DEVOTIONAL: Refined and Purified by Fire
REFINED AND PURIFIED BY FIRE
Have you ever wondered why God has allowed you to endure the fire so long? Although it is uncomfortable to be refined by fire, often during those times it is when we discover who we are!
We have to remember one thing, the refining fire is always for refinement and not for our destruction. Life in the refiners fire is a life about trust in the unchanging love of our Father. The refiners fire is about two things…..Its about God refining us through painful trials and about God conforming our character especially through those trials. You have to remember that the pain in our lives is not intended to destroy us but to conform us into the image and likeness of Christ.
The bible tells us about gold-refining in reference to how God deals with us, sin, and our faith. When I think about purifying and refining, I think about the ancient method of refining gold and how it is much like how God refines us today. First the gold has to be found and removed from the dirt and earth. Then all of the dirt has to be washed away. After the gold is clean, it then has to be crushed to be broken down. The last step is for the gold to be sealed and put in hot fire until the impurities are removed, which takes days. When it is complete, the gold is purified.
This is much like how God takes us through the fire to purify us. He finds us in our dirt and messiness of life, then he washes us clean through Jesus Christ. He then refines us through testing our faith so that he can break us from our fleshly desires. We are then put INSIDE the fire and sometimes it lasts a long time but that….that is when we are called to lay our lives at His feet and pick up the cross and follow Christ. During our trials and difficult times, we must cling to Gods promises, and that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Don’t run from the fire or become angry at God while going through the refining process but instead RUN to Him, fall at His feet and know that He is making something new out of your life. He is burning away your desires, your sin, your flesh and purifying you into what HE wants you to be in Christ. We have to trust God to cleanse our character and purify our hearts.
It is a painful process, it hurts and sometimes we feel crushed, but this is when God is breaking us down. We are being broken so that we are ready to be molded back together in HIS image. Sometimes it is difficult to hang onto hope in the midst of the trials we are enduring. We feel it is just too much to bear, but it is then we must carry on by pressing into the heart of God and trust HIS perfect plan as we surrender our will to His will. Sometimes it is hard to understand that the pain God is allowing in our lives is purposeful.
Have you ever asked God to search your heart and to burn up every possible thing that is not of Him in your life? Have you asked Him to purify your life so that you can have a closer walk with Him? Because we are the temple of God, we need to ask ourselves what is keeping us from a closer walk with Him and what He can teach us while being refined in this fire? When God purifies us, it means that He will show us things in our lives that does not need to be there while strengthening our faith and trust in Him. If you truly want change in your heart, in your life and in your relationship with God you have to let Him purify you but then you have to let go of the things that have bound you and change! What needs to be purified in your life? Is it lack of faith, not trusting Him with all aspects of your life or is it fleshly sin such as lust, gossiping, bad language, anger, pride, laziness or wrong relationships?
When you ask God to purify your life, your heart and your mind, then you have to act on the things that you know need to be changed and made pure. Once the change begins to take place just remember that all things have become new (that means you) and you are transformed and forgiven. This is true freedom in Christ when you have been refined by fire and purified. Remember that a refiners fire is not to destroy but to purify you and make new.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father I come to you today and I ask you to purify my life. Take all the sin from my life and help me change so that I can walk a life of refinement through you. As I go through the fire, build my faith, my trust and walk with me. Refine every part of my life and bring me to a closer walk with you. Take every impurity of my life and make it a testimony of your grace and love for me as you forgive me and make me into what you want me to be. Bring my character into alignment with your word so that others will see you through me. Bring me out of this fire, but change me in the process! I will trust you and willingly submit my life to you as I lay it all at your feet. In Jesus mighty name I pray….Amen!
Bible Verses
Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
1 Peter 1:7
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
1 Peter 5:10
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
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Copyright Leanne Masten/Addi’s Journey