The Crucible - Can't have a Testimony Without The Test.

When I feel like fighting, remind me that vengeance is not my own. When I want justice, remind me that you're the just judge seated on the throne. When I build my own walls of protection continually tell me that, "you're my refuge, a safe place to run into." When I keep these walls up they keep even you from coming close. I want to let you in, remove all that hinders love. When I want to retaliate don't hesitate to set me straight it's not my place, because you're the defender of the weak. When I want to run & hide remind me that you will never leave my side. When I feel forgotten or ignored help me rest in knowing that your thoughts for me are more than the sand on the seashores. You are ever before me actively warring against my foes. It can't be seen, but it can be known that the one seated on the throne intercedes for you and for me. He is merciful, and just. He loves us this much, that He allows, opens the doors even to the trials of the fiery furnace of purification. It's in the midst of the crucible that He's nearest to us, as He was with Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego when He allowed Nebuchadnezzar ll to turn up the heat of the furnace seven times hotter than usual. He is our ever present help in times of trouble, closer than a brother. He will never forsake you. He is not a sinister Father who promotes your derision or destruction. His plans, ALL of them are for your good and though you can't see it yet you can trust that He is on your side. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. Ephesians 6:12. So, walk in faith contending for the fullness knowing that the creator of ALL things has your back. He will bring forth justice speedily for his elect who cry out day and night (Luke 18). Don't be dismayed, don't lose heart "though it tarry wait for it, for it shall surely come (Habbakkuk 2:3)/" Isaiah 58:6-10 Say's "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? ⁷Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? ⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. ⁹ Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; ¹⁰ And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day" Let us be the change we want to see. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Let love, mercy, and compassion be a melody that I never stop singing. We need greater revelation of the man that gave All for the weak, the small, and the broken so that in a moment by the shedding of His blood we could be wholly whole, and fully His. Oh God of justice, deliverance, breakthrough, and victory have your way in us that we may cease striving & stop fighting when it's how we've learned to love, restructure, rewire, and reteach us Holy Spirit what love is. True Love Waits.


1 Corinthians 13 :

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,^a but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^b 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Written Mar.4th, 2014