A Special Blog

I asked Courtney Beam to write a devotion for this week for obvious reasons, and the following is the powerful words God gave her. I so hope it touches your heart as it has mine.

Healing. How many of us have prayed for that very thing? I know that much of my life has been spent praying for God's healing touch during the fiery furnaces of sickness. For as long as I can remember I prayed for God to heal my brother, Stephen. He answered that prayer, but not the way I wanted Him to at the time. As my son was diagnosed with cancer both times and when I was diagnosed with the same disease, we prayed for healing. Again, it might not have been answered in the miraculous way I was hoping for, but He has, and continues to, answer those prayers even as we still are in the middle of the furnace. Part of the lesson for me has been my response to this situation. How do I respond to His answer in the midst of the furnace?
More than just our physical conditions, God wants to heal our hearts. He knows this life will be tough, and that we will face many fiery furnaces. Our families are constantly threatened by those furnaces. It reminds me of the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men were forced into the fire for not bowing down to the king's image or worshiping his gods. As they were faced with the fiery furnace they told the king that their God could save them if He chose, but even if He didn't they wouldn't choose to disobey Him by worshiping other gods. As a result, the three men were thrown into the furnace that out of rage the king had ordered 7 times hotter than usual. As the guards threw them into the fire it was so hot that the guards were killed as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the furnace. Now here's the best part of the story. When the king looked into the furnace he asked "weren't there 3 men bound and put in the furnace"? The answer was yes, but when the king looked inside the fire he saw 4 men walking around unharmed. The king then called to the men and asked them to come out. When the 3 men came out, they were perfectly fine. Not a hair was singed, their clothes weren't scorched, and they didn't even smell like the fire(Paraphrased by me from Daniel 3). The smell gets me every time I hear this story. When I am around a fire my clothes always smell like smoke later. These men were in the fire and had no smell. Amazing huh?
At times I feel like we are in the furnace and I allow myself to think that we are about to burn up. Unlike the men in the story, I find myself asking God why and even feeling sorry for myself. If only I would trust that He is not going to let our hair be singed, our robes scorched, or even let us smell of the fire. In the midst of this fire I want to respond like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did. I want to say, "OK, we're in the furnace and God can save us, but even if He doesn't I will praise him." Even if He doesn't answer my prayer for healing in the way I want I will praise Him. Even more so, I want to stand on the edge of the fire and say no matter what your plan is Father, I trust you. I know that you will let no harm touch me. "God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" Hebrews 13:5


Devotion by Courtney Beam (Dec. 08)


Today, I want to give each of you the opportunity to respond to the devotion in the comment section below. Maybe you want to ask for prayer because you are in need of healing, maybe you want to give testimony to God's healing, maybe you just want to praise Him no matter where you find yourself. Don't miss an opportunity to give Jehovah-Rophe the praise He is so worthy of.