Faith Under Fire - Burnt To Be Made Better Not Bitter

By Aaron Harris

"This is your season of Magnificent Makeover"

 

 Through the fiery trial of your faith God is making you over from the inside out.  It has always been the will of God that the spiritual aspect of your existence lead the natural aspect of your existence. Whatever fire storm that you are currently in has been allowed by your Father, Almighty God, and your Father only wants what is best for you.  All good teachers test their students.  The purpose of the test is to reveal to the student who they have become through the training and education that has been imparted and invested in them. God is using the fiery trial of your faith, just as a refiner uses fire to burn off the impurities of gold.  The gold can take the heat and last.  However, the impurities on the gold cannot.  Your faith in God is more precious than gold and the same God that allowed the fire in your life will bring you through every fire of your life. Like the three Hebrew boys who were cast in the fiery furnace because of their faith in God, you can rest assured that God will meet you in the fire and you will not die but declare the glory of God.  You are coming out of the fire better than you went in. There is a promotion on the other side of your pain.  There is a testimony on the other side of your test. What you thought was a set back is really a set up by God to show His glory in your life. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aaron Harris
• Release date: Sep 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393080152

Aaron Harris

Pastor Aaron L. Harris Sr. is a: walking, talking, living, breathing miracle. God miraculously healed him! Pastor Aaron L. Harris Sr. is a survivor of stage 4 metastatic cancer, and now by God’s grace he is totally and completely cancer free. God has gifted and graced Rev. Aaron L. Harris Sr. to be a dynamic preacher and teacher of the Word of God. He is known for his Word rich sermons which are designed to educate, equip, and empower the hearer for success in all aspects of life. Rev. Aaron L. Harris Sr. has been pastoring for over 12 years and is blessed to currently be the Senior Pastor at Chippey AUM Church located in Hockessin, DE. Pastor Harris earned his Associate of Science degree from Wesley College in Dover, DE, his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Strayer University located in Washington, DC, and his Executive MBA from Jack Welch Management Institute, also located in Washington, DC. Furthermore, Pastor Harris earned his Master of Ministry from Luther Rice University and Seminary located in Lithonia, GA. Pastor Harris married the love of his life, the lovely former Marguerite Mbele Amougou in 2005. They are the proud parents of three children: Alberta Danielle Harris, Aaron L. Harris II, and Rachel-Victoria Ebogo Harris and two godchildren: Hayden Daquan Curtis Lockett and Marguerite Mbele Ava.

Book preview

Dedication

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED first and foremost to God. For, in the words of the early church song, without God I could do nothing.  Without God, I would fail. Without God I would be drifting, just like a ship without a sail. In addition, I would like to dedicate this book to our three children: Alberta Danielle Harris, Aaron Lee Harris II, Rachel-Victoria Ebogo Harris, and our two god-children Hayden Daquan Curtis Lockett, and Marguerite Mbele Ava. Children, I want you all to know that with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26).  For man’s impossibility is simply God’s opportunity to do something great in our lives. Put God first in all that you do and you shall find good success in your lives. Whatever, God has blessed your mom and I to do, know that you can do that and more. For there is no respect of persons with God. (Rom. 2:11) Loving and living for Jesus is the best decision you can ever make in your life. 

Last but certainty not least, I would like to dedicate this book to my lovely, beautiful, wonderful wife Marguerite Mbele Harris, aka (Maggie).  Truly, the words of the bible are true for it proclaims, Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22) I thank God every day for my favor and my good thing, my sweet thang, my (Maggie Pie). You have been a constant source of strength and joy not only in my life, but also in the life of our family and all that you come in contact with.  May God continue to bless and shine upon you. I look forward to first and foremost loving God as my Lord and Saviour for the rest of eternity and loving you as my beautiful wife for the rest of me

life.

Foreword

LEADERS WITH STRONG faith, commitment, and perseverance are needed today to propel the church through the current waves of infiltrations and attacks by the enemy.  Pastor Aaron L. Harris is one such leader, who is using his God given gifts to bring hopeless people from lives of despair into lives full of hope and peace in the Kingdom of God. 

Anyone can preach, sing, and worship when everything is going good, when the money is flowing, and when people love you.  I’ve watched Pastor Harris preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ even when it wasn’t easy. I’m proud of what he’s accomplished, and I look forward to watching the continual work the Lord is performing in him.

I’m excited to be a part of Pastor Harris’s first book, Faith Under Fire.  In his book Pastor Harris examines the connection between faith, fiery trials, and the supernatural makeover.  He examines through personal experience, how God can allow difficult circumstances to formalize in our life for the sole purpose of giving us a magnificent makeover.

Most of the time in life we decide when to make over our homes, our wardrobe, or even our hair.  But rarely in life do we ever decide to makeover what’s on the inside of us.  What’s inside of us is hundreds of times more valuable than the superficial things we makeover on the outside.  God sometimes uses fiery test to bring out our best gifts and talents we would have kept hidden for years. 

JC Wheeler

Senior Pastor

New Life Worship Center

Warner Robins, Georgia

Preface

THIS BOOK WAS TRULY born out of the fiery trial of my faith.  I was graced to write this book during the most challenging health crisis of my life. The majority of this book was written from lonely hospital rooms and rehabilitation facilities, where I was not allowed visitors due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.  Through this whole journey, however, God has been more than faithful. God has sustained me every step of this journey.  God graced me to continue to pastor and preach even from my hospital and rehabilitation center bed when I was admitted, and from my sick bed at home when I could not even stand or walk.

