We’ve spoken a lot about the Storm that is hitting us and the changes it will bring. We will also speak a lot about ways to prepare. But I don’t mean to say that doing certain things means you won’t endure pain and suffering. There are certain ways each one of us needs to be refined and purified in order to be what God needs us to be. Not only would I not remove this purification from you, but I have no authority or ability to do so. God’s will will be done in your life!
It sounds nice to be refined and purified until you realize that it takes the extreme heat of fire to do the purification. But once you pass through this heat you look at yourself and realize how wonderfully pure you are, and you realize how much more you KNOW the Lord, you’ll realize that this refining was absolutely worth it. It is good. Have you experienced it yet? We will each need our own specific kind of purification and so we will each feel it differently. He knows what you need and He will deliver it. If you go along with what He is doing, it will not be as painful because you will understand what He’s doing in your life and be more able to keep your eyes on the prize. But there will still be pain.
Remember:
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
He cleans His own house first. You are a stone in His Temple. You must be cut into just the right size so that you line up perfectly next to the stones he has set beside you. The cutting may hurt, but the Temple He is building is beyond anything you can imagine, and He is making you a special piece of it!
Perhaps it is not exciting to think of yourself as a living stone in God’s Temple? Do you know that God looks at you as His perfect son? He views you as a brother of Jesus. But you have not yet matured like Jesus did. He must raise you. He will let you endure hardship if it will turn you into the adult which makes the family proud. God has not forgotten His plan. He set Adam and Eve in the Garden to represent Him and His Glory to all of Creation. To rule and administer His ways to everything in existence. This is still the plan – but you have not grown up into the maturity to yet handle this. God will bring this maturity to those who love Him. You must represent His Name to the world and He will not have you do it as a crying baby! He will do what is necessary to mature you. Seek Him and you will find Him in this process. And as you grow, you will indeed be one who KNOWS God. He will indeed teach you directly so that you do not have to go to another to know what God thinks, but He will give you this wisdom. This does not mean you will not need other believers. Each of us is but one living stone of His Temple, and we absolutely need each other. He is raising a family of sons. He is the King, and we are the royal family.
But as of now, the world does not see this because we are crying baby brats. That time is coming to an end. The Lord will raise up His Sons! The difference between the sons of God and those who don’t know Him will be made far more clear for those who have a heart to know God. This is what He is doing! It is a beautiful time in the Lord.
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:10-12)
All the great men of the Bible, even the angels, have longed to experience what you are going to be experiencing! It is a glorious time! Will it hurt your flesh? Absolutely. But when you look back you will thank God for the most amazing thing you have ever experienced. You have been grown up to know God and represent Him!
This post is Part 9 in the series The Coming Storm Daniel Revelation. To gain more insight about this coming storm, you can read more about it here and in Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6, Pt 7 and Pt 8.