When the Word of Promise is Tested by Fire

Exodus 12:9

Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. NLT

When God gives us a word of promise, this word gets tested by fire. When meat is roasted, the fat, which is the contaminated debris and toxins found in an animal, is burned in the fire that purifies and decontaminates. In the same way, when a promise is given to us from the Lord, it is tested to ensure that when God is finished taking us to the process he has assigned for us, we can stand in the fire and not be burned because we have been made pure like gold.

 This happens as the fire continues to remove the mundane ways of the world and its system that cannot stand against God’s holiness and righteousness which He wants to develop in us to turn us into pure vessels that He will use without spot or wrinkle which means spiritual maturity. Thus, we can reach and be sustained in our places of assignment and destiny. For this reason fasting and praying and seeking the Lord through His Word and what comes from His mouth in our times of communion with Him and always listening for it is of great necessity for us because the water of the Word washes away what the fire has burned. 

At the time the words in the above verse were given to the children of Israel, they were preparing for their flight out of Egypt. Egypt represents the mindset and conditions God wants to remove from us that we learned to emulate from the world and those who influenced us. This is so we don’t bring that contamination to our places of assignment because in that place we are instructed to lead others to Him. Contamination won’t allow that because those we are called to influence for God would not be able to tell the difference between them and us. The fire God exposes us to judges, corrects, and disciplines us as it shows the conditions of our hearts, and the way we think of and reason the ways of God. It also shows us our motives, the wrong traditions we followed, generational sins we inherited, and so on. 

Revelation 3:17-19 says, ¹⁷“You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸ So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. ¹⁹ I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Fasting is a way that God uses to take us through the fire that purifies us like gold. This is one of the ways in which we pay the price for the high calling that has been set before us and that helps us see the way God sees us and get His perspective about the circumstances we go through. It can also bring us understanding of the process He has chosen for us to pay the price for this high calling. In addition, fasting helps turn us into eagles that soar into new heights and above the wiles of the enemy and also turns us as lions that roar against the enemy to put him to flight away from us, our families, businesses, ministries, and all else that pertains and is entrusted to us.

This is the life of a true worshiper—one that worships the Father in Spirit and in Truth because there are many who worship, but not all worship the Father this way—that is seeking to follow and live a lifestyle led by His spirit and the truth of His Word without pollution and contamination. John 4:23-24 states, “²³ But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. ²⁴ For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth NLT.”

Going through the fire of affliction that helps us mature as it removes the spots or wrinkles from the world and its system will also remove the wrong doctrines, cultural and traditional idealisms and beliefs that keep us from growing in our true knowledge of God (Ephesians 1:17), and brings the ground of our hearts from being just good to being a pure ground. Furthermore, it also helps us draw near to Him so we can seek His kingdom and righteousness, and receive with wisdom and understanding the things He has promised us for only then can they be added unto us because we can sustain them and not just receive them to lose them shortly after. For this reason, it is essential for us to live by the word of God and by the yielding of His process for us. So as we choose to yield and obey His commands for us which can include fasting, we can develop the anointing and the mantle that will give us the uniqueness of our callings and the ability to function and be sustained in our new places of assignment.

It is detrimental to ignore or run away from this purifying process. The sons of Eli had a system that God considered to be a great sin because as priests of God in His temple, they caused His people to dread bringing offerings to His House because these two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, did not allow the offerings to be burned as they were supposed to be, but instead they boiled the meat. 

1 Samuel 2:12-17 relates these practices, “¹²Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord ¹³ or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, ¹⁴ the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. ¹⁵ Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.¹⁶ The man offering the sacrifice might reply, ‘Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.’Then the servant would demand, ‘No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.’¹⁷ So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt” NLT.

Boiling the meat represents allowing the things that cannot be used by God in us and through us to remain which can keep us from advancing steadily and strong to our places of assignment. Instead, in the long run, if we continue to go without repentance, rejecting God’s grace to change, it can cost us our callings and can make us the objects of judgment instead of vessels that can bring justice and fulfillment of the promises to our situations and draw many out of the world’s system and into the arms of our Lord. The main character God wants to reflect in us as we are taken in our process is the character of Christ that extends mercy and grace to the lost and those that have fallen and backslidden, and brings judgment against the enemy to stop his floods of evil against us and others around us with precision and might. To Him alone be all the glory∎.