Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
Gold Under Fire
Pressure isn't comfortable, but could it be exactly what we need? This eye-opening exploration reveals the surprising purpose behind life's squeeze.
When pressure comes, our natural response is to fight or withdraw. Yet what if these moments of intense discomfort are actually divine invitations to transformation? Just as a goldsmith uses fire to bring impurities to the surface of precious metal, God's refining presence in our lives often manifests as pressure that reveals what's truly inside us.
The wisdom shared here turns our understanding of difficulty upside down. "When pressure comes, it's not a sign that you've done something wrong. Sometimes it's a sign that you've been doing things right." This perspective shift changes everything. Rather than resisting pressure, we can practice thanksgiving in the midst of it—a response that doesn't necessarily remove the pressure but profoundly changes how we experience it.
Drawing from biblical examples like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego praising God in the fiery furnace, and wisdom from Corrie ten Boom who encouraged believers to "don't wrestle, nestle" when facing trials, this message provides practical guidance for navigating life's pressure points. The ultimate goal isn't comfort but Christlikeness—becoming purified through the very fire we might instinctively avoid.
Ready to transform your relationship with pressure? Listen now and discover how life's most uncomfortable moments might be preparing you for your greatest growth. Then share your experience with us at liferonthefire@gmail.com—we'd love to hear how this message resonates with your journey.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
The last podcast episode was a message of exhortation. It was really exhorting us to be in a place where we have within us these things that are really keys to being an overcomer Keys to being an overcomer Diligently pray, faithfully, obey, quietly, trust, patiently, observe and thankfully praise and worship the one, true God, right, keys to being an overcomer. In this particular podcast episode, I'd like to give a word of encouragement, because it's something that we all face and when we do, it's kind of a mixed bag, at least for me, and what I'm talking about is pressure. When we experience pressure and I'm specifically talking about those of us who are functioning in the kingdom of God we have a relationship with Jesus, we have a real introduction into the heart of the Father, our Heavenly Father, and we're learning how to follow the Spirit of God, holy Spirit, and so we are all at different levels. Some of us have been living this out for decades and others have been a few days, and some you're just kind of like, almost there, right, you've been seeking and finding is about ready to just really sweep you in.
Speaker 1:You are at some point. You experience, we experience, I experience pressure, and when that happens, it can be confusing because it doesn't necessarily feel good to be squeezed, feel good to be squeezed, and sometimes the things that happen around us involve people in fact, most often and the thing about people is we all do people things. We are moving toward perfection, but we're not experientially there yet We've been justified. So legally we are perfect, but experientially we are in the process known as sanctification, meaning we are growing into that place of perfection. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are growing into that place of perfection. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are secure, and yet here we are, living in the realm of time and space, which that right there, living in the realm of time and space is where we experience pressure. Outside of this, there is no pressure. There is going to be pressure. In fact, jesus said himself he goes in the world, in this world. You're going to have tribulations, you're going to have pressure. He said, but be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world, I've overcome these things, and so when we follow him, we learn to be overcomers, and easier said than done sometimes, though, and so that's why we need encouragement. So I'm here to encourage you in saying that if you're experiencing pressure in your life. It's not necessarily because you've done something wrong. In fact, it might be that you've been doing things right and, as a result, you're going to be growing right and, as a result, you're going to be growing.
Speaker 1:And in the process of growing there's going to be a squeezing out of some of those old things. They may have been comfortable, but they aren't necessarily godly. Certain habits, certain patterns of thinking, what we do, what we say, what we see, things like that, we're accustomed to them and so they seem normal. But just because they're normal doesn't mean that they're right or that they're going to be something that's going to be suitable. Mean that they're right or that they're going to be something that's going to be suitable for us.
Speaker 1:Down the road, when I was a child, I thought and spoke like a child, and now that I'm a man, I've put away childish things and moved on to more important issues, because God wants us to grow, he doesn't want us to stay stagnant. And so salvation, you know, coming to know Jesus, coming to know the Father, coming to know Holy Spirit, is a beginning point. Of course. That's where we begin, and we have to begin somewhere, and we begin at the beginning, and we begin at the beginning and we only know what we know right. And the beginning is good, but it's not where we're, you know, supposed to stay. We need to grow and mature, kind of growing up before we grow old.
