I don’t really like this truth, but here it is: Who you are in the fire is who you are. I want to imagine that who I am on television is the true representation of who I am. I like the edited version of me. I like how I look after an hour with a makeup artist and someone who actually knows how to style my hair. I like kind lighting and a controlled set. But none of these dynamics reveal my hidden flaws.
Those usually come out when some area of my life is crossed. This reminds me of something God spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “See, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction” (Is. 48:10, MEV). I would have loved it if God had rephrased some of this. “I have tested you in the sauna of the spa experience,” for example, would have been nice. READ MORE
The Kingdom of God is like a Great Blacksmith who took the raw hardened rocks of the earth and cast them into the pot were they were melted and then cast into swords.
They were battered and banged upon and shaped into swords, then sharpened with the Rock.
When the blacksmith was done with them they were sheathed for that great Day of the Lord.
And when that day came at the sound of the trumpet they were raised from their sheathes to do battle with their Lord. But those swords that were dull, broken and no good were cast away into the Great Fire never to be used again.
It is true…all of the NT shows this early Church history also….Let us grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus…….pray in secret be rewarded openly…and the Word day and night……..selah