Recently I had a dream, I was living with my family at 556 Gloucester street in Linwood, Christchurch. This house [outside of the dream] was the house I lived in when I was a teenager.
In the dream, I was the only one home and I discovered that the house was on fire, and it was quickly advancing and consuming every part of the house. I phoned my husband and told him what was happening and asked him, “Honey, there is a fire in the house, what would you like me to grab?” He said, “Just yourself honey, don’t go back in and rescue anything, let it all go.” I rang my son and daughter as well to ask them them same question and they said the same thing. “Save yourself mum, don’t go back in to get anything, let it all go.”
When I woke up, I felt that felt God was saying that He has been dealing with His House, the Church. He had already allowed a refining fire to go through the top levels of His house, the heads of the house. But now He was going to send a refining fire right through the rest of His house. It will sweep through God’s whole house and there is nothing that will escape the flame.
I knew that the number 556 meant something. I looked up these numbers for their biblical meanings. The number 5 represents God’s grace, goodness, and favour towards humans. I found it interesting that the number we are looking at [556] contains two 5’s – so then it is a bit like grace upon grace. Fire is harsh and scary, but God’s intentions are out of His profound love for us.
The ten commandments consist of two sets of 5 commandments. The first five are related to our treatment and relationship with God and the other 5 are concerned with our relationship with other humans. The people of God’s house have not been faithful to all these commands.
The number 6 is related to man and human weakness, the evils of the devil and the manifestation of sin.
From the biblical meanings of these two numbers, we see God’s goodness, grace, and favour, but also His intolerance towards sin. He is a holy God, and He will not allow us to remain in our sin, it separates us from Him. Many times, throughout history God has stepped in. We saw this with Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, the tower of Babel and so on. He then sent His son, Jesus to die and create a brand-new covenant with mankind. And then in more recent history there have been multiple revivals [God mercifully waking us up to our fallen state and His great love and forgiveness] and one of the markers of revivals is the cleansing fire.
I feel that God is giving us advanced instructions for when this refining fire starts to burn through His house. It will be sudden; it will be swift and very thorough. He is asking us to surrender to the fire, welcome it, as it is because of His great love for us that He [our Holy God] is cleaning us up. I sense Him saying, “Do not try and save anything when this fire comes upon you, do not hold onto anything, do not grab or keep one thing, let it all go and keep your eyes on Me. Leave all offence, all grudges and unforgiveness.” God’s blazing fire will burn up all the rubbish, baggage and filth and clean you up, so you are ready to be a part of His next season of harvest. He is asking you to choose to surrender to Him to let go of all that He puts His finger on. Hold onto the Father of the house. This is your future, the life that Jesus saved you for.
We are reminded in scripture that fire is God’s testing tool…
· Mark 9:49 NLT For everyone will be tested with fire
· Hebrews 12:29 NLT For our God is a devouring fire
· Proverbs 17:3 NLT Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
During a refining process the Lord will kindly point out sin, bring you to repentance, help you change and leave bad behaviour in the past. He will rub off the sharp edges of your character, hone you, shape you and change your perspective.
The process has purpose and God refines us so we can be the perfect vessel for Him to flow through. His ‘perfect’ and our ‘perfect’ are different. It is in a position of self-denial, emptying ourselves of self, that we find we are perfect for God to use.
Throughout this purging process we will find ourselves right in front of our king, our Lord and our Savior. When we become nothing, He becomes everything. When we are happily nothing, we are everything God can use. It is an upside-down way to become powerful, and yes, He does want to pour His power through us. His way is the most powerful way to make a difference.
Appreciate the work He is doing in you and let Him finish it. He will complete and perfect His work in you, He has promised this very thing in Philippians 1:6.
God’s promise to Joseph purged his character until it was time for his dreams to come true. Psalms 105:19 TPT
Joseph went through so much, hatred from His bothers, being sold off as a slave, sent to prison ad so much more. But God finished His work in Joseph’s life and He was put in charge of the whole land of Egypt. God put him in this position so he could execute God’s will during a time of famine not just for the Egyptians but also for the Israelites. God also restored all that Joseph had lost and healed the pain that had been caused by his brothers. Genesis chapters 37 to 50.
We can also be encouraged by the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego who were thrown into a blazing fire that was heated seven times hotter than usual because they refused to bow down to the idol that King Nebuchadnezzar had built. These great men had faith that their God would be with them and save them, they said, “But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Daniel 3: 18
Let’s be ready to surrender to our Heavenly Father as he sends this refining fire through His church. He will make us more like Himself, more like His Son Jesus, empowered for the season of harvest and winning souls for the Kingdom of Heaven.