Refining Fire: How God Purifies Us

Have you ever wondered why God allows difficult trials in your life? The answer might be found in an ancient biblical metaphor that still resonates powerfully today.

When gold or silver enters a refiner's fire, something remarkable happens. The intense heat doesn't destroy the precious metal—it purifies it, burning away impurities and revealing something more valuable. In the same way, God works as a divine refiner in our lives. Drawing from the powerful imagery in Malachi 3:2-4, this episode explores how God sits "as a refiner and purifier of silver," personally overseeing our spiritual transformation.

The beauty of this refining process lies in its purpose. Unlike random suffering, spiritual refinement prepares us to stand in God's presence and offer worship that truly pleases Him. Through Jesus Christ's sacrifice, we're being continuously purified—at our conversion, through daily challenges, and as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices.

While none of us naturally welcomes trials, understanding them as purposeful refinement changes our perspective. The temporary discomfort leads to lasting transformation. As Romans 13:11 reminds us, "now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." With Christ's return approaching, God's refining work takes on greater urgency as He prepares a church "without spot or wrinkle."

Have you experienced God's refining process in your own life? 

Thank you for listening! Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube @myfaithline to stay updated about our weekly episodes. Let us help you Find Joy in Your Journey Today!! To support our journey please visit our web page at www.myfaithline.com God Bless!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Joy in this Journey podcast by
Faithline.
Join us as we bring you weeklyepisodes on Bible devotionals to
empower you to live in faith.
By faith, through God's grace,Find joy in your journey today.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
God's grace, find joy in your journey today.
God bless you everyone andthank you for joining us once
again on this new episode of thepodcast.
Joy in this Journey byFaithline.
I pray so that this episode andall the other episodes of the
podcast, your lives have been,and continue to be, ministered
and transformed by the HolySpirit.
The verses we will read todayhave been of great encouragement

(00:52):
to me and they continue to doin my life.
Each and every day I will bereading in the book of Malachi,
chapter 3, verses 2 to 4.
We read in the name of theFather, the 3, verses 2 to 4,.
We read In the name of theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, amen.
But who can endure the day ofhis coming and who can stand

(01:14):
when he appears?
For he is like a refiner's fireand like launderer's soap.
He will sit as a refiner andpurifier of silver.
He will purify the sons of Leviand purge them as gold and
silver that they may offer tothe Lord an offering in

(01:39):
righteousness.
Then the offering of Judah andJerusalem will be pleasing to
the Lord, as in the days of old,as in former years.
These verses are very powerfuland they speak about the very
beautiful and sometimes painfulprocess that children of God

(02:04):
must go through, the purifyingprocess.
Fire is a very fascinatingelement and it has many benefits
.
We use fire for many things,like cooking, for heating and
even to mold or create things.
As most of us know, to refinemetal it needs to be exposed to

(02:29):
very high heat.
Fire removes all the impuritiesfrom metals and at the end you
are left with pure, clean goldor silver.
1 Peter, 1.7 tells us that justlike a metal is processed
through heat to be purified, somust our faith be tested by fire

(02:51):
may be found to praise, honorand glory at the revelation of
Jesus Christ.

(03:11):
The verses read in the book ofMalachi tells us that God is
that purifying fire.
Not only this, but that hehimself sits down to refine and
clean metal, that he will be theone to refine the children of
Levi and as we know, thechildren of Levi were the drive

(03:35):
of the priesthood and God wastalking about how he will refine
and clean them so that, aftergoing through this refining
process, their offerings will bepleasing to him.
In a certain way.
We are like the tribe of Levi.
We are the people God isrefining and cleansing.

