- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
The crucible is for refining silver and the furnace is for gold,
likewise the LORD tests hearts. (Proverbs 17:3)
The blacksmith pulls a glowing bar from the furnace. He examines both sides of the raw iron and compares it to the image of a sword he holds in his mind. Down comes the hammer and sparks fly. One blow at a time, the chunk is transformed into something useful.
Next comes tempering. The red hot metal is plunged into cooling oil. When one quench is complete, back into the fire the sword goes. The artist knows the unique molecular structure of this piece. Only repeated heat and controlled quenching can align the internal structure.
Eventually, the smith polishes a razor sharp, gleaming blue edge. He now has a formidable weapon with which he can fight the powers of evil.
I am inside God’s furnace. Everything in me resists his character forging process. Sickness, broken relationships, and moral failures all hammer my soul. As soon as one trial is quenched, another heats up.
God looks at my unformed heart. He foresees a soul dancing from joy and loving even toxic people. He anticipates a weapon in his hand that flashes against injustice. And so it is, with precise knowledge of every atom in my being, that he thrusts me into the fire again.
Prayer: Father, remake me by any means necessary.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
I [Jesus] will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
When Jesus came to earth, Satan attempted a power grab.
Unexpectedly, Jesus bowed to the ordained slaughter. No one else dared to die on behalf of his abusers. There was not much of a skirmish and Satan gloated over the cross.
Only after Jesus breathed his last did God read out the rules. The seat of all glory would not go to the powerful, but to the humble.
As the first hint of light touched the Jerusalem sky on the third day, the supreme coronation began. Jesus rose from the grave. Following the ancient protocol, the King of Kings spent the next forty days making ready for his ascension to the throne. He showed his living body to hundreds, strengthened his disciples, and enjoyed his friends. On the appointed day, he rose into the air and God welcomed him to the seat above every dominion.
Having failed his first objective, the Devil turned to his second—the destruction of God’s creation and his children. That battle tarries on. If we live during this era aligned with the humble, victorious Jesus, we secure our freedom from Satan’s ploys.
Simply put—All authority rests on the sacred righthand seat, therefore we have everything because of where Jesus is seated.
Prayer: King Jesus, I kneel before your all glorious throne at God’s right hand.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
“In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” He replied, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.” (Luke 18:25-27)
Trembling and in tears, a pregnant woman came after the Sunday service in Ranipet, India. She had converted to Christianity and wanted prayer for protection from her husband and neighbors. Her community would do anything to prevent her from leaving Hinduism, including beating her and abducting the coming child.
I’ve also seen extreme persecution in communist China, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and southern Mexico. Every country has an eye of the needle—some significant obstacle to Jesus. In wealthy countries, materialistic complacency will keep the majority out of heaven. That’s our eye of the needle.
Given the insurmountable hurdles it seems impossible, like no one can make it to Christ. Yet, in every land God brings some through their needle. There is not a hostile or hedonistic culture I have ministered in where I did not also find a thriving branch of the Christian family.
Seventy-nine thousand people become Christians each day somewhere in the world. Seventy-nine thousand times a day God makes the impossible possible. No wonder Jesus tarries in his return. To him these are not statistics, but individual, eternal children. He celebrates as each one reaches beyond their antagonistic culture to pass from death, through the eye of the needle, into life.
Prayer: Holy God, bring me through my impossible barriers.