Tried By Fire Ministries

08/04/2026

No one likes troubles, trials or tribulations, but you will or have had them, some more than others. Since everyone will confront them in life, it only makes sense to view them through God’s eyes, so to speak. These “bad” times are sent by God to make you into what He desires you to be. To teach lessons in life’s school that will never leave you the same. For this reason, God gives the words in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” You should take hard, tough and trial-some times, as a “joyful time” due to the fact, that God is working in you and for you. You may ask, “how can anything miserable and be joyful?” Usually the lesson is learned and appreciated after the fire is passed through and you are out on the other side. It is then you can have the “joy” that God intends for you to experience. The Bible gives many different reasons why hard times may come into your life. Those of you in the center of any trial have an opportunity to learn many lessons. Some will not learn their lesson when taking the “course” that God has laid before them but, later on they may face harder training further down life’s path, because they never learned it the first time. Sometimes these stormy times are meant to strengthen you. You can be made stronger when you are awed at His deliverance from what seems as the impossible. When you get to that point, you can look back and say, “Only God could have gotten me through that.” Deuteronomy 10:21 “He is thy praise, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.” Finally, other times your storms and trials build your faith after you see what God has done. After passing through enough testing and remembering how you were delivered in the past, you have faith that He will guide you through the next time. Not too many people get excited when terrible things happen to them but if you have not already learned, there is so much to be learned from the “bad times”. Not one spiritual, “close-to-God” Christian got that way without going through a lot of heartaches. Sometimes the most spiritual people have gone through the most difficult times. There is a connection. Hard times can have a positive effect, if you learn the lesson properly!

08/01/2026

Faith is a “spiritual muscle”. Trials in life are the “work out”. They can give you faith & courage. You can't be brave or strong if you've only had good things happen to you. The hard times in life are intended to make you better, not bitter. Stronger not soft to the devils schemes! Learn from them and become, "prayer-conditioned" in the midst of the heat waves of life! Remember, only God can change sunsets into sunrises.

07/14/2026

On this day, 21 years ago, I sat in the hospital with my sweet mother. I recall her waking up in the wee hours of the morning as if she had been awake and alert the whole time saying, “Son, I look at it this way, I can choose to fight this thing (cancer) and live to testify of God’s glory, or I can choose to go on to Heaven and be in His glory, so I'm in a win-win situation”! She knew we wanted to keep her here, I think she knew we were selfish in our wanting that. The very next day she entered Heaven's gates to rejoice for an eternity! We found out she had cancer on one Friday and then the very next Friday she was gone. It’s hard to believe it has actually been that long ago. We spoke every day and I miss her voice and her encouragement! She was my #1 fan, (if I could have a fan), my best friend as well as my mother! As Christians, we are comforted in times of sadness and grief by the knowledge that we and our loved ones are eternally with us as we recall their words and deeds and the experiences of their lives. Our greatest joy comes when we remember that because Christ lives, they live and that is comforting! Life, like a flower, is fragile and its life is temporary. At the same time it is a thing of beauty, grace and worth. My mother showed all of those to the world. We should enjoy its beauty while it lasts. We spread its joy around for the few moments that we grace this earth, expecting, any second, to be plucked and trimmed, to form a celestial bouquet in the heavens. Makes you feel empty inside. The feeling of emptiness usually comes after you experience a great loss. I felt that way when Heaven gained my mother! Many are able to enjoy a better life because someone emptied themselves to show them the road. Perhaps like me, it was a mother, who gave of herself until there was nothing else to give. There are millions of people who can testify of how they found a better life because someone gave them the best they had, even to the point that they strained their health and loss their strength to accomplish it. They gave the richness of their lives in making it possible for others to find the way. Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can because only you are the artist in your own life and God is the art teacher. If you allow Him to teach you through His word, and through significant people He places in your life and on your path, then the picture of your life will become even more clearer as time goes by. I always thought growing up was something that happened automatically as you get older. But it turns out it's something you have to choose to do. Growing old is mandatory. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give. When this life ends, we can thank Him for the benefit of the golden trail home that our loved ones have paved! I will always miss my mom, Millie Hayes, and thank her for paving the way for me and many, many others while she was here on earth! What we are is God's gift to us, what we become is our gift to Him! Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns!- Bro Roger

