In Psalms 119:130, the Bible says the entrance of your Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. The Word does not yield in a proud heart. For the Word to do you good, you must receive it with meekness, without struggles and without bias. If you take the posture of humility, then light and understanding will illuminate your heart as you read this piece in Jesus name.

 

I want us to look at a Scripture in Habakkuk 2:12-13 "Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity! Behold is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour to feed the fire, and nations weary themselves in vain? In other Words verse 12 of this Scripture is saying; woe to him, woe to her who begins a work, a labour, a project or ministry, woe to him who take decisions hastily without the Word being the foundation. Be patient and read along and I trust God that this piece will bless you tremendously and if need be, help you re-examine why you do the things you are doing at the moment.

 

This verse 12 shows us a picture of a people who established or began a thing whatever it may be, without the Lord Jesus being the foundational basis for doing it. It talks about a work which a people began based on falsehood, bloodshed, the spirit of competition, seeking of self glory,  enriching oneself. There are several and diverse reasons why people do what they do. The Scripture says woe unto you. Do you know why? The Scripture says "if the Lord does not build a city, the labourers labour in vain."

 

Nimrod said, "let us build a tower for ourselves" and it was eventually abandoned, it was scattered by the Word. Perhaps someone might be asking, "must it be by the Word, is my works not prospering? At least I share one or two messages across." That was the reason why Jesus said, "allow the wheat and the tares to grow together" because He is waiting at the threshing floor with His winnowing fan ready for separation, and to gather the wheat into the barn. The end of every chaff is the fire.  That was why Jesus said again, "on that day I will say get away from Me you workers of lawlessness, I do not know you."

 

On what basis are you doing the work that you do? Did you receive a Word from the Lord God or you have your own reason? Verse 13 explains it all. It says; "is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour to feed the fire." it is not the will of God that any man should perish, that any man should labour to feed the fire. These are the reasons why people struggle all through their lifetime only to eat the bread of sorrow, only to have a house and a car and pension with sicknesses and stroke to show for their accomplishments. If I may ask you, is it possible to feed the fire? I am sure your answer will be as good as mine. The answer is no, but note that every work you do outside of purpose is labouring to feed the fire. The more you feed the fire, the more the fire consumes and grows. The more you work harder to make ends meet, the more problems and troubles keep arising every day - that is the fire you are labouring to feed, it is called vanity upon vanity.

 

If you don't want to be denied by Jesus Christ after you would have run without purpose then I guess this is the right time to seek redress. If you are having issues believing this Word, see what verse 4 of the same chapter says “behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by faith.” Do not allow pride to truncate the agenda of God for your life and the work that God is intending to do through you. Verse 14 says; "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the water cover the sea." “The earth will be filled with the knowledge,” are you covering the earth with mediocrity or you are recycling the same thing and saying it in a different way?

 

God’s intention is that His knowledge cover the earth, not multiplying ignorance. The essence of the knowledge is not to puff you up but edify the brethren in love. So while the Word has given us a work to do, we must come not with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring the testimony of God, but in weakness, in fear and in much trembling, determined not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

So why do I need to submit to the Word for a build up? Psalms 12:6 says: the Words of the Lord are pure Words, like silver tried in a furnace of the earth, purified seven times.  Another translation puts it this way; and the Words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times. It says "the Words of the Lord are pure" they are flawless, why? Because it is like a precious material that was purified with fire. This talk about the purity and integrity of the Word of the Lord, and it was likened to a precious material that haven gone through a purification and polishing process, not with chemicals or water or any other method of separation technique, but with fire.

 

Furnace is often associated with fire and heat. It means the Word is of value and it is original, it is timeless. The Bible says "heaven and earth may pass away but the Word endures forever." Whatever may be the condition, if the Word has the capacity to endure any condition, certainly the Word will make you endure all conditions. It means the dross has been taken out and the silver smith has refined the silver; finely beaten and designed into the desired shape he wants. Anything that is authentic is sorted for, commands attention, is valued, and also respected.

