You Purified Me to Be Yours
I have an AWESOME God.
I Have an AWESOME, AWESOME God.
I have a God that will part the water so I can walk through on dry ground.
I have a God that will create a big fish to shallow me up and spit me out on dry land.
I have a God that turns darkness into light.
I have a God that died so I might live.
I Have an AWESOME, AWESOME God.
He is not only AWESOME, but loving and forgiving.
We are in awe of what He has done and what He is going to do, that is the kind of statement we need to use when we speak of our AWFULLY AWESOME God.
Ewen Huffman tells of a story in reference to Malachi 3:2-3a;
There was group of women in a Bible study group studying 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 this 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 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 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.
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 easy, when I see my image in it."
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, just remember that God has His eyes on you.
You could be in the refiner’s fire.
Proverbs 25:4; Remove the dross from the silver, and out comes material for the silversmith;
He can only use the PURE, the uncontaminated.
We are no different than the children of Israel or any of the others mentioned in the Bible. We continue to turn to our own ways and desires and then when we get into trouble we call upon the Lord to get us out of our trouble.
NLT Isaiah 1:22; Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered-down wine.
We take what the Lord has made pure and we contaminate it with our own selfish desires. We dilute the blessings that we have been given. We make them worthless.
Isaiah 43:1-3a;
No one can go through life without trials and troubles, whether they are physical, mental, financial or emotional, we all have troubles and we all need help.
God created us and He knows each one of us by name.
“I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”
We are not just a Social Security Number in the great book of life. We are a personal friend, one that has access to Him any time day or night.
We are not like Queen Ester who had to have an appointment or a certain time when we can approach the king.
In Zechariah 13:9 we read:
Zechariah 13:9; This third I will bring 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.’”
This is why I have an awfully awesome God, an AWESOME God!
“I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”
Malachi 3:6-7a; “I the Lord do not change, so you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them, return to me, and I will return to you.” Says the Lord Almighty.”
Man has a way of making things worse by trying to take care of things our selves, we often try to forget our problems by using different ways, alcohol, drugs, ignore or even denial. We just turn away from God.
He has never changed, if He did, do you think that He might have gotten a little tired of your behavior?
1. Your self-centeredness
2. Your pride
3. Your greed
4. Your arrogance
5. Your idolatry
If He changed, His attitude towards each one of us could be a whole lot different than it is.
But He did not; He is there to help us through the high water, the rushing river of life. He will walk us through the fire and we will NOT get burned or set on fire.
Just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the blazing furnace. Daniel 3:26, not a hair of their head was even cinched, neither will our hair be cinched.
He is our God and He knows you by name and He loves us, and He is AWESOME
We need the impurities taken out of our lives; we need to be held to the fire.
That is the fire and floods that we pass through; it makes us pure and strong, it makes us into something that the silversmith can use.
We pass through these things of life to strengthen us both physically and spiritually.
To be purified, refined by God is to be used of God
It’s time for the Master to see Himself in the silver of your life.
He created you, He formed you and He has redeemed you.
As we stand in the fire let us see our Lord’s image in ourselves.
This is the character of our God, He wants us to be all we can be, as pure as possible.
He has called us to seek Him first and His righteousness.
He has called us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and to Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Proverbs 25:4; Remove the dross from the silver, and out comes material for the silversmith;
He said: “I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”
He has called us by name into His service, as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
He has called us: 1 Peter 1:16; “for it is written: Be Holy, because I am Holy.”
To be purified, refined by God is to be used of God
He purified us to be His.
When Jesus called His disciples, He called each one by name. Just like He called you, He called you by name.
He has called us by name and we are His so, where are you with your answer?
