The Refining Of The Refiners Fire

I have talked a lot in my messages about preaching the truth, about not leaving people in their sins. My messages have spoken about in a real relationship with Jesus we are changed. The old has passed away.

My concern is that we don’t bring people to the point where they see change is necessary. We all had to come to a point to see that we were sinners, and that our only hope was to surrender our lives to the Lord.

There is a purifying that we must go through. The Bible talks about clearing away the Chaff, about going through the refiner’s fire.

In the refiner’s fire is where the changes are made, where a difference in our lives comes clear. The Lord burns away the impurities, clears away the chaff. The refiner’s fire will not consume us it refines us and brings us to a place where we can say the old has passed away.

Nehemiah 3:8

Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

Goldsmiths when making repairs heat up the gold. In a refining fire the gold is purified. The impurities are burned off and the gold is what is left. Any added metals. Or other impurities are melted away and a soft pure gold is what the goldsmith has when he is finished his work.

Just like the Lord burns away the unneeded, unnecessary and unwanted things in our life. What He has left when His work within us is a refined heart that is soft and open to Him. He has a pure follower, not some one who is a sometimes follower, a follower who follows him at the edges. He has someone who can come into His presence with a clean heart.

Psalm 51:10-13

 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.

In this Psalm David is asking God to create in him a pure heart, get rid of the things that keep me from you. Give me a steadfast spirit so that I don’t wander from Your ways, the path you have set before me. Restore me Lord, give me back the joy of my salvation that keeps me with a willing spirit to follow you. Do this for me Lord so that I can teach others Your ways, so that they are freed from sin and follow You.

I have prayed that many times. I want to be clean, I don’t want impurities and imperfections in me that stop me from being a soft-hearted sold-out believer before God. Jesus gave His life for me and I must be willing to give my life for Him.

If all that means that I must set my self on the threshing floor, so the chaff is removed. If all that means I must submit myself to the Refiner’s fire in the Hands of The Goldsmith. Then I willingly do so.

This could mean He burns away sins we have not recognized. Unforgiveness we haven’t turned over to Him or offenses we are holding on to. You may not recognize them, but they may well be there. He will help us to release and give them up. Even if it means facing those who we haven’t forgiven, were offended by or brought an offense to them. He will help us deal with the sin. The closer we draw to Him the more life will be easier to live. No that doesn’t mean we will live a problem free life, it just means when those problems come, we will be in a better place to face them and deal with them.

Malachi 3:1-4

Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will  clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the  messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

This passage talks of the coming of John the Baptist, the messenger who would be followed by the Lord Jesus. It tells us of the refining, read this passage. The smelters and purifying of the silver purifying of gold and silver so that our offerings will be pleasing to the Lord. It may not all happen in one pass through the refiner’s fire. As the passage below from Psalm 12 tells us of silver being refined seven times.

Psalm 12:6

The words of the Lord are pure words;
As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

We may be carrying enough impurities, unforgiveness, offense, pride, sin in our lives that it will take a longer time or multiple times through the refiner’s fire.

I can see the times I have been in the refiner’s fire. I can see times I have been walking through a wilderness and having to look at areas of my life needing refining.

Are we willing to submit to being refined, to being cleansed for us to draw ever closer? Think for a moment, are you looking to be used by the Lord, looking for a time of greater closeness, greater ministry. Sit and pray, with your whole heart, ask the Lord to show you, ask Him to take you to the refiner’s fire. It is there that the gold and silver are purified for His use.