HAVE A FIRE BURNING?

 

Have you been through fire in your life?

*If God allows you to go through anything in your life, there is a reason.

*God has a purpose and a plan.

 

Fire, as defined in Malachi 3:2. When God allows you to go through something, he’s working in your life.
If we genuinely want to be all that God wants us to be, we have to allow Him to take the impurities out of our lives. We have to be grateful for the fire.

Knowing the result and purpose of the refining process empowers us to “count it all joy” and to keep pressing on with hope and in expectancy!

“But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.” – Malachi 3:2.

Soap cleanses the outside, FIRE cleanses the inside. And the Spirit of God does both!
*When you sin, repent!
* In-depth repentance brings in-depth cleansing. Don’t feel bad about feeling bad, feel good about it. Be glad your conscience is still sensitive and responsive to God.
*What you never want to hear God say is what He said about Ephraim: ‘Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone’ .

The fact that God is convicting you of sin is proof of His love for you.
*God can forgive your sin but He cannot overlook it.
*Unconfessed sin disrupts your fellowship with Him.
*Forgiveness is about more than just escaping the penalty of sin, it’s about restoring your fellowship with God.

You say, ‘Won’t God get tired of me sinning and repenting?’
*
If Jesus told Peter to forgive his brother ‘seventy times seven’ would He do less for you?
The Bible says: ‘”Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’.
When you sin and try to hide from God you only prolong your misery.
*So the moment you become aware of your sin, confess it, then leave His presence confident that He has forgiven you.
You’re not a loser, you’re a learner.

Alexander Pope said: ‘A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.’

As difficult and painful as it may be to go through at the time, it remains truth that whenever Father sets to work on refining us, it is always for our own good.

In His unfailing love and mercy He carefully and attentively refines us that we may remain in right relationship with Him and be able to draw ever nearer to Him (continually presenting ourselves to our Father as living sacrifices).

Oh how He loves us!  Oh He loves us!


The Lord has a specific manner of preparing His people for useful service
.

*God desires to turn His children from rough, hard-edged stones into gems of gold and silver.

“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years” (Malachi 3:3-4).

The refiner’s fire can only accomplish its purposes when the heat is turned up to extraordinary temperatures.
*It breaks down the metal in order for it to become moldable and shapeable. Only when the temperatures reach this level can the work be fully accomplished.
So it is in our lives.

Until the Lord completes His refining process, the offerings we make are not made in righteousness and cannot be acceptable.
Thank God that Jesus is our righteousness and that there is no righteousness apart from Him.
*Still, the Lord continues to purge all that is not of His righteousness out of our lives.
This comes through trials that bring each of us to the end of ourselves in order that He may only reflect that which is Himself.

When God takes you through the refiner’s fire, be encouraged because it is His overriding commitment to turn you from a rough, hard-edged stone to a precious metal.
*God will do this through certain events in your relationships, and other circumstances in your life.
*Our job is to avoid trying to blow out the fire.

With God, it’s a simple choice. You can let Him clean HEARTS now, or clean HOUSE later. 

Let us each be encouraged: though weeping may endure for a night, JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING, FOR HE MAKES ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL IN HIS TIME…

*This is a time when you have to continue to press through stubborn difficulties.
* This is an opportunity to persevere and still stay strong in your faith.  It may
seem like breakthrough will never come, but I’m telling you that it will.  Don’t give up.  Continue to trust the Lord for the answer to your prayers.  The Lord sees what you’re going through, and He hears you.  Be strong and courageous.
Isaiah 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor
His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

 You have entered a season of blessing in which the doors will open for opportunities to advance spiritually and naturally.  You will be surprised and delighted as you progress through this extraordinary time in fires. 

It is a time of revelation and resolution as things that have seemed to be beyond your ability to grasp will now be within your reach and will create a sense of freedom that you have longed for. 
Draw near to the Lord, for He will give light, discernment, and truth where things have seemed to be murky.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Let us each be encouraged: though weeping may endure for a night, JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING, FOR HE MAKES ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL IN HIS TIME… Thank You Jesus for Loving US SO SO much!  Lord as I have come through the fires, I look back and praise You for them.  I Praise You for all that You have brought me through, for every impurity You took out of my life and for every blessing I have.  Lord, Thank you for being in control!  Amen