Last Sunday at the very beginning of our worship service a dynamic anointing fell, flooded the room and dominated the atmosphere. It was a moment in time where the Kingdom of Heaven came down to merge with our church atmosphere. I felt the helplessness of meager, meek man standing still in the all-powerful hand of Almighty God. I felt Kingdom glory wash in like waves first breaking the strength of the enemy and then overpowering his hold on people’s lives. It was true deliverance.
I began to realize that there are many like me who have been walking with God, running at times, passionately pursuing His presence for decades. In all that time we’ve known things to work a certain way. By revelation the Holy Spirit showed me that God had already turned the page and we have been living in a completely different era for our lives without fully realizing it.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego illustrates what it is like to live in an era of Kingdom intervention where sudden monumental miraculous moves of God take place and leave witnesses astounded.
“Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.””
Daniel 3:21-25 NKJV
“And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.”
Daniel 3:27 NKJV
The New King James records “the fire had no power”.
God had several purposes for the enemy’s fire. In this case when they entered the fire they were freed from bondage. The king exclaimed “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
We can also determine from this passage that in the fire they achieved a closeness with God that they had never known before.
We know the powerful destructive force of fire in general. This fire killed the men who threw God’s people into the furnace. So the fire destroyed the wicked while liberating the righteous.
“Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.”
Daniel 3:28-30 NKJV
1. God used the fire of the enemy to destroy the wicked and liberate the righteous. We can’t enter our destiny bound, and there are some demonic forces hindering us that need to be removed. The enemy’s fire was only dangerous to the enemy.
2. God used to fire to cause His people to achieve a level of closeness to Him that they had never known before and it was apparent even to those who did not know Him. This level of holy encounter was a necessary prerequisite to the promotion that was coming.
3. His divine protection and supreme power were revealed to unbelievers in high places because of the fire. God revealed Himself as the One True Living God.
4. Facing the fire was humbling, it brought them to a place where their strength ended, they no longer had any control and they were completely dependent on the Lord’s mercy. “O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.” Psalms 25:2 NKJV. This humbling is a prerequisite to promotion.
5. Afterwards God used the enemy’s fire, which was used to intimidate, control and destroy to instead elevate and promote His people.
We have entered a season where we have prayed with all our hearts, believed with all our faith, and served with all our zeal. Now having done all to stand on this high mountain we have climbed in the Spirit we will continue in all these things and bare witness to miraculous outbreaks of the power of God all around us. God has turned the page. This is a new chapter of your life. Watch for the backfire of the fiery furnace in your life!