Journey of Fire

Last year I went through some hard times, several things kept happening and until then,I didn't know how I would respond to low times but I found out that I really had terrible reactions to challenges like waking up really late,staying idle all day,eating breakfast really late and crying as if the reason my eyes are big is because the water there is just too much and lastly,focusing so much on how to change the situation, this can be really frustrating.

You may not really have all that responses to situation but I believe the last part is relative to most people

Our focus becomes all about changing the circumstances that are troubling us. Even our prayer life can be all about asking God to fix something to make our lives more pleasant. But while we think our efforts to change our circumstances will make our lives better, the truth is we just end up exhausted and no more at peace than when we started.

To have God's perspective on the difficult things in our lives would be to see those things through the lens of God's eyes, purpose and way. God never promises life will be easy,nahhh,He didn't, but his word says he works everything to good for those who love him.

 If we saw every negative situation in our lives as a means for God to work good in us, maybe we wouldn't focus so much on manipulating our circumstances to feel better. Maybe, instead, we would begin to see our issues, trials and struggles as opportunities for God to do something transformational in our lives. 

The Bible often uses the imagery of gold being refined as a picture of what God does in our lives. 

Gold, when extracted from the earth, does not look like gold we find in a jewelry store. In fact, it is not always recognizable due to the impurities that mar its appearance. Yet, for the person searching for it, the ugliest lump of gold is of great value.

 We, as men and women, are similar to those lumps of unrefined gold. The sacrifice of God's son to reconcile us back to God shows just how much he values us,even while we are lost and separated from him. 

God sees us not full of impurity, but full of potential. He, in the refining imagery, is the refiner and we are the lump of unrefined gold, full of impurity and full of potential beauty.

Sometimes we expect God to simply hijack the junk in our lives and throw them away immediately we enter into relationship with him. But that is not the refining process -- not for gold, and not for us. 

God loves us too much to leave us as we are because our impure selves cannot reflect clearly all of who he is.

The refining process is hot. To refine gold, heat must be applied to force the impurities to the surface. As the impurities rise, they are removed and more heat is applied. This process continues and continues, heat is applied and re-applied, until the gold is pure. The refiner knows the gold is pure when he looks into the gold and sees his clear reflection.

God works a similar process in us. Our lives are a process of God applying heat and exposing our weaknesses, our faults, our struggles and our impurities. Heat is hot and uncomfortable, but if we submit to the heat, we are day by day transformed into his likeness. The process ends when we meet Jesus face to face, and he looks into our faces and sees his clear reflection.

So often we seek to place blame on someone or something for the difficult issues in our lives. But things we attribute to evil may well be heat applied by the refiner of our souls_heat full of purpose and heat that ultimately will result in purity and joy. 

Illness may be designed to bring fear to the surface so God can build our trust in Him. 

Financial difficulty may raise materialism to the surface,then you will begin to realize that money is actually the master of your soul and not God.

 Loneliness may raise idolatry to the surface,that's when you will see that you will rather be on your phone all day seeking for attention and never talking to God,I believe covid 19,made some people realize this.

Relational struggles may raise bitterness or unforgiveness to the surface. Disappointment at work may raise pride to the surface.

 The heat and trials of our lives are not evidence that God is cruel or has left us, but ultimately are evidence of how much God values us and his desire for us to be all he designed us to be. He values us as he finds us but he loves us too much to leave us as he finds us.

Travis Greene sang thus "It may not be good to me but it is good for me,Lord to be broken by You"

When life gets hot and difficult, human tendency is to run from the heat. When a molten substance is removed from the heat, it hardens.

 When we run from the heat, our lives and hearts harden, our impurities becomes more impure and we just can never be like Christ,so it is important we stay in the refining process.

As God changes your perspective, you will begin to see less of what is wrong and more of what God is doing with you.

God keeps bringing weaknesses to the surface so you will be stronger, more like him and more reflective of him. God's plan is not to make you more independent or more self-sufficient. His plan is to make you holy and a dependent servant of the refiner who desires to give you a life far beyond what you ever could imagine. 

In the heat, we see his power displayed and we become vessels for his glory and reflectors of his image to the world_and that is a life worth living, no matter your circumstances!

So as we journey through this year,we shouldn't expect a life without trouble but we should always remember that we are a project in the hand of God and as long as we are willing to stay in the process,He will make something beautiful out of us