TRIAL OF FAITH

17 “IF IT BE SO, OUR GOD WHOM WE SERVE IS ABLE TO DELIVER US FROM THE FURNACE OF BLAZING FIRE; AND HE will deliver us out of your hand, O KING.
18 “BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Daniel 3:17–18 (New American Standard Bible (NASB95)

• Persecution will arise because of your Faith (2 Timothy 3:12).

• When you made a decision to serve God, do His Will, and obey the instructions given you by Him, that is, obey His Word to the letter; then persecutions are awaiting you:
  "IN FACT, EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS WILL BE PERSECUTED" (2 Timothy 3:12 NIV)
  a. If you do not want to compromise your faith, you would be persecuted.
  b. Also, If you want to live holy, without putting your hands in any Sin, you will suffer persecutions.

• Be willing to die.

• If you deny Jesus because of persecutions, He also will deny you (2 Timothy 2:12).
• Although if someone recounted under duress and still come back to Him, He would not reject the person completely.
• Being a Believer, a follower of Christ, is not all about what to receive or get from God; but about walking with Him.
• Your loyalty would be challenged and God would allow the challenges; He would want you to defend your faith. He would want to know your faithfulness, and see whether you would deny Him or not. That is what He did to Job, He permitted or allowed him to be tested by the devil (Job 1:12; 2:6).

• When your faith is challenged!

• God does permit or allow the challenges that the level of your loyalty; sincerity, and faithfulness, might be made visible or known.
• Tests would be allowed to come your way, to know your stand in God.
• Trials come in different forms. You may have challenges on finances, material things, that is, good things of life. And it could be on other areas of your life.
• Whatever the trial, the challenge, that you may be having, God is aware and He is with you.
• God did not show up until the three Hebrews; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were thrown in the furnace.
• The truth is, God at times might not show up when there is an impending problem, until you find yourself in the furnace—the problem or the Mess.
• It is either God comes in to rescue you, make a way out, of the problem; or gives you the grace to pass through it.

• The Furnace of fire.

• Until you are in the furnace, you may not see or experience the power of God and see His glory.
• Mostly, God's faithfulness is always experienced in the furnace. In other words, the reality of God, His greatness, is always known or experienced when you are right in the midst of the furnace or tribulations.
• God would wait to know your decision, what would be done by you, about the the situation on ground—the problem at hand.
• God will rescue you if you can lay down your life at the altar for Him.
• God wants to receive the glory through whatever you might be passing through, If you did allow Him—by cooperating with Him.
• The three Hebrews told the king, even If God did not deliver them, they would still not bow or serve his gods and worship the golden image set up by him.
• In other words, they were ready to die, rather than bowing to or serving an idol.

• Are you compromising to please other people? (Galatians 1:10).

• What are you compromising, selling your birth Right, for? (Hebrews 12:16,17).
• If you can trust God without wavering in your faith, that problem would be solved.
• Nothing is too difficult for God to do. He is the source of all things, the beginning and the ending (Revelation 1:8; 22:13).
• God is waiting for you to take your stand in the face of opposition, before He could show up.

• Christianity or being a disciple of Christ is about relating with God.

• You have to grow in your relationship with God.
• God will test your loyalty and the trust you have in Him, withdrawing Himself, in order to see what you would do in whatever challenge that comes your way.
• He will watch you on how you handle the challenges, to know whom you actually love, trust in, and depend on.
• If you are challenged, pressed hard, you will manifest the reality of the actual thing in you.
• Whom you actually trust, such you will go to, at the time of persecution.
• The higher you go in your relationship with God, the more you know Him and experience His faithfulness.

• The truth is:
(i) God will not let you down, or disappoint you (Numbers 23:19).
(ii) He will not allow evil to devour you (Psalm 91:12).
(iii) He will protect, defend, and fight for you (Proverbs 18:10).
(iv) He will make a way for you, where there is no way (Isaiah 43:19).
(v) He will not allow you to be put to shame (Isaiah 54:4).

• However, God would not do anything without your Will or cooperation. He would want your cooperation before He could do whatever He intended to do in your life.
• Whatever God would do in your life and situation is conditional.
• God could save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, before they were thrown in the furnace of fire; but He chose to wait until they were thrown in it.
• Let God's Will be done, let Him choose how He wishes to move in your situations.
• God may decide to come now or later, just stay committed to Him. Know that you will not be devoured by the enemy—the devil.

• The three Hebrews did not die in the furnace of fire, God eventually showed up to deliver them.

• Your case will not be different, you will not die in the furnace of fire in the mighty name of Jesus.
• Refuse to compromise your faith. If you did not bow, you will not be burnt!

• You will not die in the furnace of life in Jesus' name.

• Whatever is against your health and wellness is cursed and uprooted in your life in Jesus' name.
• You are made whole in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
  Peace!