The Power Tool Of Faith

Power tools are wonderful inventions of ingenuity and productivity. I mean really, what can you compare to the incredible sensation of overpowering an object with a motorized device of mass destruction? One thing that has always puzzled me about power tools is the overwhelming desire I always have to use them in a manner for which they were not designed. Who taught me this? I don’t know, maybe it’s just a “man-thing” or something.

Have you ever noticed the warning labels on various power tools? One of the things most common sentences warning labels on power tools share is a line that reads something like, “Please follow manufacturer’s guidelines. Failure to do so may result in serious injury.” As long as you understand the limits of its use, the power tool can increase your productivity. If you give in to that insatiable need to explore the outer limits of power tool pandemonium, and actually attempt to trim the hedges with your trusty skill, well if I say anymore you’ll know whom I’m talking about!

I believe your faith should be approached in the same manner. Follow the guidelines God has set forth in His “Manufacturer’s Manual” and you can enjoy the fruit of a life lived in Him. Go outside of those boundaries and you can experience doubt, disillusionment, discouragement and depression.

There is a very interesting setting in the book of Mark, chapter 9, where a man is brought to Jesus who is demon possessed. When Jesus asked the father how long this situation had existed the man reply was, “Since he was a child and very often the spirit throws him into fire.” There is no question that fire is used to describe God many times in the scripture. We also know according to I Peter 1:7, that our faith is to be tried by fire. The element of fire, when used according to God purpose in your life, will work the divinely intended function. But, someone is always taking a Godly element and misusing it! That someone is the enemy of your soul and he wants you to blame God for things you do not understand, or explain.

Why was the evil spirit often throwing the man into the fire? I can hear the cynical voice of humanism, “Well that spirit is just trying the man’s faith with fire.” As absurd as that seems, I find that some people are often throwing themselves in to whatever fire they come across. Remember the childhood adage we were taught, “You play with fire and you will get burned.”
The fires of faith will find you. You need not seek opportunity to test your faith. Your faith will produce it’s own examination. It seems to me that the fires of faith always flare up out of that deep conviction you have lived by for the Glory of God! If you’re not in the fire now then take a long slow breath and enjoy the reprieve. The fires of faith will find you soon enough!

Daniel 3:1-30, shares the account of three Hebrew boys who refused to violate a life long principle of worship. Their stand, by decree of the King got them a one-way ticket to a fiery furnace. You understand of course, the necessity of a return ticket was negated by the elements of the accommodations. Listen to me! You were never expected by Satan to make it this far. He thought once he got you into the fire that would be enough. What he can never grasp is this; the thing he imagined to destroy you is the very thing God designed to strengthen you! Let circumstance beyond your control cast you into what should consume you with a one-way ticket! God won’t let your stand for Him be your downfall. God will not watch you from a distance to see if your faith is strong. When the servant of the King looked into the fiery furnace he discovered there were four in the fire!

The fires of faith will contain you for a season, but not consume you. The fires of faith that purify you will be to hot for your enemies to handle. The fires of faith will affect you, but not infect you! The fires of faith will create an arena for you to receive a supernatural visitation that will be seen by many. The fires of faith will burn, but you will not smell like smoke! The fires of faith will forge you into a minister of flaming fire by the very nature of their heat! That’s why they are made; it says so in the Manufacturer’s Manual. (Psalms 104:4)