Refiner's Fire

"Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time."

~ Daniel 11: 35 (NIV)

I learned alot about the refining of gold and silver this weekend while we did our family devotion. One of the first worship songs I first learned is "Refiner's Fire." While studying the refining of gold this brought new meaning to the song I first learned and is one of my favourites as I always remember the time in my life when I first heard it.

Gold and silver are heated so hot that the impurities go to the surface and are taken out. The purer the gold or silver, the clearer the reflection of the worker's face in the liquid.

God does that in our lives where he wants us to be as pure as we can be in our walk with him. He refines us by bringing the sins in our lives to the surface and taking them away. When we're heated or put through trials, how we respond is what others see and the more refined we get the more we reflect Christ's image.

It's not easy going through the fire and being refined. I can attest to that first hand. I'm not always thankful for the trials I need to go through. One lady in and old Bible study of mine was a great example to me when she went through a really tough time in her life she talked about going on her knees before God and praising him for this suffering. If I had been in her shoes I don't know if I could have praised God for taking my husband away. Sure she hurt and cried herself to sleep at night and had lonely moments. She knew that God would change her through this and she'd be closer to him in the end. What a testimony!

How is God refining you?

What impurities do you have in your life that need to surface and be dealt with?

When you're put through the fire, how do you respond?

Can you praise God while you are being refined?

Not of the World

Jesus prayed in John 17:15-18, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."

I'm thinking about the world and our culture, and its influence on us as God's people. We are influenced by our culture - big time. The evil one uses the values and pressures of our society against us. He uses these against our faith and against our calling. Jesus prayed that as we are in the world, the Father would protect us from the evil one. We need God's protection from the evil one. We also need to be aware that the enemy uses the world against us as we live in it.

We are not of this world. Not any more! Thank you, Father!
For "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son" Colossians 1:13

So here we are "not of this world" - yet in it. Our goal in this world is not to fit in, assimilate, and be like the average person. If we're honest here, could you admit,"Oh right, I forgot about that...I was actually really trying hard to fit in!"? That's the scheme of the enemy and that's exactly where we find ourselves a lot of times. We get conned into living...um...diminished lives. We get caught up in the small and petty; forgetting that we are sent.

We are sent...as Jesus was sent. Sent on a mission, sisters! Sent to reconcile man to God. To be salt, to be light, to love, and to testify to the Truth by how we live...here in the world.

It's not about me getting out of the world,
but getting the world out of me.

How do I live "not of this world?" By applying - living - this verse that we've quoted soooo many times here on Soul Kitchen.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Do not let the world form your value system. Let God - your Maker - shape your values through the truth of His Word. Read the word. Know it. Ask God to renew your mind according to the truth. And let's continue to encourage each other to walk worthy of our calling.

You are precious! Let your light shine for the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can I Help You?

"May your hand be ready to help me,

For I have chosen your precepts."

Psalm 119:173

One morning I was resting in my bed, reading, writing, and having my devotions. My beautiful little two-year old granddaughter came in and tried to climb up on the bed with me. As she tried to climb up, my down comforter kept sliding down. Wanting to help, I reached over and gently lifted her up onto the bed with me.

"No," Grammy, "no", she said and slid herself back down. She tried again to climb up but she still slid downward. After several tries, she still could not get up. I saw the effort she was making; she was trying really hard but to no avail.

So...unnoticed by her, I reached forward and held the covers tightly in my hand. With the comforter firm, she was able to grab little handfuls of material and climb up to me. She was so proud of herself and had no idea that I had helped.

I thought about God and my relationship with Him and how many times I had said, "no, thank you", yet, He "gently held the covers for me."

What an awesome God we have!!!

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip-

He who watches over you will not slumber."

"The Lord will watch over your coming and going

Both now and forevermore."

Psalm 121:1-3;8

A recycled post from Pilgrim's Heart

Walk in the Light

My mind has been thinking lately of all the people that I know and love that have had a personal relationship with Jesus but have seemingly lost their way and left Him behind in search of something or someone else to try and fulfill the desires of self.

My thoughts and prayers for them are not in judgement. I know from personal experience how easy it is to think you have it all together and then realize one day that you have totally lost it.

In fact...I don't think any of us that love Jesus and have a relationship with him can even imagine waking up one day and not wanting to share every moment with him. But it doesn't start like that.

The truth of the matter is that it just doesn't take that long to lose your way in the dark...and after that...it's just one step at a time in the wrong direction before you feel lost. It's just so hard to focus when your eyes are straining in the shadows....

Thank you Jesus...that You are the Light of the world! Thank you Jesus that you gave your life to be our Light.

