He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. – Daniel 3:25

I recently attended our church annual Men’s Retreat. Over the past 36 years I have only missed a handful. For me, each year is different but it’s only because God presents Himself differently every year. In other words; God shows up each year in unique ways to powerfully impact the unique needs and desires of the men who show up.

I’ve mentioned my friend Pete who has been leading our Saturday morning men’s prayer group. For years we have prayed for each other’s family and the particular issues that our kids have been dealing with.

Now, several decades later, I find myself at Men’s Weekend in a breakout session with a group of guys (Dave D, Keith, Tim, Terry, Stephen, Albert, me & Andrew). Andrew just happens to be Pete’s son who we have been praying for for decades.

Also in the group was Albert, Andrew’s boss and spiritual mentor who had driven Andrew up to Men’s Weekend. All along Albert was praying that God would do something powerful in Andrew’s life.

As we circled together on the lake shore and shared some of our struggles, Andrew made a bold admission, “Just yesterday I had a needle hanging out of my arm. I’m struggling with drug addiction and I want it to be done.” We came around Andrew and prayed and poured God’s love into him. As we were praying an image came into my mind.

Taking the Plunge:

I saw Andrew step up to the water’s edge. He was fully clothed but with his body hot from fire within. He was reluctant but drawn to wade into the water. He took a few steps in and the water filled his shoes. The cool liquid refreshed his feet. It beckoned him to go in further. Slowly, he walked into the long shallow shore until he was hip deep. Would he go in further and get completely soaked? He knew he needed to take the plunge. He flopped into the water and felt the coolness cascade over his body, sizzling as it put out the fire.

I shared this with the group as part of our prayer. It occurred to me that this image may be something that God wanted Andrew to actually do. I offered, “Hey, Andrew, Jesus did some crazy things as a part of healing people. I know it is a cold Fall day in New Hampshire but what do you say we go walk into the lake and take the plunge? Let’s do it now! I’m in if you are.”

I learned later from Albert that God had prepared Andrew for a growing sense of God’s reality. Very early that morning many of the men had gathered on the same beach for prayer. Andrew was there but he was experiencing a deep throbbing pain in his back. The group prayed all together and then broke into smaller groups to pray for one another. Andrew testified that as they were praying, his back pain vanished. God was showing up to Andrew in a very tangible way.

Now, as I asked Andrew to walk into the water with me, he hesitated. But, there was something in his look that said, I want to do this. The problem was simple – he hadn’t brought a change of clothes. However, he did have a pair of shorts. I said, “Let’s go get changed and I’ll meet you back here in 10 minutes.” He agreed. Terry, one of the guys from our breakout group joined us. Albert and Pastor Dan who has also invested years in praying for Andrew said they were going in – fully clothed.

We lined up with Andrew in the center and slowly marched in. Just like the image, it was a long gentle slope so it took a while to get to hip-deep water. We turned around facing the crowd that had gathered on the shore.

We prayed for Andrew and we told him that God wanted to bring new life and refreshment to him so let this cold water put out the drug-induced fire and let the refreshment from God bring healing to his body and soul.

How do you put out the fire? By taking the plunge into God’s living water.

The five of us counted off to 3 and then fell back into the water. I was expecting my system to go into shock. It was cold but what I felt was refreshment sweeping over me. We all came up with arms raised and the guys cheering from the beach. I looked over at Andrew and he didn’t stop. He kept getting up and flopping back into the water. He wanted more – more of the physical, emotional and spiritual refreshment that this plunge was offering.

We headed back into shore and Andrew was pumped up. As we were drying off on the shore I asked Andrew if he was ready to take another plunge; to make a personal commitment to live for Jesus. I asked, “Have you ever done that before?”

He squinted and thought about it with a look that said, I’ve said some words to that affect but I’m not sure I really have. I looked at him, “If there is that much hesitation, it probably means that you have not.” He had to agree. I asked, “Do you want to do it now?” Still, he shook his head.

I said, “Andrew, this is why God has you up here in this place to make Himself real to you. While you’re here spend time treating God as if He is real and ask Him what He wants for you. God will keep showing up and you decide when you are ready. Any one of the guys here will be thrilled to pray that short, honest prayer of surrender with you.” He agreed to be open to the reality of God in this place.

I’ll be transparent, I spent the rest of the weekend with Albert praying for the opportunity to lead Andrew into God’s fulness of grace – chasing Andrew. What were God’s words He could give me or someone else to break through the final wall of resistance? Several of the guys were sharing with him what God had done in their lives. I know of at least one brother who shared the message of salvation and what Andrew needed to do. But, he decline.

It just seemed to me that in Andrew’s withdrawal-filled state that reciting the 4 spiritual laws and telling Andrew what he needed to do, or has to do, or must do (while all true) was not going to break through. What were the words from God that could trigger his heart to spark a desire to do it?

For the rest of our time, I felt like I was chasing Andrew all over the campground. I would see him and then go to stir up a conversation and he was gone. Yet, I still did not feel like God had provided the opening and His words.

The weekend speaker offered several opportunities for guys to make a commitment to follow Christ. A number of men responded. It’s always a glorious culmination of God moving throughout the weekend. But, on each occasion Andrew was not present.

For the speaker’s final message Andrew was there. The speaker shared about the figures from chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being in the fire and Jesus being there with them. The weekend concluded with that tremendous worship song – There’s Another in the Fire.

At the end of the weekend’s agenda, Pastor Jeremy strongly urged the men not to run off but for the breakout groups to meet one last time. Yes! We gathered and decided to focus our prayer time on the guys “In the Fire”. One of the guys was going home – going into the fire – to a crumbling marriage and we prayed for him. The other guy was Andrew – right at the moment in the fire. We gathered around him one more time and prayed for God to do a new work in his life.

