Freedom in the Fire (Pastor Ron Termale) July 11, 2021

• Prayer is what moves the hand of God. God says, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chr 7:14, NIV).

• The more challenging the times are, the more that we pray.

  • When 9/11 happened, people across the country petitioned the LORD for healing and the destruction of evil. Strangers came together to pray in every public place, including at schools and on government property. How people came together then is how we need to come together every day.

  • Society seeks to blame one group or race for the injustices in the world. However, God’s word says that our struggle is spiritual – it is against spiritual forces of evil, not other humans (Eph 6:12).

• The fact that the powers of hell are pushing so hard against churches right now (such as by trying to shut them down using “COVID” restrictions) shows that we are on the brink of a great spiritual awakening.

  • The greatest harvest of people coming to faith in Christ will happen right before Christ returns (Jesus associates the harvest with the end of the age in Matt 13:39). That is why it is important to choose today whether or not you will follow Christ, because there is no neutrality with Him. He says to be either “hot” or “cold,” for He will spit out those who are lukewarm (Rev 3:16, NIV).

  • Revival is going to come because we know how to pray. Prayer has helped our church to not only survive throughout the restrictions, but has enabled it to grow and thrive throughout them as well.

• The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 is a model of prayer and revival. The three young Jewish men were threatened by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar that they must bow down to the golden statue that he set up or else they would be thrown into a blazing furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so in order to remain faithful to God, and were thus thrown into the furnace, which was made seven times hotter than usual and even killed the guards who threw them into it. God miraculously protected the young men from burning in the furnace by sending an angel to accompany them in the flames. When Nebuchadnezzar saw it, he called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the furnace, glorified their God, and issued a decree which spread the knowledge and fear of the Most High God across the empire.

  • One of Nebuchadnezzar’s officials had changed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s names from their original Hebrew names to these Babylonian ones (Dan 1:6-7). His actions are a picture of how the devil tries to pull you into the world’s culture and erase your identity in Christ. The proclamation by Nebuchadnezzar’s herald to all the people that they must bow down and worship the statue (Dan 3:4-7) is also a picture of how the mainstream media tells you that you have to bow down and conform to the world’s false sense of morality.

• Just like the young men would not bow down or conform, even when faced with the furnace, so must we remain faithful to Christ. We must also pray like Daniel prayed (Dan 6:10), for God will bring revival.

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