I have fumbled around in the darkness of my own mind more times than I can keep count of. I've allowed my worries, fears, anxieties, negative thoughts, anger, resentment, pride...you name it...to shadow over me and distract me from the truth....and the Light.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

My prayer for all of us today....Is that we would walk in the light.

...asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14

Amen.

This week, I have been thinking about Joseph. The one whose brothers tossed him in an empty cistern, was sold into slavery and ended up saving a couple of nations.

He came to mind as I was anticipating training for a supervisory position in my new job. As I may have already mentioned in a previous post, my job is in a whole new arena for me, a whole new industry which requires for me a new way of thinking, at least as it pertains to the requirements of my position. I have to think of things I never had to think of before, look at things from an unfamiliar perspective, do things according to another list of priorities. I can't rely on past experience in this field to help me.

That's where Joseph comes in. When he was purchased by Potiphar as a slave, what experience did he have running the affairs of the household of an Egyptian officer of the government? He was in a whole new country, a whole new culture, a whole new way of life. He went from being a spoiled shepherd boy to an overseer in charge of all that his master had, in house and field, so that all Potiphar had to concern himself with was the food he ate. (Wouldn't we all like to have a Joseph?)

Talk about a new way of thinking! Joseph had to concern himself with things he never knew anything about before. If you stop to think about it, it would have been ridiculous for anyone to think that a Hebrew slave would be anything but someone to order around, much less the guy who did all the ordering. But,

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. Genesis 39:2-3

God had a plan from the beginning. The Lord was with Joseph all along. It was not a mistake or an unfortunate turn of events that put him in Egypt. He was there for a purpose.

It is no different for me. It is no different for you. God has had a plan for us from the beginning. It is not a mistake or an unfortunate turn of events that have put us where we are (Or on the flip side - it's not our own great choices and talents that have landed us in an agreeable or prominent position in life.)

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for wholeness, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:16

When God led Joseph into a whole new way of doing life, he taught him a whole new way of thinking in order to be successful in it so that his purpose would be accomplished. If he did it for Joseph, he will do it for me. It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't, because he has said,

For (I am) we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that (I) we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

I flipped my daily inspiration calendar....

"Loving God - I pray for the understanding to forgive those who have hurt me. Open my heart to forgive as You have forgiven me. Amen."

Not words I wanted to start my day off... my heart is heavy. These words hit me hard and have been mulling in my head all day now.

How does the dictionary define "forgive?" Stop blaming or grant forgiveness. Absolve from payment (I forgive you your debt).

That's pretty powerful stuff. I honestly need time to work through everything that has happened and take a step at a time. I honestly don't know if I am at the point if I can honestly say that "I stop blaming" or that "I absolve him/her."

What does Jesus ask of me?

Colossians 3:13

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (NIV)

Forgiveness happens when we are obedient to God.... through faith. It's not easy to do but it's something that God has told us to do so we can be forgiven. It doesn't mean that a hurtful situation doesn't exist and it isn't denying the fact that your feelings are hurt. Forgiveness is freedom from bitterness.

That's alot to process. I need to make the choice to forgive and trust God to do the rest. It's my prayer that I can do that and be free from the bitterness that is hurting me. Only through faith and by God's grace can I do this.

"Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Wow! Jesus forgives me when I come to him. My slate is erased clean the second I come to him. Isn't that how it should be in our walk with God? Should we not be willing to do the same for others? What example am I to my children if I cannot forgive the one who hurt me? I can forgive my children so easily yet selfishly am hanging onto things that were said in anger to me by someone else.

I reread the daily inspiration and pray these words for myself...

"Loving God - I pray for the understanding to forgive those who have hurt me. Open my heart to forgive as You have forgiven me." Amen."

Thank you Jesus that you are my strength to take this step to forgive. These words now are my words and not words on my calendar.... they're my heart.

I pray they can be yours too.

2010

A new decade. A new year. A new day.

As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more. Psalm 103: 15-16

Man is like a breath; 


his days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:4

“Time flies.” How many times have you heard this said? Or…“There aren’t enough hours in a day.” Our days are like a fleeting shadow. We flip the page of the calendar and wonder where the month has gone.

So what do we do about that? About time passing by so quickly?

Follow the Father… today. Listen to His voice and walk with Him… today. Discover the joy of being in that kind of relationship with the One who knows all things and is the giver of Life. Discover the joy of daily walking with the One who loves you completely. And when you look back over your days and don’t know where time went or remember what you did, it won’t really matter because you’ll know that you followed the Father – your Father – one day at a time.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

(A recycled post)

May God's blessing be on you this new year. May you walk in His peace because you know He cares for you.