The Refiner's Fire

If we go to the Word of God in Romans 5:3-5, Paul says:

“And not only that but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

'To experience or to be subjected to something bad or unpleasant, that is the definition of the word, Suffer from the Oxford Dictionary. The Latin meaning of suffering is 'to bear'. Are you suffering at the moment, are you going through a fiery trial?

Well, I want to tell you I have never met a person yet who is worth his salt, who has not been through the fire. You see fire purifies, it takes out and it burns off all the rubbish in our lives. It is never wasted unless of course, we do not learn from it. If we don’t, then we need to go through that fiery trial again until we learn. The Lord Jesus is the one who disciplines, chastises those He loves and I will back that up with a scripture in the Book of Hebrews 12:11:

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

I want to say to parents - the parent who does not discipline their small child, in my opinion, is very cruel... because that child will be disciplined severely in the hard school of life. We must not be afraid of hardship, pain, or suffering because we are not in that fire alone. Remember, Jesus is walking with you through it. He will never allow you to be tempted above that which you can handle. You will find that in 1 Corinthians 10:13. God always makes a way out for you, I can prove that.

You must remember that this correction that we are talking about is very painful. Jesus understands because He is doing the pruning but He is doing it with a pair of pruning clippers called secateurs. They are held in one hand, never forget that that Hand has got a hole through it. It was put there by a rusty old nail and as He is pruning us He is suffering even more than we are. So today, don’t be afraid about suffering. Trust Him and He will bring you through.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.