Built to Battle – “They didn’t even smell of smoke”

“… they didn’t even smell of smoke.” And you don’t have to either.

Three men in the book of Daniel walked into a fiery furnace bound because they refused to bow to this world. They walked out free of bondage and didn’t even smell of smoke.

It is impossible to overestimate God’s ability to heal us — the wounds you can see and the ones you can’t.

It is impossible to put too much stock in His word — the Bible given to us filled with promises He is faithful to deliver.

It is impossible to believe Him too much — He raises people from the dead, opens blind eyes, softens the hardest hearts.

Impossible to pray too much. Praise too much.

Whatever the enemy brings for our destruction — whatever fire, whatever flood, whatever hell on earth — God will never leave us or forsake us in it.

When we give it to Him, trust Him, He can make something beautiful through the fire. Bring us victory in a sort of way that we cannot experience if we never go through the heat.

I spent many years praying to avoid the fire, all of it. I didn’t even want to feel the warmth from 100 yards, see a flicker. The slightest spark sent me reeling.

It was through the fire of a divorce years ago that I found out what it meant to truly trust Jesus even in the middle of the hardest parts of life.

I had been banking for so long on Him keeping me from any sort of hardship that I missed the powerful, freeing, beautiful truth — that no matter how terrible the thing is that happens in this world, He is entirely capable of healing us in this life in a way that gives us a glimpse of the next one.

Whenever the fire comes, this is the verse to speak. Trust it. Believe it. Claim it. It is yours.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.” – Isaiah 43:2

Amanda Elliott is a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, wife, mom, business owner and Benton resident. She believes we are each “built to battle” by a perfect creator who made us with a capacity for victory, a handbook for success (the Bible) and a spirit who empowers us to live in peace and joy. Follow Amanda Elliott’s “Built to Battle” column at www.mysaline.com/amanda.