September 6, 2022
Grateful for the Fire
Precious one, are you in the refiner’s fire? He will refine and purify you and you will come out as silver and gold. (Malachi 3:2-3) I have been in the fire and it’s painful but oh so worth it!
Around fifteen years ago, I spent eighteen months in the refiner’s fire. I remember weeping before the Lord because it was a painful season. When you are in the fire you develop experience with God! I talked to God a lot when I was in the furnace of affliction. I cried out to God and said, ‘if I have to be in the fire, Father, turn the furnace up to full blast because I never want to walk this way again!’ Perhaps He is refining your character, integrity, attitude, and perspective or birthing out of you your purpose. Literally, Empowering Int’l Ministries was birthed out of me during those eighteen months of suffering and waiting on my emotional healing!
The Word of God says, ‘we are to count it all joy!’ (James 1:2-4) It’s hard to do, but oh so worth the pain and agony. Trust me when I tell you, ‘I don’t look like what I have been through, all glory and honor be to King Jesus!’ Faith forged in the fire is a must because it teaches you. Faith is what strengthens you to come out of the fire! Though I was in the fire I was not in it alone, God was with me, and He is with you. (Isaiah 43:2) David said, ‘I will bless the Lord, at all times, (not just when things are good, at all times) His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (Psalms 34:1)
I praised and thanked the Lord for my pain, and I forgave and blessed the ones who hurt me. This is for someone! If you have been wounded in church, forgive them, and bless them – that’s what the Word tells us to do. (Luke 6:28) When you do, you inherit the blessing. I well remember the pain! I said, ‘if I have got to go through hell, (the fire) I might as well be the one who gets the blessing!’ I can tell you I have been in the fire, but I do not smell like smoke and not a hair on my body was singed. He brought me out a new person because many things on me were burned off and made me a useable vessel for the Lord! Jesus suffered great pain on the cross. He foretold us we would suffer the same way He suffered and died for us. (1 Peter 3:18) Why do we complain when we suffer? Forgive us, Lord! Jesus’ suffered and died to give you life, and life more abundantly. (John 10:10)
