Thursday, November 29, 2018

The Refiner's Fire

For He will be like a refiner's fire...Malachi 3:2b

How does the Holy Spirit purify? He purifies by separation.
That is how the refiner purifies his metal. In Malachi 3, the
refiner is sitting before the crucible in which is the precious
silver.  

How does the refiner know that his metal is ready for him
to use? Well, he sits there; he tempers the fire and then as
the hard silver is made liquid and the fire operates, and the
dross gradually comes to the surface, he keeps on separating 
the dross from the silver; skims the surface as the dross is 
forced out of the metal through the action of the fire. He 
skims the surface, removes the dross, and when ultimately 
he sees his face reflected in the molten metal, he knows that 
it is ready.

The Holy Spirit sits alongside the crucible of your life and 
mine, and as the fire, He keeps separating  the dross from 
the metal, and He will keep on with holy work until He can 
see his face of the Lord He loves to magnify and glorify. 
Fire purifies. 

Take the illustration of the great plague in London. In 1665 
they walked through he streets and cried, "Bring out your 
dead; bring out your dead." And through the plague multi-
tudes died. The plague was followed by the great fire of 
1666, and as the result of the great fire, something happened.
The whole city was purged of the dread disease. But some-
thing els happened. The fire not only destroyed germs bring-
ing death to myriads, but it penetrated the soil. It warmed
the soil and after a while, unknown flowers sprang up from 
long, deeply buried seeds. The warming of the soil made 
possible the wonderful fertility of the seeds. That is the great
work of the Holy Spirit. 

There are some who have within them the long-buried seeds
of divine truth, and then the Holy Spirit operates, and as the
Spirit of Fire He destroys the plague of sin. Then He pene-
trates and warms the soil causing the life to bear fruit to the
glory of God. Henry Lockyer

Reader, I came across this reading many years ago when my
life was falling apart. It encouraged me so greatly that I real-
ized that my life was not falling apart, but falling together.

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