 

That is why when you see an original, you never doubt whether it may be fake or real, even though others may look like it or have some resemblance, its originality is never in doubt. The Psalmist was trying to describe how authentic and powerful the Word of the Lord is; He simply said the process that brought about the authenticity was passed through the fire seven times, and we must not forget that. Why did the psalmist not say 13 times or even 100 times? Does the seven times not connote something? Does it not indicate standard procedures?

 

Before anything can become a thing of value, it doesn't go through a smooth process. As a matter of fact if you have been having it smooth in your process then you will be like an adulterated version of the real silver. The difference between real silver and a fake one is that the real has gone through the fire seven times. Fire is not a palatable experience, others may go through, but will their dexterity take the fire process up to that number of times? Because of the materials the fake is made of, if you pass it through the fire up to seven times, it may be over stretched or reach its breaking point. This is what simply differentiates pure silver sorted after and clay that wears the disguise of silver. Fire prepares you as a trophy, the scars make you glitter. Inability to go through fire is inability to shine.

 

If the Word of God is that powerful and potent, and its integrity can never be questioned, if the Word of God is like a double edged sWord, shall you not allow the Word to cut and try you and take you through the process so that you can come out as a fine silver? Will you not rather commit your destiny to it and be rest assured that it will do a nice and thorough work? The Bible says the entrance of His Word gives light and understanding to the simple. Until you have a posture of the simple, and a meek heart, the Word cannot transform you. The Word will bring light and understanding when the posture of your heart is submitted before Him. Peter said to Jesus his Master, "to whom shall we go, you have the Word of eternal life." The Word is the author and finisher of every life. The Word has the script of your life, so you must trust it to play it out for you.

 

Pure silver is different from a wood that is painted with silver colour. Let me put it this way, because you are wearing a silver coat does not mean you are silver. Silver doesn't only wear a silver covering, but the totality of its being is silver. If you cut a piece out of it, what you will find is still silver. Jesus said out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water. What flows out of you is a function of what resides inside of you and what resides inside of you can only be a product of how much the fire has prepared in you.  Do you have something that looks like life, a covering that looks like life, a ministry that looks like life, but does life flow out of it? When your outer covering attracts people to you, will they find a life when they come inside? That is a food for thought. 

 

The fire you see the silver go through gives it the colour and radiance it has. I am sure that when it was going through that process, it didn't like it but it was for a greater good. Sensitivity to the school of the Spirit is very important. The Silver Smith knows why the silver is being purified for that long period of time. In the kingdom, works are tested with fire and the instruments for that work is also tested with fire. If you are tested as an instrument or your works are tested with fire, will it stand it? Will it go through? This is a sure way to avoid Jesus saying to us, I do not know you, you workers of iniquities. It simply means you were not tested by my Words; you were rough silver that needed to be smitten and beaten, polished to shine and give glory to the craftsman. Your works were characterized by works of iniquity. If the Master tests it by fire, it will not balance on the spiritual scale.

 

Acts 20:32 says, “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.” The Word of grace builds up, and then when you are built, it then gives an inheritance among a certain category of people "the sanctified", that is the elevation. The Word does not give you an inheritance without building up. The build up gives you the capacity to handle the inheritance, elevations. Lifting and promotions are all imbedded in the inheritances that the Word can give, but it comes after you must have been built, and your build up is the result of your obedience to the Word. Whatever is not built by the Word will not stand when it is being tested by fire.

 

Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that we are God’s fellow workers in God’s field and we have been given the grace to build as a wise master builder upon the foundation which has already being laid which is Christ Jesus. So we must be conscious of what we are building with; whether with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. And verse 13 says; each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. Can your work stand after it has been tested? If what you have built endures, then you can get a reward, reward is for those whose works endure the fire.

 

Thanks for the gift of your time.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

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