Refined - Finding Joy in the Midst of the FireSample

One of the most lethal fires that one can encounter is the fire that has been set by oneself. These self-set blazes often explode into murderous infernos by our choosing to wallow in sin and submitting to temptation. There is nothing that will destroy a life more efficiently and quickly than the choice to sin. Sin and compromise will melt the most beautiful of lives into a heap of indistinguishable ashes.

Prayer is the most effective fire shield when used against the hot and destructive forces of sin and temptation. If the enemy is knocking at the door of your heart with continuous ideas of compromise, addictions, and sin, perhaps the words of Jesus are exactly what you need to obey. Prayer is able to give strength and a stubborn determination that no sin, no temptation, and no enemy is able to destroy.

When your own choices have wickedly destroyed the landscape of your life, only the power of prayer is able to begin the healing and restorative work that you desperately need. When sin and compromise have led you directly into harm’s way and you find yourself surrounded by the purgatory of evil and its twin sister, disobedience, it is prayer that will usher in a cooling shower of forgiveness and God’s presence.

If the flames of mass destruction have closed every possible way of escape, pray that the Holy Spirit will pray through you! The thoughts and words of the Holy Spirit are able to immediately make a way where there seems to be no way. The heart and power of the Holy Spirit contain the healing salve of Heaven in their very essence, so cry out boldly, “Holy Spirit! Pray through me right now!”