Discovering Destiny (Part 78): You Will Come Out Of The Fire Better Than You Went In
Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future. On Friday, the king looked into the furnace and saw a fourth Man in the fire. Today, the king calls them out.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Peter 3:18 GNT
"But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever."
Luke 10:20 Mirror
"It's time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven's perspective."
1 John 3:10 Mirror
"There is a very visible and vast difference between living one's life from your God identity or from a fallen man's mindset."
Proverbs 25:2 NKJV
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Daniel 3:26-27 NLT
"Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!' So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke!"
Daniel 3:28-29 NLT
"Then Nebuchadnezzar said, 'Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!'"
Daniel 3:30 NLT
"Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon."
Supporting scriptures:
Psalm 66:12 TPT
"You've allowed our enemies to prevail against us. We've passed through fire and flood, yet in the end you always bring us out better than we were before, saturated with your goodness."
Psalm 34:19 TPT
"Even when bad things happen to the good and godly ones, the Lord will save them and not let them be defeated by what they face."
1 Corinthians 2:4 ERV
"My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives."
Matthew 16:25 TPT
"For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep."
Romans 8:28 AMPC
"We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose."
Psalm 75:6-7 TPT
"This I know: the favor that brings promotion and power doesn't come from anywhere on earth, for no one exalts a person but God, the true judge of all. He alone determines where favor rests. He anoints one for greatness and brings another down to his knees."
Setting the Stage:
On Friday, we watched King Nebuchadnezzar jump to his feet. He had thrown three men into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, and now he was looking at four men, loose and walking around in the fire. The strongest soldiers in his army had died at the door of that furnace. The king had every reason to keep his distance. Instead, he "came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace." The same man who had asked, "What god will be able to rescue you from my power?" was now standing at the door of his own furnace looking at the answer.
Then he shouted into the fire. He did not call them rebels, and he did not call them Judeans. He called them "servants of the Most High God." He said, "come out! Come here!" And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego "stepped out of the fire." Nobody had to pull them out. Nobody had to carry them. They walked out on their own two feet, free.
Then the crowd moved in. The high officers, officials, governors, and advisers, the same leaders who had bowed to the statue on the plain of Dura, "crowded around them." They looked them over from head to toe. They checked their skin. They checked their hair. They checked their robes and turbans. "Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke!" The ropes were gone, and that was the only thing the fire burned.
Then the king did something nobody on that plain expected. He said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!" He told everyone that God "sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him." He made a new law that nobody in his empire could speak against their God, because "There is no other god who can rescue like this!" And then the Bible says, "the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon." Their destiny was never just to survive Babylon. It was to make the name of their God known in Babylon.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God Blesses You To NOT Look Like What You Have Been Through.
Think about everything those three men had just been through. A death sentence. A furnace seven times hotter than usual. Soldiers dying at the door. Ropes on their hands as they fell into the flames. And when the most important people in Babylon crowded around to inspect them, they could not find one sign of it. "Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched." They did not even SMELL like smoke! Most people can't sit near a campfire for five minutes without carrying the smoke home on their clothes. These men walked out of a furnace smelling like they had just left the house.
How this applies to you:
-- God did not just get them out of the fire, He got the fire off of them!
-- I have taught you this before: people will see your glory, but they won't know your story. God's grace carried you through so well that the fire never got the final word on your life.
-- The fire touched the ropes, but it did not touch them. Some people come out of a hard season bitter, angry, or afraid. You can come out of it with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and a spring in your step.
-- The psalmist said, "We've passed through fire and flood, yet in the end you always bring us out better than we were before." Not barely surviving, not hanging on by a thread, but better!
-- I'm a witness! When you walk with God, you can walk through the fire and come out on the other side not even smelling like smoke!
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and no fire can burn what He wrote. He brings you out clean so that people see His glory, not your smoke.
-- The same fire that killed the strongest soldiers in Babylon could not touch the three men God was protecting. The enemy can light the fire, but he does not get to decide what it touches. God sets the boundary on every fire in your life!