Speaker 1:And we do it not just individually but we do it collectively, interesting. There's individual pressure and then there's collective pressure. You ever been in a group of people that things are going along just fine and all of a sudden it feels like pressure just comes out of nowhere? Well, god is a refining fire. His presence has that effect. It's like a goldsmith who is refining gold. It's like a goldsmith who is refining gold. One of the ways that he refines it is he applies heat to it, extreme heat, and what that does is it causes the dross or the impurities to come to the surface, and then the goldsmith can skim the dr away and the gold becomes pure, purified, and it's purified by fire. And sometimes the manifestation of God's presence and his fire comes in the form of pressure, the pressure that squeezes out impurities, the pressure that squeezes out impurities.
Speaker 1:And so it behooves us to know what to do when we experience pressure, because the temptation is oftentimes to either lash out or to become secluded. You protect yourself, you withdraw or you strike out. I mean, those are the two most common tendencies, and one of the more uncommon tendencies is to give thanks, to give thanks. The Apostle Paul said in everything, not for everything, but in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Giving thanks, learning to be thankful, it seems absolutely opposite to what would be the natural response when pressure comes, because pressure oftentimes feels uncomfortable Because something's going to change more than likely as a result of the pressure coming. It causes things to be once again looked at in a different way, because it catches our attention right. Pressure stops you from doing things one way for a minute, catches your attention, and then what?
Speaker 1:And then there's the opportunity for us to ask God what's going on. He'll tell us. That's the wonderful thing about relationship is that God communicates with us. Yes, he communicates to us from his scriptures, but there are other times where he communicates to us heart to heart and when we ask him say God, what's going on, and we listen. We take time to really listen, get quiet and listen. He'll tell us he is faithful. God is so, absolutely faithful.
Speaker 1:There are many things that I can say, and I do say about God, because I love him, I love Jesus, I love my Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father, I love Holy Spirit, I love God. I say many things and could say many things, but one thing I will say about God is he is faithful and trustworthy. He does not lie. He's not a man that he should lie. People lie, people say things that are misleading, people do things where they smile in your face, but all the time they want to take your place. Backstabbers Right, but God isn't like that. He is faithful, he is trustworthy. He is faithful, he is trustworthy, he is true. Once again, jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. Wow, he does not lie. And so when we ask him what's going on, he'll tell us. And in times of pressure, often he'll say this is me purifying your life.
Speaker 1:Don't fight it, but give thanks. You see, shadrach, meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace in order to literally kill them as a consequence of their disobedience to a decree of a king. They wouldn't bow down to a graven image, an idol, and so the decree was anyone who would not do that would be thrown into a fiery furnace to kill them as an example. Well, the king did. And these three Hebrew young men not only did not burn, but there was a fourth person in the furnace with them and they were walking in a circle giving praise to God and their clothes weren't burned and they didn't smell like smoke when they came out. It didn't smell like smoke when they came out, but the point they're making in that is that they were giving thanks to God.
Speaker 1:There's something about giving praise to God, giving thanks to God. It doesn't necessarily take the pressure away, but it changes how we view it and it changes how we respond to it, sometimes yielding meaning we don't fight one another, but the pressure we allow to see what it is that it brought to the surface in my life. Maybe it was an attitude of just being judgmental or being critical, having those critical remarks offhanded, critical remarks about people, or these little sidebar meetings to discuss what they think is going on in another person's life, all in the name of prayer or all in the name of concern. But really it's a critical spirit, having a critical attitude inside of us, in our psyche, in our spirit. Having a critical attitude inside of us, in our psyche, in our spirit yeah right, Not just in our mind, but even deeper, it could be embedded in our spirit, and that is what God wants removed from us the impurities. And one of the ways that it is done is by pressure, and when we see the pressure come or we feel it come, we can look at our lives and ask once again, ask God, lord, show me, show me, show me what it is that you're trying to do in my life to purify it so I can become more like you. Because that's the real. The end of it all is really for us to become more and more like God, and that's going to be an eternal thing that we're going to be experiencing, which is absolutely phenomenal. It's wonderful to be in that type of relationship where we are intimate and we are continually growing in our experience with God and who he is and who we are with each other. But also we develop, we continually grow, and thanksgiving, giving thanks, giving thanks in the midst of it, in the midst of pressure, really determines the level of spiritual maturity. We have One of my favorite people, the late Corrie Ten Boom, a small lady who was powerful in her walk with God and she had so many wonderful things that she expressed that were truths that would just stay with you, stay with me.
