CAN YOU FEEL THE HEAT?
It may seem that the fire is turned up seven
times hotter. I am working in your life.
Great and mighty things will be done through
the one that totally trusts in Me. I am with
you in the fire. The furnace of affliction
you are going through is burning up all that
is not of Me. Come close to the fire and do
not fear the heat. All that is not of Me is
being removed. The dross is coming to the top.
Rejoice and praise Me for what I am doing in
you.
Praise Me for you are fearfully and wonderfully
made. Praise Me in the night hours.
Praise Me each and every moment and the heat
will seem less in My presence. You will pass
through this fire and not be burned. I am with
you in your circumstances and will not leave
you. Call on Me and I will answer and
remember that I will never forsake or leave you.
Nothing is being burned up that will not
be replaced with more of Me.
Allow My fire to change you into My image.
by Patricia Hamel at Wednesday, October 01, 2008
’A man’s life consisteth
not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.’
Luke 12:15.
For many years it was impossible to imagine how men could so
misunderstand and hate Jesus, the One crucified for all of humanitiy and
it’s sins. . But a fuller understanding of His teaching and wider knowledge
of the world have led me to the conclusion that there is only one end to a
ministry like His – and that is a Cross.
HE UNMASKED INIQUITY
WHERE IT WAS LEAST SUSPECTED;
and attacked the vices of the wealthy and powerful in terms of liquid fire;
He shocked and angered the most religious people of his time; called
them ’whited sepulchers’, and defied their traditions; He hurled woe upon
woe in all directions. His own friends understood Him but little better
than His enemies. He talked of His Kingdom, but rebuked their
determination to make Him King. He denounced sin in terrible terms, but
would not let them call down fire from heaven.
HE PREACHED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE;
POURED SCORCHING SCORN UPON HYPOCRISY
AND OPPRESSION,
But… when actual cases were brought to Him He declined to interfere or
even to pronounce judgment. He condemned wrong, but refused to take
sides. Here is one of many cases that might be cited.
A man, perhaps a follower, has been wronged by his brother, and
appeals to this preacher of righteousness to secure him his rights.
Instead, He rebukes the petitioner, and asks, Who made Me a judge or a
divider over you? Disappointment was inevitable. To preach sternly and
then refuse the responsibility of practical application to particular cases
always brings provocation. The explanation of His attitude is plain enough
now.
HE CAME TO ESTABLISH
A WORLD-WIDE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM.
He laid down principles that are universal, not precepts which were local.
He sought to correct the dispositions of men rather than to secure their
rights. He would destroy wrong, not by direct attacks upon vice, but by
saving the sinner. That is His method. A new world through a renewed
humanity. So here, instead of interfering in the quarrel, He reads the
motive behind the appeal, and warns against covetousness. He detects
the undue eagerness to gain possessions, and corrects the false estimate
of the things of this world. And in so doing incidentally states one of the
profoundest truths concerning the true philosophy of life. ’A man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.’
THE WORLD’S ESTIMATE OF THINGS
To the world things are everything. It longs for them, works for them,
fights for them, lies for them, lives for them. Its one ambition is to
possess abundance of things. To secure them it will pay any price, endure
any hardship, suffer any obloquy, sacrifice any thing. Its homage and its
envy are reserved for those who have the most things. It never troubles
about how they got them, nor what they do with them, it is enough that
they have won for themselves piles of things!
THE CRY OF THE WORLD IS FOR THINGS.
Things, things; always more things.
This is a purely pagan view of life. After these things do the heathen seek.
Pagan philosophy is based upon the supposed supremacy of things.
Heathen religions find their heaven in the abundance of things. And, alas,
most of us are pure pagan. We live for the things. We toil and strive for
the possession of things. Our only idea of heaven is a place where we
shall have undreamed abundance of glorified things.
We call ourselves Christian, but our lives are heathen.
CHRIST’S TEACHING CONCERNING THINGS
He declares that true life does not depend upon things at all. Indeed the
only way into life is by the renunciation of things. We must forsake them,
sacrifice them, die to them if we would live. Not only He, but all the
world’s greatest have proved that life is not measured by the possession
of the world’s things. The greatest of all had not where to lay His head.
