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AriseandShine.org

July 2009

The Refiner's Fire

7/17/2009

 
The refining pot is for silver
and the furnace for gold, but
the Lord tests the hearts. 
Proverbs 17:3


As a batch of silver or gold has to be sent through the refiner's fire to be purified and cleansed from any impurities, so we, too, as believers in Christ, must pass through many "fiery" trials in order to become pure in heart as well as better able to reach higher levels of spiritual maturity...
Of course these trials or tests do not remove our sins. Our sins can only be removed by the blood of Jesus Christ. But these trials will help to remove any impure motives for serving the Lord. They will also assist us at keeping our carnal nature under greater degrees of control.

Likewise, as a jeweler makes ready his individual pieces of gold and silver to be placed on display in a showcase for all to admire, the Lord uses our excursions into the so called "furnace of affliction" to prepare us for eventually display before a hurting humanity.

How amazing is it, therefore, to realize that the Lord has chosen such unworthy people, like myself, to become one of His trophies? Even before the creation of the world, according to Ephesians 2:10, the God of the universe planned for me to shine as a sparkling diamond in a spiritually dark world. What grace! And all the glory belongs to Him.

D.B.

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    David Berkowitz
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