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by Jim Hughes
Narrated by Artificial Intelligence Andrew.
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Proverbs 17:3 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
If you want pure gold and silver they must survive the test of fire. Fire gets rid of all the impurities that may be found there. The end result of going through the fire is a product that is beautiful, pure and of great worth.
It is the same with the soul. In order for the soul to be something of beauty and useful to God, it must first be tested and refined by God. The goal of God as He works in us is to make us pure. He never stops working on us because He knows that we will never be 100% pure this side of heaven. He created us with a will and He knows that we don’t always choose to cooperate with Him. We struggle and sometimes fight the process. We don’t like the process of going through the fire; it makes us uncomfortable and sometimes hurts a lot. We try to avoid the heat as much as possible. And the more we struggle against God, the more we find ourselves in need of God’s testing and refining.
Left alone we will never become pure in heart; we will avoid the refining fire. We will never be found to be pleasing and acceptable to God. We must let the Lord work in us. Knowing that He loves us and sees the beautiful person we can become, it is in our best interest to submit to Him and let Him have His way with us.
Thank you, O Lord, for not giving up on us. We thank You for seeing in us something beautiful to reclaim. We thank You for your refining fire. We thank You that we are becoming pure in heart. Lord, we confess those times in which we struggle against you. We know we don’t always let You have your way with us and thus delay the process of our becoming pure. We ask You to forgive us. Lord, we must have your help in this. We ask You to strengthen our resolve to not sin against you. We ask that You do whatever you need to do in us to make us pure and keep us that way. Lord, test our hearts today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If it isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.
Now, a word for our sponsor –
Psalms Devotionals Volume 2
by Jim Hughes
The Psalms speak to us in ways that no other portion of the Scriptures do. They speak to where we are at, our highs and lows of life.
This book is Volume 2 of my devotional thoughts from the Psalms. They have been gleaned from over the years reading through the Psalms many times and listening to what the Lord says to me about them.
