Fire Walkers

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"I love Fire Walkers. And I don't have to go to India or a Barnum and Bailey performance to find one. They're all around us. You may be sitting next to one at work today or in the pew come Sunday. They don't advertise. In fact, they don't even smell like smoke or bear the singe upon their garments.

But make no mistake.These people have emerged alive out of fiery furnaces that killed others. What is their secret to survival?

Let's look at the three Hebrew men--Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego--who were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar II and brought as servants to the Babylonian court along with Daniel. (Daniel 3)

They excelled, even beyond their Babylonian contemporaries in the literature, sciences, and philosophies of the day. They were highly favored.

Nevertheless, the king was enraged when the Hebrews refused to bow down to the colossal, gold-plated image he had constructed. They explained that God alone is worthy of such worship. Play your music, Neb, they said. We may tap to the rhythm, but we won't bow.

Now, our Hebrew friends with funny names didn't get up that day praying for a heated encounter; and I haven't met a Fire Walker who does. It just happens... mainly because they won't compromise, not because they do anything wrong.

Shad, Mes, and Abed would have preferred for God to deliver them FROM the situation, but He chose to deliver them OUT of it. When the fiery furnace door opened and they were cast in, they were amazed (and I'm sure, relieved) to discover Someone had gotten there ahead of them.

Here's another secret of Fire Walkers: Like our Hebrew examples, they are loosed in the fire before they come out of the fire.

You MUST praise Him in your fiery furnace if you want out. You MUST learn to walk freely in the midst of the flames before you step freely outside.

I have learned through many similar situations as yours, that if I make myself praise God IN the difficulty--no matter how hot it gets--He looses me from fear and enables me to walk unbound in the difficulty as a victor, not as a victim. Then, deliverance out of the fire is often quicker.

And another thing. Fire walkers don’t carry the smell or singe of where they’ve been in self-pity totes. They refuse to stay “stuck” in the experience—rehashing, reliving, recalling to whomever will listen. They have better things to do!

They look upward, not down...forward, not back. If you find them hanging around furnaces, it's only to encourage future Fire Walkers to look through the flames to see Who got there ahead of them.

What or where is your fiery furnace?

It's going to be okay. Start praising. Dare to take steps of progress--right there, where you are--to the shock of your "Nebuchadnezzar".

Guess who's "got this"? Jesus, the original Fire Walker...The One who stepped into your oven before you even knew you were on the royal menu!"