INTRODUCTION

I am fortunate to have a good many friend who know more about the Bible then I do. I am equally fortunate to have friends who regularly receive great insight from God on matters contained within the Bible. Gerald Conrad is a member of both groups and you will soon see why. With his permission, I am presenting a great message to you from him on faith in God. Take a look.

FIERY FURNACE FAITH

Over the last 35 years I’ve learned that if you ask the average professing Christian if he has faith in God the answer will usually be a resounding YES!

Yet when I listen to the way some people pray I have to wonder. How many times have you heard a prayer end with “…if it be thy will…”? I’ve often wondered upon hearing this line why the prayer was even uttered.. I, for one, have no intention of asking for anything unless I’m fairly convinced that it is the will of God to provide it.

Jesus taught us that we should pray after this manner “…thy will be done.” This is an act of submission, not an attempt to give God an “out” for unanswered prayers. When I pray I always say “…let me be an instrument of your will here on Earth…”. I know that I will not always get my way but it’s God’s perfect will and plan that matters and I am willing to submit to that will, whatever it may be without thinking that God has failed me if MY will isn’t done.

So the question arises, “Why do we pray this way?” Well, after listening to some of my teachers over the years, and hearing the way they interpret some of scriptures I have no problem seeing how a touch of unbelief has crept in.

So how do we know if an interpretation of scripture is correct? I have a couple of simple rules.

1. If your interpretation doesn’t make sense YOU made a mistake.

2. If your interpretation contradicts another part of the Bible, once again it is YOU that messed up.

Now I know that God says in Isiah that his thoughts and ways are higher than ours. (Isa 55:9) and I’m also aware of the fact that the Bible tells us that “…the foolishness of God is wiser than men…” (1 Cor 1:25) but that is in the present tense.

When I say the our interpretation has to make sense I mean in the light of what we KNOW. Let me give you an example.

One of my favorite stories is found in the book of Daniel. We have all heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the furnace but let’s look at it a little closer.

In this scripture we see Nebuchadnezzar make a statement to these three young men (vs 15) as to what his intentions are towards them.

When they answer the king it is interesting to note the first thing they said to him “…we are not careful to answer thee…” The word “careful” is khash-akh’ and it implies a sense of readiness, and that a reply isn’t necessary. (That must have made the king hot, just imagine these slaves telling him “we don’t even have to answer you”.)

These guys were “prayed up”. It is evident from their answer that God had made his will known to them so they told the king “If it be so…”(vs 17). Now ask yourself. “If WHAT be so?”

The answer: The kings decree or course.

So they proceed to tell the King how God will save them out of the furnace and out of his hand.

Now here comes the mistake in interpretation. The following is a direct quote from the New International Version and this is how these verses are often taught”

This doesn’t say the same thing as the KJV which says “But if not…” The NIV makes no sense, think about it…if God DOESN’T save them they will be a pile of ashes on the floor of the furnace so saying “…we will not serve your gods…” becomes a moot point. Now consider this.

When they say “But if not….” What are they talking about? Remember the subject of this conversation between them and Nebuchandnezzar was the kings decree, so DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!

They were not discussing whether or not God would save them, that was a done deal in their hearts. The question was whether or not the King was going to make good his threats.

So what they are telling him was “If what you say is so and you throw us into the furnace our God WILL save us, not only out of the fire but out of your hand, but if you’re trying to bluff us into falling down it won’t work, because even if you allow us to live there’s nothing you can do to make us pray to your gods.” Now, doesn’t that make more sense?

You see, these guys knew what faith was all about. They submitted themselves to the will of God and knew that they didn’t have to give him a “way out” should his word fail. They prayed about this way before it happened. In fact, I believe that these young men were on their knees several times a day. Remember they were one of the ones who refused to eat from the kings table and grew fat on “pulse”.

They were not “careful” to answer the king when the time came because they had ALREADY inquired of God what his will was and were convinced in their hearts that his answer was “Boys, if you don’t bow or bend I won’t let you burn.”

If you want the kind of “furnace faith” that these three men had you have to:

1. Be in prayer continually

2. Listen for the voice of God

3. Be willing to be the instrument of God’s will, even if it looks like death is about to devour you.

4. And never be influenced by what you see or hear but rather by what you KNOW. And that is, that God is faithful.

Remember we serve a God that “can not lie..” (Titus 1:2) so it isn’t necessary to make excuses for him. His way is always the perfect way. Our part is to submit to it and know that no matter what happens it is the will of God.

Upon further investigation I have come to realize that King Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t have picked a worse group to try burning up. You see, these guys were given new names when they were taken into captivity, their Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. What does it matter? Names mean something.

Azariah means “He that hears the Lord”

Mishael means “who is asked for, or ‘lent’ “

Hananiah means “grace, mercy, gift of God.

Put these together and what I get is “He that hears the Lord is lent (or given) to show grace, the gift of God”

OOPS! This should have told the king something.

For us it says that if we will hear the Lord, and give ourselves over to him we will be saved from the flames (of hell) by his grace.

Ohh! I like that.

SCRIPTURE

God tells us that if we have faith, the faith the comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and don’t doubt, then we can have what we ask for. This is the faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had and the kind of faith we should also strive for. Then we will see the sick healed, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the demon possessed set free and much much more as God works through us to reach people for Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

God really is an awesome God who honors his word and keeps his promises. We can truly stand with him and on his word all the time.

Until Next Time,

I want to thank the great guys over at My Life Ministries (http://mylifeministries.org/) for encouraging me and hosting this blog. If you haven’t done so yet, hop over to http://mylifeministries.org/ and take a look around. Join the forums and become part of the family.

Also, if you have a testimony, email it to me at testify {at} fireknights {dot} net. I would love to hear it and I may just post it here on the blog.

Tags: faith, fiery, furance, god