Things are an encumbrance to the man who would rise.
They cannot secure for their possessors the best even of this life. Even
here the best things cannot be bought with money. Wealth can give
much. Solomon says, ’it answereth all things’. But its limitations are as
marked as its power. It can give you doctors, but not health; a good table,
but not appetite; houses, but not homes; followers, but not friends; envy,
but not love. An abundance of things becomes a useless burden. You can
only use a few of them, the rest are a care and a snare. You may have
many carriages, but you cannot ride in all of them at once. You may have
many houses, but you can only live in one at a time. You may have many
courses, but you can only eat till you are full.
WEALTH CONSISTS NOT
IN THE ABUNDANCE OF THINGS.
For the greatest needs of life they are utterly useless. They cannot even
ensure existence, let alone life. And it should never be forgotten that the
world can only be secured at the cost of the man himself. He who wins
the world loses his soul. To live for things is to die to all that is spiritual
and divine. Life is being, not having. It is what a man is, not what he has
that really matters. What you have will perish, what you are abides for
ever. Seek not things. They perish, they corrupt, they pass away.
SEEK TO BE,
To be manly, honest, brave and good.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto
you.” Seek God first, always first. In Him only is the true life.
This is the time and the season where I am teaching My children to stand
on their own two feet. That means that I am not holding their hands as
much as they have been used to.
In past times, I was quick to meet My own with words of encouragement,
and I was quick to give them tangible confirmations of My great love
for them. But now I am calling My own to a greater level of maturity.
That means that I am asking them to believe what I have said in My word,
and to walk in faith with less tangible evidences of My great care for
them. I have not stopped caring, I have just stopped giving them as many
immediate confirmations and encouragements, so that they have an opportunity to stand in faith.
The times and seasons ahead will be difficult for many, and I want My own
to have an absolute assuredness down deep within their spirits that I will
continue to care for them; that I will provide for them and that I will
be their protection and their shield. I am the God that does not change.
I have been faithful in the past and I will continue to do so in the
present and also in the future.
I have not changed, but I am interacting with many of My own a bit
differently. Do not be surprised at this, for this a natural outcome of
growth and maturity. As a child grows and matures in the natural, their
parents treat them differently at different levels of maturity. In the
early days, they constantly watch the child and do not allow them to
wander off on their own for even a few minutes. They are very quick to
comfort and to encourage, but they are also very quick to limit what
their little one may or may not do, and the child is not permitted to
make decisions on their own. Likewise when a child first starts to walk,
the parents hold its hand constantly. But as the child matures, it is
allowed to take steps on its own. Good earthly parents change how they
interact with their child as it grows and matures. They do not treat a
seven year old the same way they treat a toddler, nor do they treat a
teen the same way that they treat a seven year old.
Dear one, you are growing and maturing spiritually. So do not think it
strange that My interactions with you change as well. I ask you to stand
in faith with less immediate assurances that I am here for you--but I do
not leave your side, nor do I stop taking care of you.
A difficult season is coming on the face of this earth, where uncertainty
rules and men's hearts will fail them for fear. But you are not to be ruled
by this season. You are to stand in faith and in the assuredness that I
I am faithful to take care of My own. I may not give you as many little
encouragements as I used to each time that you face a trial. But that
is not because I have distanced myself from you, it is because you are
growing up and I expect you to stand more often in faith.
Do not dismay when you look at the circumstances around you. Choose to
trust Me and to walk in My peace, for I have given you the ability to do
so. I have not stopped caring for you, dear child. But you are growing up
and that is why I have changed how I interact with you. You may not feel
My assurances as often as you used to, but I remain just as faithful to
meet you needs as I have been in the past when you were a spiritual babe.
You may not feel Me holding your hand quite as often as you are used to,
for I am calling you to stand in faith. But I do not change; I remain
faithful to take care of you as much now as I have in the past.
You are
growing up, little one, but you are not growing apart from Me. I am still
right here with you.
