FaithfulFin Talk | Ep 53 Refined by Fire – The Faith That Lasts

This episode is for the one who’s been under pressure — spiritually, emotionally, or financially.

In Episode 53 of FaithfulFin Talk, Juantrell Lovette opens her heart and her Bible to explore how God uses trials as tools for transformation. Pulling from 1 Peter 1 and her own faith journey, she explains how tested faith becomes lasting faith.

🔥 Key Points:

• The fire isn’t to kill you — it’s to crown you
• You’re not being punished. You’re being purified
• Faith, like gumbo, needs heat to develop its flavor
• Real legacy is built through what you overcome — not what you avoid
• You don’t pass down just wealth, but wisdom

📖 Scriptures:

• 1 Peter 1:2–7
• James 1:2–4

👂🏽 Listen, reflect, and share your story with the community.

Tag @faithfulfintalk or visit faithfulfintalk.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Refined by Fire
• 3:00 Standing in the Fire's Meaning
• 6:14 First Peter's Message of Refinement
• 11:00 Breaking to Build: God's Purification
• 14:24 The Priceless Kingdom Inheritance
• 18:15 Faith Like Gumbo: Let It Cook
• 22:00 Call to Share Your Fire Story

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Breaking the chain, feeling the gain. Now I'm rising. Open the gate, never too late. No hiding Wings open wide, trusting my God, ready to take off, ready to take off, ah, someday, someday. I know I'm moving in the right way. Oh, one day I keep praying, I keep praying.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Hey, y'all, welcome back to another episode of faithful fin Fin Talk. Today's title for our episode is Refined by Fire the Faith that Lasts. Our scripture that we are going to be focused on today it's 1 Peter, 1. So you can grab your Bibles, grab your notes, grab your whatever you want phone, whatever. Get into the story today. This is real stories, real scripture and real growth. I'm your host, wontrell LeVette, and you are tuned in to the best podcast that you ever going to come across. I'm just saying there's a lot out there, but right here with me, you're going to get real stories, real scripture and real growth, because I've been on this journey. It's been a great journey, it's been an experience and I'm taking you with me this time.

Speaker 2: 1:31

So, before we begin today, I want you to picture something. I want you to picture a person, whether man or female. If you're a man, picture a man. If you're a female, picture a female, whatever it is. Picture someone standing in the middle of a fire. They're not running, they're not screaming, they're still, because they know something most people don't. Most people don't they know that this fire isn't to kill them, it is to crown them, and that person might just be you. It's so funny that I'm talking about fire. Some of you guys don't know, but if you do know, I come from the entertainment industry. I'm a dancer and my stage name is Fire. It's so funny when I tell people my stage name and I'm like, oh, my name is Fire and I'm like Fire, that's a pretty hot name. Where did you get that from? We're always key, can. But to go into this story about fire, about not being burned, about standing in the middle of a fire, it kind of touched home for me. So I'm picturing myself standing in the middle of a fire, not getting burnt, not running, not screaming, but allowing God to refine my crown. I'm just saying I can see myself there. So I'm still in the comeback. Welcome to Faithful Fin.

Speaker 2: 3:03

Talk you guys. This journey that we're on, it's been on fire, it's been faith and foundation. We talked about grace in Galatians, resurrection in Ephesians, but today we're stepping into refinement. First, peter 1 came to me like a whisper and a warning, because sometimes the fire you're in isn't meant to destroy you, it's meant to define you. In the Bible there's a story about three people being thrown into the furnace fire. These people did not burn. These people did not die and instead God was standing in that fire with them and the king at the time, because these three boys, they would not worship this gold staff that the king wanted. It's in the Bible. Go ahead and read your Bible. But they didn't worship the staff or whatever it was, and so the king threw them in the furnace fire and these people did not burn at all, and so I saw myself like that, god standing somewhere with me, refining me, making sure that I don't burn me. So our scripture 1, peter.

Speaker 2: 4:13

As I did my study and I did my research and I was like what is Peter talking about? What is this whole idea of the whole Bible of Peter? Peter was talking to people that was exiled out, people that wasn't represented by the community. So he was speaking life into people because Peter walked with God. So basically, he wrote a letter out and he was telling the people like, look, this is what Jesus did. You know, this is what Christ did, and we're all saved by Christ. So first Peter, one, six through seven.

