Comfort in the Flame

The flame is coming and how it will affect each of us will be determined not by the temperaturet but be the material the heat comes in
contact with. Some material will be melted, some consumed, some hardened but the heat will affect everything.

No one will escape the refining process. The only way to go through the process and the process fulfill the purpose of the Refiner is to find comfort in the flame.

Paul said in Romans 5:3 that we “glory in tribulations”. He understood that the purpose of the flame was to refine and ultimately define. Many don’t like the flame because it reveals and exposes the hidden things of the heart.

They don’t like what is revealed to them nor what is revealed to others. It exposes truth and that is what truly defines each of us.

Many desire the darkness where truth can be hidden but the fire gives light that cannot be denied and gives heat that cannot be extinguished. The Refiner will finish His work. He wants pure gold.

The fire is coming and no one will be able to escape its purpose or plan. We must separate ourselves from the dross or we will be the dross He separates. Nothing will satisfy the Refiner but 24 Karat gold. The Father will be satisfied with nothing but a spotless Bride for his Son. 

It’s purity He’s after and purity He will get. Only the pure in heart will see God. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Our desire to be like Him will allow us to desire the flame. This is the only way we will find comfort in the flame.

The three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, found comfort in the flame.

When the uncompromised were heated, their desire to be molded into their Creator’s image rather than the world’s, kept them from being consumed in the flame. Their hearts were made of refined gold before they ever entered the oven. Although their hands were bound, their hearts weren’t.

Will we welcome the flame or avoid it? Are we afraid of it because we’re afraid it will consume rather than refine?

God wants to gather his grain into the barn and burn the chaff. Will we be the grain He gathers or the chaff He consumes?

The Refiner is coming. The Potter is about to put His clay workmanship into the kiln to finish His work. Are we willing to become His finished workmanship?

Every comfort zone is about to leave. The fire that is coming will do just that. We must willingly leave our comfort zone or our comfort zone will leave us. We will either look forward to and welcome the process the heat will bring or we will resent it. 

Every hidden attitude and motive will be revealed. Our attitudes will expose the hidden things of what we’re truly made of. The Refiner’s fire will make sure of that.

The Truth exposes everything. Will we welcome the refining Truth or reject Him? The Refiner’s fire is coming and is now upon us. 

It will be best for all to find comfort in the flame.