Another in the Fire - Hillsong United

I was reminded the other day about a detail in a story I've read many times that I had overlooked. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the blazing hot furnace. Verse 27 says "Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke!"

Not only does God promise that He will walk with us in those times of fire (as he did in Daniel 3:25), but He promises that when we come out of the fire we will not even smell of the fire that we walked through.

When we are walking through the fire, or the waves - it is then that Satan will do his best to make us feel alone, abandoned, and stinky. But it is then that we can hear the roar in the heavens as the space between wears thin. "And should I ever need reminding how good You've been to me I'll count the joy come every battle 'Cause I know that's where You'll be."

Count the joy in the battles... because that is where He is... walking with you in the fire, making it so that you don't even smell of smoke.



There's a grace when the heart is under fire
Another way when the walls are closing in
And when I look at the space between
Where I used to be and this reckoning
I know I will never be alone

There was another in the fire
Standing next to me
There was another in the waters
Holding back the seas
And should I ever need reminding
Of how I've been set free
There is a cross that bears the burden
Where another died for me
There is another in the fire

All my debt left for dead beneath the waters
I'm no longer a slave to my sin anymore
And should I fall in the space between
What remains of me and this reckoning
Either way I won't bow to the things of this world
And I know I will never be alone

There is another in the fire
Standing next to me
There is another in the waters
Holding back the seas
And should I ever need reminding
What power set me free
There is a grave that holds no body
And now that power lives in me
There is another in the fire, oh
There is another in the fire, whoa
There is another in the fire, whoa
There is another in the fire, oh
I can see

And I can see the light in the darkness
As the darkness bows to Him
I can hear the roar in the heavens
As the space between wears thin
I can feel the ground shake beneath us
As the prison walls cave in
Nothing stands between us
Nothing stands between us

There is no other name but the name that is Jesus
He who was and still is, and will be through it all
So come what may in the space between
All the things unseen and this reckoning
And I know I will never be alone
And I know I will never be alone

There'll be another in the fire
Standing next to me
There'll be another in the waters
Holding back the seas
And should I ever need reminding
How good You've been to me
I'll count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be
I can see the light

And I can see the light in the darkness
As the darkness bows to Him
I can hear the roar in the heavens
As the space between wears thin
I can feel the ground shake beneath us
As the prison walls cave in
Nothing stands between us
Nothing stands between

There'll be another in the fire
Standing next to me
There'll be another in the waters
Holding back the seas
And should I ever need reminding
How good You've been to me
I'll count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be

Count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be
I'll count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be, sing it again
I'll count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be
I'll count the joy come every battle
'Cause I know that's where You'll be

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Chris Davenport / Joel Houston
Another In The Fire lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

The Anvil - Jesse Jorgensen

I've heard the phrase "when it rains it pours" and often wondered about the justice of that. "Bad things come in threes," they say. And I wonder how a good, wonderful, and loving God could do that to people. "Kick me while I'm down." There are so many phrases that mean basically the same thing. When I'm in the fire already, why are you turning up the heat? Why are you hitting me then?

But let's think for just a moment about a different image... I have watched a blacksmith/farrier make horseshoes before... To make the shoe fit, first you heat it really hot. And then you put it on the anvil, and hit it, repeatedly while it is hot and pliable. And maybe then you put it back into the heat, to be ready to be hit again, to make it the perfect shape, to fit the horse perfectly, sometimes in a special way to correct something that is going wrong with a hoof, to heal a part that has been harmed, or to train a horse to walk in a certain way.

What if we realize that God isn't the fire, and he isn't the hammer - He's the anvil. He's not moving. You get put in the fire and beaten - but through the whole thing God is stationary - he's the anvil that is supporting you, shaping you... to fit perfectly into the spot He has for you. You may have been shaped perfectly to fit with a situation, formed in a way that will support someone else, or maybe even put there to challenge, or stretch someone so that they walk in a certain way.

"Let the pain press you into Jesus, He will carry you" - just as the anvil supports and forms the horseshoe, press into Him.

Jesse's words about his song:
Life is full of pain and pressures. The source of our discomfort can come from many sources: the brokenness of the world, the enemy of our souls, the wrong choices we make, or even God's loving discipline. Regardless of the source of the pain, if we will allow the pressure to press us into Jesus he uses the pain to shape us and make us into who he wants us to be. Like a blacksmith forming metal against an anvil. It's not actually the hammer that forms the metal it's the strong, immovable anvil. God is like an anvil and though it may be painful, he lovingly shapes us.
Luke 22:31-32 & Psalm 42



God he will not move
God he will not move
He bends and forms until his work is through
God he will not move
With every blow steadily he holds
God he will not move
God he will not move

Some have asked to harm you
But He has prayed for you
Let the pain press you into Jesus
He will carry you

Hold on, Hold on

God he will not move
God he will not move
He bends and forms until his work is through
God he will not move
With every blow steadily he holds
God he will not move
God he will not move

I know your heart is breaking
Take hope you weary soul
Your faith is almost failing
It’s as though you can’t take anymore

Lament - Seacoast Worship

I don't actually have words to share. I just have this song today. Come close, Jesus.

You say You're near to the broken
You say Your peace passes understanding
You say You're hope for the hurting
Where are You now?

Come close, I'm on the verge of breaking
Come close, I'm desperate for Your presence
Come close, the weight of pain is crushing
Come close

She touched Your hem and You healed her
You opened eyes with the dirt we walk on
When will I wake from this nightmare
Where are You now?
Where are You now?

So come close, I'm on the verge of breaking
Come close, I'm desperate for Your presence
Come close, the weight of pain is crushing
Come close

You are good, You are good
I believe You are good
You are good, You are good
I still believe You are good
You are good, You are good
I believe You are good
You are good, You are good
I still believe You are good

So come close, I'm on the verge of breaking
Come close, I'm desperate for Your presence
Come close, the weight of pain is crushing
Come close

If You're not scared of my questions
Where are You now?

Come Thou Fount - Sam Ock & John Rhee (with Yuris Yoon)

I love old hymns... I love the power behind the words, I love the structure of the music, I love the history. And when someone adds a fun bridge or chorus, I love it even more.

"Streams of mercy, Calvary's flood
Bound to Your heart through innocent blood
Come have Your way, we heed to your call
Praise to the sov'reign Lord of all"

This week I've been reading through 1 Corinthians, and I was struck by verse 7:23 - "God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world." These streams of mercy - they are the high price that God has paid. That price binds us to Him - we are now His servants, bought by Calvary's flood. And just as a servant heeds to his master's call, we need to heed to His call.

"O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above"

Here's my heart, take and seal it... bind it to thee, Lord. Bind it to thee.


Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here by thy great help I've come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

Streams of mercy, Calvary's flood
Bound to Your heart through innocent blood
Come have Your way, we heed to your call
Praise to the sov'reign Lord of all

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.