Faith in the Furnace: Understanding God’s Purpose in the Trials of Life
Overview
Is it possible for us today to rejoice when we face disappointments, tragedies, persecutions, bereavements and setbacks? In an engaging and highly readable style, Ian Rees shows us that suffering is a normal part of the Christian experience, and that Christians down the ages, from believers in Old Testament times right up to the present day, have often had the experience of their faith being put through the furnace, and that there is a plan and a purpose in our trials, even when we feel God has forgotten us. This is a book that is full of sound biblical teaching, richly illustrated from church history, missionary work, church life, and contemporary culture, and written sensitively and in a deeply pastoral manner.
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- Biblical principles and illustrations
- Refreshing insight for counseling today’s Christians
Top Highlights
“Putting it bluntly, this painful process gets results.” (Page 14)
“trials land on you is that they also tempt you, perhaps to deny God or to do something that is wrong” (Page 10)
“The word James uses means to prove someone’s (or something’s) worth” (Page 13)
“There are many other different words in the Bible to describe the hardships we face—difficulties, afflictions, tribulations, persecutions, sufferings—all of them, like this one, pointing to the normality of such events. Peter tells his readers not to ‘be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you’ (1 Peter 4:12), and neither should we be. James significantly does not say how to behave ‘if you face trials’, but ‘whenever’, indicating that trials, while they may not be our lot continually, are inevitable at some point and are part of the normal Christian life.” (Page 11)
“difficult outward circumstances that are at the same time an inward source of temptation” (Page 10)
This book will equip you for the trials that come your way. It is easy to read, very well illustrated, and most of all, opens up the Scriptures on the massive problems we all face from time to time. Seldom have modern writers displayed such ability to make their work so easy to read, practical and, at the same time, utterly faithful to the Word of God. Those who read this book will thank God for it and those who preach will soon be quoting from it.
—Chris Kelly, minister, Lansdowne Baptist Church, Bournemouth, England
This is an ideal book to give to new disciples who are familiar with the pop-culture of today, but who need grounding in sound biblical principles. Yet it would also be of great benefit to disciples of a few years’ maturity who need to understand afresh the experiences and changing scenes of the life they pass through. With solid and deep exegesis from the biblical text, here is a theology of discipleship based on the Bible, rather than just on the themes of the Bible.
—Paul Pease, pastor, Hook Evangelical Church, Surbiton, Surrey, England
- Title: Faith in the Furnace: Understanding God’s Purpose in the Trials of Life
- Author: Ian Rees
- Publisher: Day One
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 208