Speaker 1:And one of them was concerning this whole thing of pressure. And when it happened she goes don't wrestle, nestle, don't wrestle, don't fight it, don't fight it, don't wrestle, but nestle. Come into the arms of your loving Heavenly Father and let him embrace you and speak to you and let you know that he loves you and that he's bringing these things to the surface, the pressure. There's another story by a gentleman by the name of John White.
Speaker 1:Dr John White and he and his family were doing some missionary work in one of the remote areas in South America and his son, his young son, got an infection, and that infection was very serious and the only way to deal with it was through prayer or, if need be, an emergency type of operation to drain the infection from his body. So they prayed and in this instance God did not answer their prayer by supernaturally healing him. And so Dr White a psychiatrist, not a physician, but he had medical experience in his training to be a psychiatrist knew enough how to perform an operation, but they didn't have any anesthetics at all, no anesthesia, nothing to dull the pain in this young boy's life, probably seven years old. And so his father had to cut the young boy's leg a fairly significant slice down his thigh and then drain the pus out of it, put a type of poultice on it that they put together, but to also stitch up his leg with thread and a needle that they had not a surgical needle or thread, but regular thread and needle. And his son looked at him with absolute horror when he said he's got to cut him, it's going to hurt, but he's going to drain this infection out of him because if he didn't he could possibly die. And so they performed the operation. But his son was crying during the entire time, having a hard time understanding what was going on, and I can't imagine the pressure that this young boy felt. But in the end he lived. They got the infection out of him and they were able to monitor it and actually it was cured through the poultice.
Speaker 1:And God was praised in the end by the young boy, but his parents were praising God during it because it helped keep them focused. You know, there's so many things. There are so many things that take place in our life when we praise God, but really it's not so much always about our life. It's about the fact that we are honoring God. He is worthy of that In the midst of difficulty. He is worthy of that In the midst of difficulty. He is worthy of it.
Speaker 1:As I said before, often that determines the level of spiritual maturity you have when it comes to really evaluating that. It's how you handle pressure. What do you do when the pressure comes? Do you criticize people? Do you lash out at people? Do you criticize yourself? Do you berate yourself? Do you withdraw? Do you try to quit? Do you quit? Or could it be that, through a word of encouragement, you can actually give thanks Because there's an end to it? When you're going through it, it doesn't seem like it's ever going to end, but when it ends it seems like you never went through it. Interesting, so, in the midst of it, giving thanks, giving praise to God.
Speaker 1:When pressure comes, it's not a sign that you've done something wrong.
Speaker 1:When difficulties come, sometimes it's a sign that you've been doing things right and it's the heat of God's presence, because he's coming closer, that causes the dross to come to the surface, those things that need to be removed from our life.
Speaker 1:And when they're removed, it doesn't really seem like they've ever been there and what we experience, brand new, seems like it's always been there, but yet it feels brand new. Hallelujah, let's pray. Father, thank you once again for who you are. I love you, we love you, we worship you, we give ourselves to you. Jesus, you are Lord.
Speaker 1:Jesus, you are Lord and Holy Spirit. You come in his name and you demonstrate the wonderful lordship of Jesus and you teach us. Thank you for teaching us, thank you for guiding us, for leading us. I love you, we love you, we submit ourselves to you. We love you, we submit ourselves to you. We invite you to continue to bring us into a place and places where we become more and more like Jesus and we stand here in his name as if we're him here and we say amen, amen, amen, amen, right, amen. In Jesus, in Christ, everything is yes and amen. Folks, we love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at liferonthefire, at gmailcom, or type in liferonthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. God bless you, adios amigos.