Speaker 2: 4:46

In a new living translation it says so be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire test and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. Um, my kids I want to say my daughter especially she's allergic to fake jewelry. So even buying her any kind of jewelry whatsoever and putting them in her ears even with myself sometimes like I'm allergic to fake gold, fake jewelry, so we do have to buy real gold, which? This?

Speaker 2: 5:32

Why this story makes sense to me, is because, if my faith is way more precious than mere gold and gold is one of those things that constantly you know it doesn't lose its value you can actually keep your value. With gold. It sometimes goes up. It makes sense to me about firing gold. You cannot make gold without it being broke down, melted down, right, so it has to be refined. So refinement is the real proof. Peter's not telling us life is going to be easy. He's telling us it's going to be real, and that's exactly what this is. It's a real story because, just like gold doesn't become gold until it's been through heat, your faith doesn't shine until it's been through pressure. I've been pressure.

Speaker 2: 6:23

I had to learn that when everything around me felt unstable emotionally, spiritually, financially. I wasn't being punished, I was being purified. I was one of those persons like oh my God, why is this happening to me? But God was trying to break me. And when they say God is trying to break you, he doesn't break you to hurt you. No, no, no, no. God is trying to break you. He doesn't break you to hurt you. No, no, no, no. God breaks you to build you. He breaks you to build you. He breaks you to build you better than what you think you could be. God was trying to break me. He was trying to. He wasn't trying to break me, but he was trying to burn away what didn't belong. So he's getting rid of all of this stuff that don't belong on me anymore. He's making sure that everything that I tried to put on myself, he's refining it for me.

Speaker 2: 7:13

So at this moment, I like for us to breathe, something that I haven't been able to do for a while. I've been studying the idealization of breathing, what it means to put that breath back into your body, that oxygen back into your lungs, giving yourself that fresh breath. So, as a community, let's breathe here Just for a second and ask yourself what has God been burning away in your life lately. I know for me it's been a lot. It has been comfort, it has been control. So, whatever it is for you, trust that he's making the space for something more solid.

Speaker 2: 8:04

I constantly try to be in control. I constantly try to be in control. I constantly try to stay in my comfort zone. But there's no way that I'll be sitting here in this chair and shout out to Taylor, shout out to Chris, shout out to Santiago, the people that's behind this podcast helping me. Even though I pay for service, there's still people behind the service that still have to go in and do a job. Those people are being refined in their work, in their process, when they have to deal with people dealing with me, dealing with other clients, dealing with other things, like we're all here trying to be refined by God, whether we see it that way or not. So you know, whatever that space is that you need God to burn away with is just trust that he's making that space for something more solid.

Speaker 2: 8:54

Faithful Fin Talk for me is a solid space. Levette Legacy for me is a solid space because I allow God to be CEO. I'm sitting here because God is CEO, making refinement of something that I thought was no good. He literally burned away things that, no, no longer have purpose for me, no longer can go with me. God has allowed me to shed those things away. So go ahead and say it out loud with me I trust the fire.

Speaker 2: 9:29

Okay, my faith in the fire has been something. That's what's brought me here, brought me out, because there was a time I thought I was strong, because I was surviving. But survival doesn't mean peace we talked about this last episode and hustle doesn't mean healing, because just because you're out there, hustling doesn't mean you're really healing. So I was out here making money, keeping up with my appearance, but on the inside, whoo child, that fire was hot, and I'm not talking like a good hot, I'm talking a hot that I couldn't sustain. I'm like Lord, take me out the kitchen, I can't handle the heat. I'm like Lord, take me out the kitchen, I can't handle the heat. And so I remember thinking, I remember telling God if you love me, why is this so hard for me? Why is this so hard to accept, to understand? And I can hear God tell me well, it's because I love you that I would not let you stay unrefined, and that's what broke me and, at the same time. That's what freed me.