-- Smoke is evidence. It tells everybody where you have been. God removed every trace of the fire so the only thing left to talk about was Him. When God brings you out, your past loses its evidence and God gets the glory!
2. When God Brings You Out, Everybody Will Know Who Did It.
Look at who crowded around those three men. These were "the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers." These were the same leaders who had bowed when the music played. Now they were standing in a circle looking at three men they had watched get thrown into a fire, and nobody could explain it. Then the king, the same man who had challenged their God, said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!" Nobody had to preach him a sermon. He saw the proof with his own eyes, and the debate was over. Paul said it this way: "the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives."
How this applies to you:
-- We serve a living God who is not opposed to providing proof.
-- The king threw them in because they would not bow. The king's answer was fire. God's answer was power over the fire!
-- Nobody on that plain was talking about how strong those three men were, but everybody was talking about their God.
-- People who may not agree with everything I believe still call me when they get a bad report, because they know my God still answers prayers. I have seen too much and experienced too much to question my God.
-- The king said, "There is no other god who can rescue like this!" God is going to use your deliverance to reach somebody else.
-- Some people will never open a Bible, but they will watch you walk out of your fire.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned for your story to point people to Him. When people ask how you made it, give God the glory out loud.
3. Whatever You Are Willing To Lose For God, He Knows How To Protect.
Listen to how the king described them. He said, "They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." They walked up to that furnace ready to lose everything. Their jobs. Their position. Their lives. And look at what they actually lost: a few ropes. That's it. Their bodies were fine. Their clothes were fine. Their positions were not only fine, they were about to get bigger. Jesus said it this way: "For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life."
How this applies to you:
-- They were willing to lose everything, and God made sure they lost nothing that mattered.
-- The king said God "sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him." Their trust is what the king noticed. They trusted God with their lives before they ever saw the fourth Man.
-- Putting God first may cost you in the moment, but it will never cost you your destiny.
-- Some people think standing for God will cost them their job, their friends, or their future. Anything you lose for God, He is well able to restore and give you more.
-- The only thing the fire took from them was the thing that had them bound.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born. What God has given you, no king can take away, and what you surrender for His glory, He protects.
-- The psalmist said, "the Lord will save them and not let them be defeated by what they face." You may face it, but you will not be defeated by it.
4. You Will Come Out Of The Fire Better Than You Went In.
This is my favorite part of the story. The Bible says, "Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon." Think about how they got their first promotion. Daniel asked the king, and God moved. Now look at the second one. Nobody asked. Nobody lobbied. The fire that was supposed to end their careers promoted them. And notice who signed the promotion: the same king who threw them in. The psalmist said, "no one exalts a person but God." God used the king's own furnace to lift them higher. Your fire can become your promotion.
How this applies to you:
-- They went into the fire as officials, and they came out promoted.
-- I have taught you this before: the more satan attacked the Hebrew Boys, the more they were promoted. If the devil knew any better, he would leave you alone!
-- God does not make bad things happen to you, but He can use the bad things and turn them around for your good. Paul said, "all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose."
-- Nebuchadnezzar planned to kill them, but God had the final word, and His word was promotion.
-- The psalmist said, "the favor that brings promotion and power doesn't come from anywhere on earth." People can open doors, but only God decides who rises.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and every fire you walk through by His grace becomes a testimony that brings Him glory.
-- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went in tied up, walked around free, and came out promoted. If you don't bow, you won't burn! Tomorrow, the same king has a dream that troubles him, and Daniel has to tell him a hard truth with love.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that I will come out of every fire better than I went in!
I do not have to look like what I have been through!
People will see Your glory on my life, not the smoke of my past!
When You bring me out, everyone will know You did it!
There is no other God who rescues like You!
Whatever I am willing to lose for You, You know how to protect!
I will never lose by putting You first!
All things are working together for my good!
My promotion comes from You and not from people!
Every fire I walk through by Your grace becomes my promotion!
My destiny is to bring You glory, and my life will point people to You!
In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
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