This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                         Do Not Fear My Fire

Child of Mine, do not fear My refiner's fire.  I do not place you into My
furnace to harm or damage you, but to purify you, to refine away the 
impurites from your life.  This is where I remove the pollution of your 
carnal nature, where I purge away the lusts of the flesh and the sinful 
attitudes and thinking patterns that so easily beset you.  My furnace is
where I build and form My character and My nature within you.  I do not do 
this to punish you, but to mature and purify you.

Just as the clay must be baked to keep it from crumbling, so you must face
some adversity and hardship as you grow in Me, so that you might become
firm and steadfast and established in faith.  Then you will be equipped
to stand firm no matter what might beset you.

Child, you know that I cannot pour My glory into polluted or cracked vessels.
The first corrupts what I place within them, and the second leaks.  Neither 
is suited to My purposes.  

Do not fret, for I am the master craftsman and I am able to form and mold 
you perfectly.  I am able to create within you a clean and pure and holy 
vessel.  Yes, there will be times when that process is uncomfortable for 
you.  There will times when you want to escape My heat and there will be 
times when you do not think you can bear it.  But child, I know exactly 
what you need, and I know exactly what you can bear, and I will never push 
you beyond those things.  So trust Me.  My plans for you are good and you 
will be delighted when you see the finished product.

Learn to trust Me in this refining process. I am not singling you out.  I
am not picking on you, and I am not punishing you. I take all of My servants
through My refining process; I cause all of My own to grow and mature.  For 
that which is alive must grow or it dies.  I am the source of life, and I 
breathe My life into each of My own so that they might grow to be more like 
Me.  Part of that process is where I reach within you and I scrape away the 
impurities and remove from you the things that must go; I make you holy 
through My refinement.  I do it for your good and not for your harm, for 
your joy and not to make you suffer.  

This is an aspect of My refiner's fire that many of My own do not 
understand. It does not have to be anywhere near as difficult as My little 
ones make it for themselves.  Each of you has to be placed into the fire 
and refined, but often it is up to you how long you stay in the fire and 
how much you experience the heat of My flames.  Hearts that are yielded to 
Me will go through this much more quickly than those who resist.  Those 
who trust Me can experience My sustaining in the midst of the flame, it 
does not have to be as difficult as many of My dear ones make it on 
themselves.  I have placed My Spirit within you and He will give you My 
peace and My joy in the midst of the furnace, if only you will receive it 
from His hand.  It is My desire to hold and comfort you in your difficulties, 
to give you a peace and joy that unpleasant circumstance cannot destroy.

Child, receive this from My hand and you will never again have to be afraid
of the times that I must place you for a season into My refiner's fire.  I 
am a Master Craftsman; it is possible for you to watch Me from within the 
fire and to expeirience delight and excitement at what I am doing in you. 
Then you will see greater measures of My glory in your life.  Do not fear 
My fire, little one, for it is not My intent to harm you with it.  As I have
said in My word, you can walk through the fire and not be burned by it.