Fire!
Leda Winebarger
On June 30, 1972, a young man,
Vanya Moiseyev, a soldier in the
Russian Red Army wrote these
words of encouragement to friends
and family back home.
" Oh how wonderful and marvelous
it is that far from our earth, there is joy!
Oh brethen, keep advancing bravely.
Don't be afraid to pass through fire on
your way to your heavenly goal."
Vanya knew about the fire.
Prior to writing this moving
testimony, he had
been tortured horribly. Why?
Because of his faith in Jesus.
Vanya's main fear was that during
the torture he would do as they wanted...
deny Christ, deny the healings he had
experienced in his body. " He was
unsure what might be done to a man
behind the closed doors of special
cells to make him recant, blaspheme,
embrace all that he abhorred. IT WAS
HIS OWN WEAKNESS THAT HE
FEARED."
1 Corinthians 3:13 says: " Every
mans work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because
it shall be revealed by fire; and the
fire shall try every mans work of
what sort it is."
We become good at hiding things...
sins...weights...from ourselves and
then from God. And sometime we
don't realize how strong we have
become in our faith. How can we
repent of sins that we have hidden,
that we have denied we have done?
How can we use the strength God
has given us if we don't realize it's
there? Sometimes God has to
reveal our " work " by allowing the
fire to come!
And the fire has (or will) come
to us all. Probably not as with
Vanya, but in sickness, financial
disaster, spiritual warfare of
emotional pain. The wonderful
thing is that God knows already what
the fire will bring to light in our lives.
Be assured that He does not allow
fire to come to embarrass us by
showing others our weakness. He
allows the fire to come so that WE
will know our " works," our e
weaknesses, and our strengths.
On July 16, 1972, just 16 days
after writing this letter, Vanya's
torturers went foo far. When his
bruised and beaten body
arrived for his mother to bury, she
didn't recognize him. Witnesses
to the last beatinf said Vanya
never even faltered in his faith,
never fainted, never gave in. The
fire that came to Vanya revealed
his faith in Jesus, his love for
his God and his Heavenly vision.
He died as he had lives,
praising Jesus.
What will OUR fire reveal?
Quotes are from the book,
'' Vanya " a true story written by
Myrna Grant
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