We concluded and the guys shared their phone #’s to stay in touch. They began saying their goodbyes before scattering to go home.

(BTW – This group has been faithfully texting and supporting each other since returning home. In fact we recently all celebrated as Stephen took “the ultimate plunge” and was baptized)

God’s setup was just too perfect for even me to miss. I pulled Andrew aside and said, “You’re in the fire.” I pointed out to the lake. “The refreshment God provided for you in the water was real. That’s what He wants to bring to your life. It’s now as simple as this; all God wants to do right now is to be in the fire with you. But, you’ve got to invite Him to join you and then let Him do what you cannot. In Psalm 139 the Psalmist writes, If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

“Here’s the deal. God is the eternal gentleman. He won’t impose himself on you. You have to invite him in. Do you want that? Are you ready?”

With certainty Andrew nodded, Yes. I called the guys back together and we all joined with Andrew as he prayed that short, sweet prayer of surrender.

It was Awesome and it was genuine and it was real!

Andrew came back home a changed man. He was sharing his new-found faith with everyone he could while chucking aside a lot of the darker things in His life. There is no doubt in my mind that Andrew is now eternally secure in Christ.

Thank you God for your plans, for your words, for your ways and for your loving pursuit of us!

Postscript:

Andrew came home charged up and scheduled to enter into a Christian rehab program. We were all stoked for what God was doing in his life.

But then, the insidious addiction clawed at Andrew. The dark influences didn’t want to let go. Satan had had him and was determined to steal God’s victory. The drugs that Andrew had been packing into his system screamed, “Give me more! You cannot live without me!” His old drug buddies and dealers were gleefully ready to find a clandestine way to keep his addiction in full throttle. Just before heading off to Rehab, Andrew used.

Many of us were deflated. The natural question was, Was it real? If Andrew made a confession of faith, and God is greater, then if Andrew went back to using it must not have been a true confession.

I don’t believe so. I’m not unique as a Christ-follower in that I am “working out” the gift of salvation I have been given. I still struggle over challenges in my life even 40 years later. Paul writes in Philippians 2:12 – “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

I’m here to testify to my belief that Andrew’s confession was true and His salvation is real. We are saved when we make our commitment to follow Christ and we rely on His eternal strength not ours. At the same time we work out our salvation in the midst of a fallen world determined to tear us down as we grow in our relationship with God.(known as Sanctification)

I am blessed to not know much of the wounded-ness that leads to serious drug addiction, nor do I know the power of these chemicals that can so quickly and completely consume a human life. At the same time, I do not fully comprehend the power of God’s grace to love and forgive those who will know His victory, but still may not escape the pull of this thing that somehow satisfies them in a way that nothing else seems to.

Many Christians have been completely victorious over powerful addictions. Yet, there are numbers of dear Brother’s-in-Christ I know (Josh, Peter, Tommy, Dennis, John, Andrew) who have found a genuine relationship with God through Jesus and look to have had complete victory only to somehow be repeatedly drawn back into this destruction.

Why isn’t the evidence of God’s victory always instantaneous and complete? I do not know. What I do know is that it has little, if nothing to do with their weak character and feeble willpower. More so, it has everything to do with God’s enduring love no matter what they and “the world” does to try and destroy them.

I heard a drug addict who had survived numerous life-threatening overdoses asked why they keep going back? Can they describe what is so enticing that causes them to repeatedly risk their own life and cause such terrible turmoil to the lives around them?

For this drug addict, the best way of describing it was; “The high is like kissing the very face of God.”

We know that their experience is false and leads to destruction. For the addict, the ‘face of God’ very quickly morphs into the sneering face of Satan.

Yet, it makes me wonder about the reality of what we offer when we share the Gospel with others. God is real in every Christ-follower’s life. How real? Is it as real an experience to us as what the addict passionately pursues? Are we sharing something we know about the reality of a God who we see face-to-face, who tangibly touches us and speaks to us and kisses us? Is that too crazy to expect of our experience?

Lead Pastor of Vox Church and author Justin Kendrick, in his book Astonishing, writes of the deeply intimate relationship we have when adopted as sons of the Father. In the story of the Prodigal’s return found in Luke 15:20 (AMPC) it says, “And he [the father] ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].” Referencing Galatians 4:4-6 Kendrick’s writes, “We need the experience of sons: the frequent embrace and kiss of the Father.”

Perhaps, for some who have this poison locked deep within every fiber of their body, a Biblically accurate, truly experiential God may be the only thing that can compete with a false, drug-induced God intimacy.

Is this just conjecture on my part? What I see in scripture is that we should expect more from God. He actually wants us to expect more from Him!  It was never recorded that Jesus and the disciples ever healed anyone of drug addiction. But, perhaps this is part of the “Greater Things” Jesus declared his people will do in John 14:12.

I still believe that my God is big enough to cleans and break the chains of addiction. I know because He has done it for many. When, who and how God chooses to bring a miraculously immediate reprieve is within His perfect wisdom and somehow based on people’s faith.

Therefore, let’s increase our faith in His perfect wisdom and expect even greater things.

I love the final refrain from the worship song, There’s Another in the Fire – I count the joy in every battle, because I know that’s where you’ll be.

For all those who know Jesus and struggle with addiction, you can know that even if you have any doubts, God is with you. And, you can be doubly sure that ours is a God who knows full well of our every temptation and stands in as our substitute for our failures. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”— 2 Corinthians 5:21

Take joy. For those who have entered into relationship with Christ, just when the battle seems lost, you can be certain that your God is right there with you. He is standing in victory that you may share in His ultimate and perfect victory.

This is a tough subject to conclude with “Have a Happy Thanksgiving!” But, for who He is, for all He has done, for all He is doing and all He will do, Paul offers up this in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 –

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”