(03:57):
We, who he calls us chosenpeople and royal priesthood.
Like says in first peter 2, 9,he purifies us and cleanses us
with the precious blood of ourbeautiful lamb, jesus christ.
Hebrews 1, verses 10 and 14,says by that will we have been

(04:22):
sanctified through the offeringof the body of Jesus Christ once
for all, for by one offering hehas perfected forever those who
are being sanctified.
Jesus' precious blood shed onthe cross of Calvary is what

(04:42):
purifies us, what cleanses usand gives us access to the
presence of God.
This refining process hasdifferent stages in the life of
a believer.
One is when we first come toChrist and we are transformed
into a new creation, christ andwe are transformed into a new

(05:05):
creation.
The other one is through ourwalk with Jesus, day by day,
trial by trial, as we allow theHoly Spirit to transform and
shape our life through his wordand through his guidance.
The other one also happens whenwe choose to give our lives as
living offering to him, like hesays in romans 12, verse 1 I

(05:25):
beseech you therefore, brethren,by the mercies of god, that you
present your bodies a livingsacrifice holy, acceptable to
god, which is your reasonableservice.
The refining process is not aneasy one.
In the verses of 1 Peter weread before.

(05:47):
It tells us that this processfor believers happened through
trials and through tribulations,but it's through those things
that God allows in our livesthat our lives and our faith can
be pleasing offerings to God.
At the beginning of the verseswe read in the book of Malachi,

(06:10):
there are some questions asked.
But who can endure the day ofhis coming and who can stand
when he appears?
And later on the answers arekind of given to us.
It says for he is like arefiner's fire and like
launderer's soap.
In other words, for someone tostand before his presence, we

(06:34):
need to be wrapped up in thatrefining fire and cleansed by
that launderer's soap, andcleansed by the launderer's soap
.
God makes it very clearthroughout his word that he is
seeking a holy church withoutspots or wrinkles.
Ephesians 5.27 says that he gavehimself to sanctify the church

(06:54):
so that at the end he mightpresent himself a glorious
church not having a spot or awrinkle or any such thing.
So now that, through Jesus, wehave access to that purifying
fire that is like a laundry orsoap, now that we know and

(07:17):
understand that he himself hasbeen determined to purify, to
cleanse us.
Now that we can see his gloryface to face, not only once a
year, but whenever we want, andwe have access to his presence
and we can call upon his name,let us allow that refining fire

(07:41):
to be active and working in ourlives.
Let us let him clean us andshape us and mold us however he
wants to, even though this meansthat we have to go through
trials and through tribulationsand, most importantly, that we
must be intentional in how wespend our time and how we spend

(08:06):
time in his presence, and howmuch of our day we give to him
and how much of our time we giveto him.
So, to finish, I want to leaveyou with this verse on romans 13
, verse 11, that says and dothis knowing the time that now

(08:27):
it is high time to awake out ofsleep, for now our salvation is
nearer than when we firstbelieved, understanding that
Jesus is coming soon and that weneed to be transformed more and
more each and every day andthat we should spend more time
in his presence.

(08:49):
Thank you, lord, for yoursacrifice.
Thank you because you are fire,a fire that purifies, a fire
that cleanses, just as your wordsays, lord pur, clean us, wash
us, refine us like silver, likegold, so that our offerings may

(09:15):
be pleasing in your eyes.
Open our hearts, lord, and helpus hear your voice, allowing
you to mold and purify us.
Help us to be wise with ourtime, lord, to know how to make
the most of the time you give us.
Help us holy spirit, especiallyin this end days, lord,

(09:41):
recognizing that you are comingback soon and that you are
coming for a church withoutspots or wrinkles.
May your strength be ineveryone who is listening to
this podcast.
Lord, transform our lives,change our hearts and draw us

(10:02):
closer to you.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
This is your sister in Christ,lauren, until next time.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
If you liked today's episode and find that our
podcasts are helping you findjoy in your journey, please
leave us a review in the podcastapp and tell us your story and
how we assisted you in findingjoy.
Don't forget to reach out to usby taking a screenshot of any
of our podcasts and posting iton your Instagram or Facebook,
tagging us in at MyFaithLine,and we will comment back.

(10:34):
Join us next week for moreepisodes on finding joy in your
journey through faith.
Until next time, remember tolive in faith by faith, through
God's grace.
God bless you.