Welcome to a work in progress.
It seems you don't know darkness until you are headed into it. One step of faith brings darkness breathing down your neck.
The phrase, "walking through the fire" is thrown around so carelessly...when so much hangs in the balance. You're here because you know what I'm talking about. Knowing your adversary and your God is crucial, because if you think that God is doing something that is really your lying adversary, you will lie down in a bondage from which Jesus freed you and empowered you to walk away from. You will stop at a lie barrier that you have authority to walk through.
During a very tumultuous trial, I sought the Lord and he confirmed and confirmed to me that I was going through fire.
But was this fire from Satan or from God? Fire is seen in both contexts in the Word, but one is small, the other all-consuming.
Fire Against You
A study into the Greek will show that trials ("the firey trials") come from a provoking adversary. It is designed to 'steal, kill, or destroy' you. Now, we know Satan is simply a liar. Our response of continuing to trust God's Word in the matter, however, which is a response of faith, allows us to overcome the destructive part of the trial. When he screams, this is going to destroy you, our response can be as simple as, "No, it won't." That response of faith (belief) which must resist the lie is TESTED in its ability to resist. Faith is tested in the trial. Tested in the original Greek means means allowed to be proven. (So yes, technically you could say the 'test' is from God.) It brings a positive result, but it is in the context of Satan's trials.
But the trial is not bringing faith or building faith. It is testing your faith. You will either overcome or not, pass or not. Our salvation is not tied to the matter; just the strength and maturing of our faith. Most of us can believe God for 5 minutes, but as the days linger on, it is harder. Perseverence is faith applied over time. There is no gold star for persevering; however, the opposite is giving up, giving in, losing to the lies of the enemy regarding a situation.
Fire For You
These "firey darts" and "firey trials" from Satan are small 'hits' when compared to God's all-consuming fire which burns up everything except the pure gold of his new creations.
In other words, when walking through a situation, while Satan's darts may be flying, God's fire rages on your behalf to burn up anything less than faith...for your benefit and for that of other people.
Bertie Brits' words, "God is not consuming you, but what kills you."
"Anything that is not of faith is sin." In other words, whatever you might be able to trust in--your bank account, your strengths--might be failing in the trial though by faith you are standing on God's Word which brings your victory. That sin, trusting in anything other than Christ's sufficiency for you, is what the fire takes away. In fire, you are left with nothing to cling to, nothing to hold onto. Yet, in this situation, you are NOT destroyed. You are victorious. This purification of faith just makes you able to withstand the trials, making you a "mature and complete, lacking nothing." These lesser things are allowed to burn SO THAT you
will DISCOVER that standing on HIS WORD and HIS TRUTH ALONE is
SUFFICIENT to DELIVER YOU SAFELY OUT OF THE TRIAL!
In both situations of fire, God isn't purposefully causing you harm, stealing or killing or destroying; he is cleansing you with fire, removing false ideas and lies.
The hurtful trials come from Satan, scheming against your weaknesses where you are vulnerable to Satan's lies. His "schemes" are to "kill, steal, and destroy" and he hopes his firey darts will set your life aflame. They do not have to. Ephesians 6 creates the picture of an unsure victory as Paul urges the believer to stand against these firey darts and extinguish them with faith!
I don't mean to be confusing, but when you are seeking the Lord about the fire, you can know these things at least about fire.
The TRIAL does not deliver you out of the trial. (Just laying down and saying, "Whatever will be will be," allows the trial to destroy you.)
FAITH delivers you. Faith in his deliverance.
Through the trial THAT FAITH is being tested.
It is important that you know exactly what God promises/ed you by His Word, and you let everything else go: your reputation, your control, your picture of the outcome, and you say, SO BE IT, He is my Deliverer! He will deliver me by HIS GREAT LOVE!
