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FEELING THE HEAT OF GODâS FURNACE
by Dudley Anderson GodTracker 795 1 Peter 16:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I used to work in an office that overlooked a steel mill. Across the property boundary was a rail track where rail carriages would line up to receive the dross that resulted from the iron refining process. I watched as carriage after carriage was filled with the disgusting steaming metallic sludge that was skimmed off the purified iron, which was being refined to produce smooth shiny stainless steel. The same process is employed to refine gold. Gold is precious. Gold is beautiful. However, most gold jewellery we wear is not pure, it is an alloy mix of gold and other metals. When gold is purified, this mixture is heated to a temperature of between 1,000 and 1,100 degrees Celsius. When the metallic mixture reaches this temperature, it melts. In the furnace, the pure gold sinks to the bottom of the crucible while the impure alloy metals separate and rise to the surface. This is called the dross. The sludge of dross is then skimmed off and discarded, leaving beautiful precious pure 24-carat gold behind in the crucible. You are precious. You are beautiful. You have deep hidden qualities that God rejoices over. He who is holy has called you to be beautifully holy as he is holy. There is an old song that goes, “Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver. Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire is to be holy.” Only in the heat of God’s furnace can you, and I, be refined to become holy. Only in the heat of God’s furnace will the dross of the old life rise to the surface that it may be skimmed off, revealing beautiful precious qualities of holiness within you. Are you in a furnace today? Be encouraged, your Lord is refining you. Be encouraged, if you’re in the furnace today, he is with you. Charles Spurgeon said, “As sure as God puts His children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them.” God-tracking is a refining process READ ALL ABOUT IT Follow Dudley on Twitter twitter.com/godtracker DON’T GIVE UP, LOOK UP & PRAY Dear Lord, if this is a process to refine me like pure gold, please cause the dross in my life to rise up that you may skim it off “O Lord, I feel like I’m in a fiery furnace today. So much is going wrong. I have so many needs and have called on you for healing, protection and deliverance but it seems you don’t hear me. Yet, I know you do hear me! Dear Lord, if this is a process to refine me like pure gold, please cause the dross in my life to rise that you may skim it off. Help me through this trial. Help me to stay strong and endure the heat in faith that you will, indeed, come through for me. Lord, you are faithful. You never abandon me, even in the fiery furnace. Amen.” If you prayed that prayer today, please email me - [email protected] SUBSCRIBE to the FREE weekly e-devotional GodTracker at… ---------------------------- Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa Dudley Anderson began writing for radio in 1994. Dudley currently writes a weekly e-mail Christian motivational thought called GodTracker and has complied 2 devotional books based on GodTracker. More information at surereaity.net Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |