“Tribulation will not hurt you, unless as it too often does; it hardens you and makes you sour, narrow and skeptical.” Edwin Hubbel Chapin
I’ve Been Through Fire
Words & Music: Dennis Jernigan
July 3, 2014
I've been through fire
Hot enough to make a grown man
Want to lay down and die
I've been through fire hot enough
To burn away everything
Leaving just a semblance of life
I've been through fire
Hot enough to make me feel
I have no place to call home
I've been through fire but I tell you,
Been through fire, been through Hell
But I have never been alone
Through the fire You have brought me!
Through the fire I have never been alone!
Through the fire You have sought me
In a fashion all Your own
With a passion hot enough to melt a heart of stone!
I’ve been through fire
Hot enough to make me wonder
Where I'd find that next breath
I've been through fire so consuming
Like I had some-one there grooming me
For imminent death
I've been through fire
Where the fury of the flame
Left my heart harder than stone
I've been through fire but I tell you,
Been through fire, been through Hell
But I have never been alone
Through the fire You have brought me!
Through the fire I have never been alone!
Through the fire You have sought me
In a fashion all Your own
With a passion hot enough to melt a heart of stone!
Lord, Your love is like a fire!
The flames keep growing higher to consume me!
Lord, Your love is like a fire!
Your love is my desire!
So consume me!
Burning fire fueled by passion
Where Your love, like waves, comes crash-in'
To consume me!
Burning fire fueled by passion,
Make my heart like You in fashion
And consume me!
Through the fire You have brought me!
Through the fire I have never been alone!
Through the fire You have sought me
In a fashion all Your own
With a passion hot enough to melt a heart of stone!
I've been through fire
Hot enough to make a grown man
Want to lay down and die
I've been through fire
©2014 Shepherd’s Heart Music, Inc./Dennis Jernigan
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The following words are what I wrote concerning the initial writing of this song. Since its writing, the fires of my life have only seemed to multiply and grow more intense. Sometimes I feel I will be completely consumed by them…but then I remember how much my God loves me. For each and every fire I have had to endure, what is not of the Lord has been burned away, leaving only what is purely of the Lord standing. As I am able to look back now and see each incident from the Lord’s point of view, I don’t see the ashes of loss. I see the richness of and the abundance of the treasures of my life…and have come out shining like gold.
Yes, I have been persecuted. Yes, I have been dealt the loss of my voice. Yes, I have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Yes, I have been betrayed by friends. Yes, I have been guilty of believing the lies of the enemy from time to time. Yes, I have been wounded beyond what I ever thought I could bear…but I do not see ashes of my life. I see a faithful, loving, beautiful wife of 37 years (as of this writing). I see nine amazing children, six amazing sons and daughters-in-law. I see (so far) eleven mind-blowingly awesome grandchildren who infuse my life with exquisite joy. I see thousands of songs born out of the trials of my life that are now sung literally around the world. What has taken the place of the ashes of my life is a long legacy of testimony to the power and love of our amazing God.
(Here is what I wrote at the initial writing of this song): I have had to endure a lot of fire through the years simply based on my leaving the homosexual way of thinking - my OLD identity - by virtue of my relationship with Jesus Christ. Many people seem happy for me. Many seem appalled. Many seem fearful to take a stand one way or the other. I just want others to know freedom is possible through Jesus Christ - those who desire such freedom. Because of a documentary that is about to be released detailing my story (Sing Over Me), I fully expect the fire to intensify. In my own strength I am not ready, but by God's grace, I will be in the moment. Just as He was in the midst of the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I know He will be with me. Incidentally, I prefer to hear this song sung from the Father's perspective toward me.
As I have already detailed in previous chapters, I have experienced persecution - fiery trials - on many occasions. What has kept me going in such middle-of-nowhere moments is the understanding that I have never gone through one single fiery trial alone. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were cast into a furnace as punishment for not bowing to and worshiping the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Three were cast into that unsurvivable oven but four were seen walking about in the flames unscathed!
But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, [were thrown into] fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” Daniel 3:23-25 NASB
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not alone. The Lord was with them IN the furnace, gong through the fire WITH them. He is the same God that walks with us through the fires of our lives! Death by fire is painful. Being burned, period, causes some of the deepest and most excruciating pain any human can encounter. Fires leave scars. Fires burn things away leaving ashen ruins. I have experienced deep excruciating mental and emotional pain to such degree I wish I could have died…but God has always been there to bring comfort. My life has been forever scarred by the fires of this life…but I have chosen to see these scars as the evidence of God’s grace. A scar simply means I have gone through something painful but serves as evidence of the healing power of God. My scars say to the world, “Yes, I have been through fire. I have the scars to prove it…but look what God has done!”
Within the short biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego I used there is one phrase that speaks volumes to the fiery trials of life. In the words of king Nebuchadnezzar, He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm!” The key phrase there? “I see four men LOOSED!” Those three men who had been cast into the fire simply for standing alone for God Almighty had been cast into that fire BOUND! Fire is painful…but fire has a way of burning away the things that bind us.
Since the release of the documentary of my life, Sing Over Me, I have received many vile comments and have been mocked and scorned and reviled as if I were Satan incarnate…but all those momentary experiences of pain are soothed by the balm of God’s grace with each person who tells me they have seen the film and that God has used it to change their lives forever. God has taken the ashes of my life and made something beautiful of them. This is the legacy and story behind the song “I’ve Been Through Fire.”
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to [those who are] bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:1-3 NASB
To listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/ive-been-through-fire/
Edwin Hubbel Chapin quote - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/edwin_hubbel_chapin_157035
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/08/06/15/53/fire-2593636_1280.jpg