And there was no smell of fire on them.

Steering clear of toes

nosmelloffire — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:54:35 +0000

I worry a lot about how other people will react to things. I am paranoid about offending someone or stepping on someone’s toes. I have been practically neurotic in my peacemaker-ishness. This kept me from having opinions for a long time. But the fact of the matter is – I can’t help whether someone gets offended or not. All I can do is make sure that my own opinions are well-thought out and reasonable and present them with sensitivity and humility. If someone has a different opinion than me I can treat them with respect. Does that mean they will treat me with respect? Not necessarily. It makes me feel better though, if I know I’ve done nothing wrong. At least, nothing wrong in my humble opinion.

Pray First

nosmelloffire — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:11:11 +0000

I find it so easy to look at the surface of other people’s lives and say to myself: that person really needs to pray and seek God and his timing before jumping into decisions. It is, of course, the proverbial spec and plank. Although even if there were no plank, I still need to be heeding my own advice here.

To take a little rabbit trail – another thing that has been brought up in my life this week has been the whole idea that it always seems to be the person who doesn’t need to learn the lesson who really listens and the person who does need to learn the lesson who thinks it doesn’t apply to him or her.

So I’m muttering to myself on my drive home about these people who really need to pray first before making decisions, making assumptions, rushing into things. And then, oh wait… If I don’t think this lesson applies to me, well, it probably does.

So even though I don’t think I’m making rush decisions at the moment, I still need to pray first. Before I jump to conclusions or make assumptions about other people’s lives. And especially before I voice any opinions or take any “action” about those assumptions/conclusions. God is still in control of that situation. God knows all hearts involved; I don’t. And if it ends up being a situation where I do need to share some concerns in love and humility, I will definitely need to pray for wisdom and humility from God before traipsing into a discussion about it.

This idea: “pray first” applies in so many different arenas as well. I think of the hymn lyric: “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” So looking at our own lives, frustrations, struggles and difficulties we have: pray first. Then after that you can get worked up about it. Although chances are, if you are seeking God in those things you will be able to lay all that frustration down and trust him. So the sooner prayer enters the picture, the better.

Daniel 3:27

nosmelloffire — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:16:15 +0000

I have been procrastinating on creating this post. The introductory post. It carries so much weight. I feel unprepared to start it. It has to explain the chosen name for the blog, set the tone and expectation for future posts, and be meaningful enough to be immortalized forever as the first post of the blog.

Well, it wasn’t writing itself, so I figured I’d better just get on with it.

I am starting this blog with the intention to post thoughts, insights, lessons God is teaching me and other ways God is showing up in my life. I used to journal pretty regularly which was nice. I type faster than I write so I figured this way I may be more likely to keep at it, and also finish writing out my thought before being distracted by something else.

I named the blog after a particularly meaningful lesson from the Beth Moore Bible Study on Daniel. I did this study 2 years ago and still this line sticks with me. I’m hoping that God will be continuing to build my character so that I smell like smoke less and less, that evil will not cling to me. And also that his work is evident in me more and more. I suppose I also expect that this will be a place where I can document fires (ranging from big to tiny); what I’ve learned from them, and hopefully how I’ve seen them burn away some chains in my life.

The basic thoughts from that study are that we all go through fires in our lives; the intention of these fires is to show God’s glory and burn up any chains binding us. We can respond to these occasions in different ways. If we come out “smelling like smoke” we are allowing evil to cling to us through bitterness, despair, complaining, ect. If we come out of the fire not even smelling like smoke this is a testament to God’s power. It also allows us to be freed from bondage and to have our faith and character refined as per God’s plan.

I found the lesson information from the study on a blog; so I’m copying and pasting. This is from: http://www.bencotten.net/2007/10/18/no-smell-of-fire/

There are three primary scenarios when we face a fiery trial:

We can be delivered FROM the fire.
- When God delivers us FROM the fire, the dividend is that our faith is BUILT.
We can be delivered THROUGH the fire.
- When God delivers us THROUGH the fire, the dividend is that our faith is REFINED.
- To have our faith refined, it means we have to pass through the fire!
We can be delivered BY the fire into the arms of Jesus (death).
- When God delivers us BY the fire the dividend is that our faith is PERFECTED….or made complete.