Prophetic voices

As the Father takes me through the fire, I often focus on the pain, on how hot the flame is, on how much it hurts to have things burned away, removed, changed, and how uncomfortable life is in the middle of it.

At times, the process is slow, like with these candles above; the steady flame of the Spirit glows brightly in us, not only providing light to dispel the darkness, but also beauty, in the early stages of our journey with the Lord.

Then the flame delves deeper into the heart of who we really are. The colors grow richer and deeper, but the burning begins to change our being, our very nature. His flame, like the flame of this candle, finally breaks through the hardness and we begin to melt, and the natural reaction is to try to contain the "mess", to keep the candle "together" somehow and not let it lose its shape.

We finally give up and let the melting unfold, declaring we'll clean it up once the flame has completed its work. It no longer looks beautiful and "together"; in fact, it's all over the place and we know will never be of "proper use" again as the candle it once was.

Suddenly, in the midst of the burning, melting, misshapen, gooey mess, a trickle of wax breaks free and begins to pour forth in a new place, a new shape, and form an entirely new thing.

I could not have planned, orchestrated, formed or forced the wax from this candle into the heart-shape you see in the above picture. In fact, when I finally noticed it pouring onto the black table, I got up to blow out the candle and was stopped in my tracks as the trickle of wax flowed perfectly into its new form, without my help. Isn't that the stunning picture of God's perfect work in our lives? His love burns away to the innmost parts and brings forth His flaming heart of love to go forth into a dark world that desperately needs to know and experience His transforming love!