Truly, I can testify in the words of the song written by the great Andre Crouch, I've had many tears and sorrows, I've had questions for tomorrow, there's been times I didn't know right from wrong. But in every situation, God gave me blessed consolation, that my trials come to only make me strong. I've been to lots of places, I've seen a lot of faces, there's been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus lets me know that I was His own. I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I'd never had a problem, I wouldn't know God could solve them, I'd never know what faith in God could do. Through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God. Through it all, through it all, I've learned to depend upon His Word.

I pray that this book is a blessing to you as through reading it you receive confirmation that God is with you, even when it looks like he is not. For this cause the bible declares, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.(2 Cor. 4:18) Know that whatever you are going through it will not last, but God and your faith and life in Him will.

Chapter 1 Foundation of Faith

Mom

I was graced to be born into a family of faith filled believers. The quintessential figure in my early life and even still till today is my mother Stephanie Leona Davis- Harris.  I was raised by most importantly a strong believer in Jesus Christ.  This is the most important aspect of my mother’s life because it is her faith that impacted every aspect of both her life and the life of her family.  I was raised in a single-family home along with my older brother of two years Christopher Thomas Harris.  Our parents divorced when I was very young, around 3 years old.  I was born in Wilmington, DE and resided there until shortly after the divorce of my parents. Shortly after the divorce my mother felt a strong urge to relocate our family to West Virginia. My mother had good friends in West Virginia.  These loving people were actually more family than friends.  Our family had migrated from West Virginia a few generations earlier and strong relationships were established in the faith community that endured the test of time.  Due to my mother’s faith I feel that she was always a trail blazer , not letting difficulty or uncertainly impede her from moving forward in life or even stopping her from taking risks that could lead to a better life for both her and her family. Soon after the divorce of my parents my mother thought it best that we relocate to West Virginia.  The main impetus for this move was that she wanted my brother and I to have strong male Christian examples in our lives and the prevalence of strong Christian husbands and fathers in West Virginia pushed mom to get my brother and I around this essential influence, in order that we might have a greater opportunity to grow up as men of God.  This was a very bold decision, especially due to the tightness of our immediate family.  My mother had made up her mind to go even without her mother who was the rock of our family.  Looking back, I must say this was probably one of the boldest and greatest decisions that my mother ever made that took tremendous faith and courage., However, this decision set our life on a spiritual trajectory that has had lifelong positive implications.  The move was daunting in regard to breaking away from established immediate family.  We rode the train down from Wilmington, DE, to Princeton WV.  My mother left a good job at a local bank to make the transition.  I remember we even made a up a song that we would sing in preparation for the big move.  We would sing, I am on my way to West Virginia so glad! When I reflect on this time, I now understand that the song that my mother made up was indicative of her ability to transform a situation of great uncertainty into a situation of great opportunity.  This is an extraordinary and rare gift, to be able through the lens faith to perceive spiritual consequences and thereby allow this ultimate reality to alter the narrative of your current situation.  I pray that this is one of her skills that I have been able to develop and pass on to my family and friends.

Mom – Mom

The matriarch of our family was my grandmother Minister Alberta Lockett. My grandmother was a phenomenal woman.  She was in every sense so very capable. A great cook, a strong, highly intelligent, independent woman, and an outstanding minister of the gospel.  She was known for her nonsense approach.  However, at the same time she was extremely loving and  caring to all that came into contact with her.  My grandmother was in many ways a causality of the times in regard to her career mobility.  I am still fond of the fact that she was so proud to share her high school diploma which clearly stated that she graduated from the colored high school. She truly excelled with in scholastic arena. Not only was she in the top of her class.  She also spoke Latin as a result of taking college preparatory classes in high school. However, despite if her intellect and acumen, because of the social climate of her day she was primarily limited to be a domestic worker, even though she was clearly so much more capable of greater things.  With all the limitations she encountered in her secular career , the contrary can be declared of the potential and actualization that my grandmother found in ministry.  In the service of the Lord , my grandmother was truly living out who God called her to be. She was highly respected in the church and even held the position of Assistant Pastor to her younger brother Bishop Charles Curtis Lockett Sr.  My grandmother was a stalwart in the faith, who took both living and proclaiming God’s Word as the highest and most important endeavor of life.  My grandmother was a natural leader.  In her family she was the oldest female sibling and was affectionately called Big Miss. She essentially took all of the younger siblings under her wings to both positive and sometimes not so positive outcomes.  There are countless stories of her standing up for, protecting and defending her younger siblings.  However, there are also stories of her having her younger siblings jump out of a cab instead paying the bill during their adolescent years.  However, as she grew in her faith she also grew in her leadership. All in all, my grandmother hailed from great family stock.  Her father died at an early age, leaving her mother, my great-grandmother, who was a true rock in the Christian faith to her family, a widow in her early age. However, in a show of great integrity, sacrifice, and leadership the eldest sons took the helm of the family upon their father’s demise and ensured the survival and success of the family.  Eventually, the entire family would migrate from West Virginia to Delaware due to greater financial opportunity and