Furnace Faith

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The God we serve is able to save us from it...But even if he does not...
Daniel 3:17-18

Facing the fiery furnace, the three Hebrew children refused to compromise their beliefs or change their behaviour. They told the king, 'If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand...But even if he does not...we will not serve your gods.' With the words, 'even if he does not,' they took their faith to a higher level. They knew God could prevent it, but not that His plan called for it in this instance. But they'd rather die than deny or disappoint Him.

Understand this: God can take you out of your situation or bring you through it. When He leaves you in it longer than you'd like to stay, He's developing-furnace faith. Furnace faith is dead to doubt and blind to impossibility. It reaches up through the threatening clouds and lays hold of the One who has all power in heaven and on earth. It makes the circumstances bearable and the future hopeful. Furnace faith believes that even if you do have to go through the fire, God will go through it with you. Listen to the words of a heathen king who watched it all happen: '"...I see four men loose, walking in...the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God"' (Daniel 3:25). Furnace faith makes you as free in the fire of affliction as you are out of it. Furthermore, when your friends see the Lord in there with you, it'll convince them like nothing else.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.