Speaker 2: 10:40

So I did my research in First Peter. I read the NIV version, the NLT version, the Message version, amplify version, and as I was going through it there was some things that kind of like. You know, I was looking at sideways. I'm like, okay, first Peter two, we're not in first Peter two, but I was just like kind of side-eyed in that because there are some things about slaves and stuff. But since we're only in first Peter one, I wanted to focus on what was God trying to talk to me about first Peter one? Because first Peter 1 is the whole book of Peter is just a letter. It's a letter that he wrote to his people, to the exiled. If you ever felt exiled out, if you ever felt unwanted, ever felt like you didn't belong, ever felt like you were kind of like a disruptor, you came to do something different. I think first Peter is talking to you guys, because it was definitely talking to me.

Speaker 2: 11:31

So a scripture to highlight in first Peter is three through five verse, three to five. All praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with the expectations and we have a priceless inheritance. Let's talk priceless inheritance for a minute, because this Faithful Finn talk.

Speaker 2: 11:59

Obviously Faithful Finn Finn stands for finances. Allowing my faith and finance to go hand in hand is me understanding that I have a priceless inheritance in the kingdom, not here on earth, but in the kingdom. So all the money, all the riches that I inherit here on earth, I do not store here because I have an inheritance in the kingdom. That means the legacy that I'm building for my children has to come from an inheritance that's already priceless. Right, I had to get with God to have that priceless inheritance. So my son Isaac, my daughter Peyton, they're going to inherit a legacy that come from a kingdom because they have a priceless inheritance. That's big y'all, that's huge.

Speaker 2: 12:49

I can't sustain nothing on earth like it's already sustained in heaven. When they say um, allow heaven to be here on earth. Heaven has the gifts for us and it's for us. But we don't know how to receive those things because some of us don't get with God. I constantly get with God all day, every day.

Speaker 2: 13:11

And no, I am not perfect. No, I am not a preacher. No, I'm not a prophesier? That's just not me, that's not my title, that's not what this is. And so, if you think that I'm trying to prophesy to you, if you think that I'm trying to preach to you, I'm not. I'm simply just allowing God to use me, to use my platform, to build a platform so that I can talk to people that's just like me Christ believers, god believers, people that look for a relationship in Christ or in God, but don't know how to do it, don't know which way to go. This platform is for you, this platform is for me, and that's something that God has allowed me to build. So you're not just going through whatever it is that you're going through for no reason.

Speaker 2: 13:55

There is an inheritance on the other side of your integrity. There is promise beyond the pressure. Okay, so, when it feels too hard, just know like we have a priceless inheritance in the kingdom. To anybody that's listening right now and wondering if it's all worth it, yes, yes, it is. It's more than just worth it, because the pain isn't permanent. The purpose is You're not crazy for crying, you're not weak for needing rest, and you're not broken. You're becoming. I know this. I felt tired, I felt weak, I felt undeserving and constantly. God is like you're my child, you belong to me. There's an inheritance for you in a kingdom I provide for you better than any job can any world can, anybody can. All you have to do is get with me. There's an inheritance for you in the kingdom I provide for you better than any job can any world can, anybody can. All you have to do is get with me.

Speaker 2: 14:55

So trying to avoid, trying to avoid trials as a believer, is like trying to make gumbo without heat. And everybody know I makes a good gumbo, ain't that right pie? So I make a great gumbo and just like trying to avoid trials is like a believer trying to make gumbo without heat. It ain't gonna happen. You can't have gumbo without the roux and you can't have roux without the heat. You got to have the right mixtures of things and, as I show and I teach my kids because I was I'm teaching my son how to make gumbo. Well, he think he got it all packed, and my daughter is learning um too. But it's a process. It takes hours, it takes steps. So you might throw in all the right stuff, but without that simmer, without that roux, without the right ingredients, but without that simmer, without that roux. Without the right ingredients it would never set right. If you like gumbo, like I like gumbo, then you know everybody can't make a good gumbo. So faith got to cook a little baby. But when it's done it'll be so worth it.

Speaker 2: 16:03

My faith is constantly cooking every day, like let her cook for real. So I'm constantly trying to get with God and I'm like All right, god, you know what you got planned for me today, because I know if I make my plans, you just gonna come on up in here. So I stopped trying to make my plans, meet God's plans and I just start giving all of my plans to God like okay, god, check this plan out. Do you think this fit? If it fits, show me the sign, give me the signs that I can see that it works for me. Invite the people into my life that should be here. Remove the people out of my life that shouldn't be here. And when I say God, come through like the feds for me all the time, baby, he'll come, sweep some stuff up real fast.