07/10/2026

Most people would measure their life by how long it is, but you should measure it by what you give it. You can’t truly face life until you face the fact that it can be taken away someday. Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live because you are not a human being on a Spiritual journey but a Spiritual Being on a human journey. Do the work of the Lord and follow the will of God, no matter what!! You can spend most of your life learning something in school, college or some sort of educational venue. The difference between school and life is in school they teach lessons and then give test. But in life, God gives you test that teaches you the lesson. Learn from them! Remember it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years! The greatest use of your life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. One day your it will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching. Have a great weekend everyone!

07/02/2026

If you think you are living in "faith", remember that Noah didn't have a steering wheel, he had faith to let God take him where the storms landed him. God justs wants your commintment to Him, to hold on and allow Him to be your Guide! Commitment got Daniel thrown into the lions den, but Faith got him out! God will never allow you to take a test that He hasn't already provided the answers to! Sometimes you just have to believe. To be certain, without reason. Have faith in the unseen. It only takes a mustard seed faith! "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says it will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Jesus Christ, Mark 11:22-24. Have a great Independence weekend! God bless you all!!!

06/29/2026

06/09/2026

FREE event

Time to Register

Workshop on Understanding Veteran Trauma for veterans, families, and supporters.

Scan QR code to reserve your spot

🗓 June 13, 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM – 1 PM
📍 Alabama Veterans Resource Center, Montgomery
🥪 Lunch provided

Learn how to recognize trauma, support healing, and connect with resources.

06/03/2026

Do you feel more loved when God makes a big deal about you or do you feel more loved when God at the cost of His Son dying on the cross, allows you to make a big deal about Him? He would love nothing more for you to do just that, worship Him, show Him how much you love Him and tell Him so! He decided to love you when He could have justly condemned you but, His love demands that you respond by believing, trusting, obeying, giving thanks with a “joyful” heart, working out your salvation with fear and appreciating the Lord and all that He does for you. Say it to Him each day, I love you Lord! Actually say it! He deserves your praise. Because of Him, I am not what I ought to be, nor I am not what I want to be or what I hope to be but I still am NOT what I used to be, and by the His wonderful, amazing grace I am what I am today! I want Him to see my inward feelings by my outward actions that reveal to Him, how I feel toward Him!

05/31/2026

No matter what you may be going through today, there's a prayer called the "I don't know" prayer! It's very spiritual. You just go somewhere quiet and you walk right up to the heart of God and you say, "I don't know." I don't know where to go from here. I don't know what is happening. I don't know how to process this. I don't know what to do with these emotions. I don't know how to handle this situation. It covers a lot of I don't knows. And then with whatever dusty little sand grain of faith you have, you say, "But You know." And you leave it there. God certainly hears that prayer. Let His heart touch yours! Try it today!

05/30/2026

You have never really lived until you've done something for somebody who can never repay you. There are 3 kinds of givers; the flint, the sponge & the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you hammer it & then you get only chips & sparks. To get water out of a sponge you squeeze it, & the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb overflows with its own sweetness. What kind of giver are you? Be sweet like the honeycomb! The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot. You can control your destiny, how you treat others and how they perceive you. How are you living your days? Are you a giver? Are you showing Christ to others? Corrie ten Boom once said, “The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation." Which is, so true! The greatest use of your life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. There is no right way to do the wrong thing! One day you will look around and say, how did it get so late, so quickly? You can’t do anything about the past, but God can wipe it all away. You can start today and make a new future by asking Him into your heart and life! Don’t let time slip away like the hourglass, before you can make things right with the Lord. God bless you all!