HAPPY NEW MONTH!!!!!!
James 1:2-4 NIV – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
As for this passage! 🤣🤣🤣
God won’t just say – count it joy,..He just had to qualify it with the word “pure”!
Who wants to go through trials in this life? I certainly don’t!🥴
Take note of the results however- perseverance, being mature and complete, not lacking anything. Weelll,.. that part I want! 🤣🤣🤣🫣
What does it mean to refine something?
It means to remove or free a substance from impurities or unwanted material.
Now that is important! 🤔
We serve a Holy God who cannot stand the presence of sin and as His children, God seeks to cleanse us from our spiritual impurities with spiritual fire.
This fire comes in the form of tests, challenges, adversity. None of these sound enjoyable .🙆🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
God as it were turns up the temperature in our lives at times by exposing us to situations that challenge our faith, teach us perseverance, and test our faith.
These trials serve the purpose of separating us from qualities that do not serve us and by extension, do not serve the Kingdom of God.
Wow!
Let’s read:
Malachi 3:2 NIV –
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap
Zechariah 13:9 NIV –
This third I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God. ’”
What is the purpose of the Refiner’s Fire to the believer?
• To purify
• We are to be a righteous offering (a living sacrifice)
• To reflect the character of Jesus Christ
• To live a fulfilled Christian life
As for the trials, they will come, BUT GOD!
Let’s each choose not to reject the refiners fire by consciously turning away from God’s teachings, ignoring His convictions when we do wrong and/ or by living in rebellion of His ways.
Take heart, my brother my sister, God Dey!
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Weeping may last for the night, but joooooy, comes in the morning!
Keep trusting, keep hoping and keep following Christ. Egobe!
God bless you!