This word is submitted by Musa Opiyo (mannaword@excite.com)

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                      The Fiery Classroom

My child I will allow trials and tests that are for the proving of your 
character. Your inner man is most important to Me. Even as you endure what 
is brought before you, your inner man is being transformed into the image 
of My son.  Beloved I never promised that I would take you out of the 
fires. But I promised that I would take you THROUGH. 

Anybody knows that if you keep a clay pot in the oven for a short time, 
it becomes soft and flimsy and will not endure for the work that it was 
made to do.  And if left in too long, it develops cracks.  Likewise I 
know how I made you. I know how much you are able to endure, so I will 
make sure your trial is tailor made for what I want to accomplish in you. 

If I took you out every time you asked, your faith would become flimsy 
and then it would not be faith at all.  But I also know the breaking point 
at when you cannot take anymore, and so I will not leave you in your trial 
longer than you can handle, but with everything I make a way of escape. 

I was with the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when 
they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Those that threw them in could 
not survive the heat. Likewise, My beloved, when I put you in the fire, I 
give you a special anointing of endurance that is unique to you and your 
situation, that might not be the case for another person. 

But you say, 'What will the end result be?' I will tell you. Look at 
Joseph, who after being thrown in prison after being wrongfully accused, 
stayed in for a long time. He would have had every right to turn bitter 
and sour towards his captors. But what does My word say? Is it not that 
My favor was upon him and that he was given charge over the other 
prisoners? In the end he was crowned governor of Egypt. And what about the 
three Hebrew children?  Was it not that after they endured a few minutes 
in the fire with Me, that the King was amazed at My abundant saving power 
and later on promoted them to high positions in the Babylonian kingdom. 

The fire is what I would call My classroom, or training ground if you 
will. When you are tested, the only hope of survival is on leaning on Me 
and learning of Me. Here your faith is stretched and endurance is 
'practiced'. Here motives that did not glorify Me are burned away and are 
replaced with My heart. All the dross and impurity melts away, as it 
reveals the beauty inside. 

So do not let your heart be troubled or be afraid. Do you not look back 
now and say, 'If I hadn't gone through this and that, I would be a 
different person.'. My beloved your spirit was saved and instantly renewed 
when you accepted My message of salvation. But with your soul and your 
body, you are going through a purification process, through the renewing 
of your mind through My word and the surrendering of your body as a living 
sacrifice (Rom 12:1-2). Beloved it shall be a continual process, until 
the day you reach the gate of glory.