And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7
But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. Romans 6:22
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:17
The verses above are from the Day 7 reading in today’s devotional and each one of them spoke to my heart.
If you are a regular follower of this blog, you are aware that not all of my loved ones are in align with God. This is something that saddens me and causes me pain. I am trying to come to a place where I do not allow myself to walk in fear because some of my loved ones are not walking in faith. It is not easy to just step back and hand it all over to God, trusting that His will is going to be done in their life.
I have actually visualized handing my loved ones over to God, many times, and the reason this has happened multiple times is because I find myself snatching them back again. As I read today’s post I came to the conclusion…trust me this is not the first time this has crossed my mind…that the problem within my loved ones is that my husband and I are sinners. We have sinned against God and we have sinned against each other, and even though from the outside it appears we have forgiven each other…we have not, not totally.
Sometimes, in the middle of a discussion, one of us will toss something from the past, that should have been forgiven and forgotten, into the other’s face. I have not learned the fine art of taking the sins that others have committed against me and throwing them as far as the east is from the west, cause I am not God!!! I am human and God is working on my life right now, and my marriage is the fire that the Refiner is using.
Every day I need to make the choice to allow God to refine me through the ups and the downs in my marriage.
I have not made a word circle in a long time…I feel God urging me to put one together using the word “refined”. I just stopped writing this post and did just as I felt God was calling me to do. I looked up the word refined for the definition and I looked for some synonyms; here is what I found.
re·fine
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Verb
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Synonyms
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I also made the word circle, but I found out that God wanted me to put all of this together so I could find this story. I have read it before, but God really wanted me to focus on His refining work and how all things that come into my life…through all avenues…will be used to make me holy and sanctified in Him.
There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three they came across verse three which says, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot – then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s the easy part — when I see my image reflected in it.”
This is my prayer today…
Lord, My heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for You. Purify my heart. Cleanse me from within. I seek to be refined by You. Amen
Song for today…
heisourstrongtower 
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