Speaker 2: 16:56

A bonus verse that I want to talk to you guys about, that cross-reference with 1 Peter, is James 1. I like the book of James. James has a lot of teaching in depth into it. So I definitely like the book of James, but if you want to cross-reference from 1 Peter 1, go ahead and look at James, chapter 1, verse 2 to 4. It says Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sister, that whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your faith produce perseverance. So James says joy, peter says gladness. Both are pointing us to the one truth Pressure is proof of God's process. That's it, the faith that stays. What you pass down isn't just money, it's mindset, it's not just wealth, but it's wisdom. What I want my kids to know and what I want this entire community to know is that tested faith is lasting faith. My faith is constantly being tested as a parent, as a friend, as a person, as a legacy builder, as a creator, a content creator, everything. My faith is constantly being tested in my finances, how I handle things, how I handle my mom, how I handle my family, how I handle my situations. It's constantly being tested right. So that's what we're building here with LeVette Legacy and Faithful Fin Talk.

Speaker 2: 18:28

Not a fantasy life, but a faithful one, a true faithful one, and I want to hear from you a true faithful one, and I want to hear from you. I want to hear what a fire God has brought you through that changed you forever. Tag us, dm us. Faithful Fin Talks social media platforms Facebook, instagram, all of that stuff Talk to me about what God has brought you through. What fire has he brought you out of, what fire has he burned away so that you can shine bright? I want to highlight some of you guys moments. I want to highlight your stories. I want you a part of this community, because this community of Faithful Fin Talk is not just for me, it's for my children, it's for you, it's for your children, it's for the next generation, it's for my children, it's for you, it's for your children, it's for the next generation, it's for that generation after that generation, all the way until I'm long gone.

Speaker 2: 19:22

I'm going to make a way that this podcast, these shows, this episode, this TV, this channel lasts forever, because God's words last forever. It's super important to me. You guys like super important to me, so I want to highlight some of your stories in our next episode, that'd be episode 54. I want to hear from you guys. This community isn't just about my testimony, but it's about our testimony. I want you guys to stay connected. Stay connected to me. That's like the most important thing to do.

Speaker 2: 19:53

So if today's word hits your spirit, don't let it just stay there. Share it, save it, let it sit with you until you understand that our relationship with God is not just what people tell you. It's not people putting their God on you. It's you actually taking that initiation and you waking up and you going to sleep with God. Nobody needs to know what that look like. Nobody needs to know what your relationship looks like with God, because it's going to show in the fruit that you produce. It's going to show in how you treat people, how you act, how you deal with things. It's going to show right, I know it does with me. There's no way that I'm sitting here on my free will. God is like okay, you want to work for me? All right, let's put some things into tact. So I want you guys to subscribe to faithfulfintalkcom and join the movement.

Speaker 2: 20:49

Let's keep growing through the fire together Because, if you don't know, my name is fire. That's something that I kept for a long time and it's just my dance name. But 20 years of having a name named fire I'll talk more about that on the next episode, or probably on episode 55. Only because I know for a fact stripping saved my life. Something controversy, but they call me fire and this episode is about fire. So let's keep growing together through the fire.

Speaker 2: 21:23

I want to say a prayer God, thank you for the refining fire, for every tear that became a testimony, not just for me, but for all of your children who have cried, who have shed tears, who didn't know what to say, who didn't know what to think. I want you to let those tears be a voice to you, a whisper to the, to the children. That belongs to you, and for reminding us that what's real doesn't burn. It becomes brighter, lighter. Thank you for walking with me, thank you for growing with me. Welcome to Faithful Fin Talk. You guys, we are on a journey and this journey is just getting started. This is real stories, real scripture and real growth. Until next time, you guys.

Speaker 1: 22:30

I will see you in episode 54. Bye, wings open wide, trusting my God, ready to take off, ready to take off Someday I know I'm moving in the right way oh, one day. I keep praying, I keep praying.