITUAL ATTACK DOES

 NOT MEAN YOU WILL GET BURNT!!!!!!

Fire can refine, purge, cleanse, toughen, melt together so that items can be shaped. It can harden as in pottery and is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit.

Yes it can also destroy, especially those things that are not hardened by fire, for instance a chimney is built of materials, that can withstand the heat of fire.

When a house burns to the ground, usually, the chimney will still stand.

Fire causes a furnace experience , which when submitted to in faith, will bring us

through to a higher level in God                     

Daniel Chapter 3 is a study in the power of a fiery furnace against men who would not

compromise their faith.

Whether the fire comes from God or man or the enemy does not essentially matter, it is 

what we do with the fire that matters.

The heathen king Nebuchadnezzar created an extreme trial by fire, which should

Have killed them for Shadrach, Meshac and Abednego, but God was in it with His children.

The entered it with a faith statement that their God was able to deliver them, but if not

they would still serve Him! Such faith is the highest level of faith I believe. As Job

said“Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him”.

In times like these, we need such faith and determination to obey God no matter what.

They declared that they would not serve the demon gods, of the music, [if you bow to that idol when the music plays, you are worshipping both hte musi and the idol], or the golden idol, no matter what the outcome of the furnace experience, and that declaration empowered them to overcome the trial. A prophetically empowered utterance, like this, or like David made when facing Goliath, will always overcome our trials.

The Kings’ face [his attitude], changed towards them, when they affirmed their unchanging faith in the living God, and so will the faces of those who oppose us in our faith, when we affirm that faith. Do not fear their faces!!!

The furnace was then made seven times hotter to make them change their minds, without

success because they were grounded and solid in their faith.

Sometimes the furnace we are in, gets much hotter before we get delivered from it.

Like a piece of pottery being hardened in a furnace, we should stay in the fire, until

the process is complete, because God is completing that which He has begun in us, by

whatever means it takes, because He wants to be able to present us to the Father with

exceeding joy. “These are my faithful ones who overcame temptation and tribulation and

who never denied my name”

Jesus presence with them allowed them to walk through the fire, and to come out unharmed, so also His acknowledged presence in our lives, will bring us through  the furnace unharmed. Our demonstrated faith says much more than our words.

The furnace reveals the son of God in our lives, to us and to others

Even the heathen king could recognize their God in the furnace with them, so people will see that our God is with us by our attitude in our furnace experiences. When had that king ever seen the Son of God?, we don’t know if he had, but he recognised Jesus before he was incarnated to the body of a man.

Sadly while that king acknowledge their God and promoted the three men, but did not himself turn to God, however, he had seen God and had the opportunity to make a choice.

Our courage and faith in the fire and under fire, makes an opportunity for the lost to choose Jesus.

If we don’t walk with God and keep our attitudes right, we can become a burnt offering, consumed by our problems instead of empowered by them, our attitude determines whether we are refined or consumed.

They had not even the smell of smoke upon them when they came out of that furnace.

The smell of smoke stays on objects which have been even near a fire, and is difficult or impossible to remove even if those things are not actually burned, and they are rendered useless.

The smell of smoke represents our attitudes to our trials and tests, if we are bitter, or self pitying, or angry to God, then we have not been purified by the process, we survived, but will not thrive.

Daniel 3:27

. 27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s counselors gathered around them and saw that in regard to these men the fire had no effect on their bodies—their hair was not singed, their clothes were not scorched or damaged, even the smell of smoke was not on them.

The furnace exposes our attitudes to us and to others

The soldiers who threw the men in, were consumed by the radiant heat of the fire, it never touched them, but the heat it emitted consumed them.

Even so, our furnace of affliction will consume our flesh, ungodly desires and works of the flesh, like wrong motives, and wrong desires.

Those who have wrong attitudes and motives towards us will be judged by God if they don’t repent, we do not need to judge them, God is the ultimate judge of us all.

The furnace destroys bondages

The ropes that bound them were consumed, but neither their clothes or their bodies were damaged in any way. Our sins or bondages are broken and our spirits, souls and bodies are purified by fire in the furnace of affliction.

The furnace can produce praise, if we make that choice. In the old testament, the tabernacle had an altar of incense, and the incense was mixed to the recipe God gave.

It was placed upon the burning coals,and produced a fragrance that God loved. I covered the smell of the slaughter, and was a sign of purification.

He had also commanded that the incense ingredients be beaten small, which would release more of their fragrance.

So the praise that comes from our lips when we haven been beaten small by fire, or other testing, or the harsh words and deeds of others, is incense to God, precious and unique.

Daniel 3:27-30

. 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be cut into pieces and their houses be made a heap of rubbish, for there is no other god who is able to save in this way!” 30 Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.

SUMMARY:

The furnace can release us to the next level

The three men were promoted to positions of greater trust in the Kings’ household.

Those who would speak against them were to be killed and their property destroyed.