Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Hillsong singing … Refiner’s Fire … poignantly singing of how our hearts as Christians are purified by the trials we face in life.
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Highlight Passage : … 1 Peter 1:7 [ESV] ... 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 honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
… Peter encourages Christians, undergoing great persecution, to take heart in their faith being tested and purified by fiery trials.
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Highlight Passage [Context] : … 1 Peter 1:6-9 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Peter, writing to persecuted Christians, shows them (and us) that it is the fires of trial in life which purify our faith in Christ.
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Reference Passage : … Job 23:10 [ESV] … 10 But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
… Job recognized and held on to the faith that God was refining his faith by the trials he allowed in Job’s life.
Reference Passage : … Zechariah 13:9 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s prophesy, thru Zechariah, that in the end times, God’s remnant of true believers will be purified by the fires of the the Lord’s final coming for His bride.
Reference Passage : … Malachi 3:2-3 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s prophesy, thru Malachi, that when the Messiah finally comes for His Bride, He will have purified His beloved by fire.
Reference Passage : … 1Peter 4:12-13 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… We shouldn’t be surprised by the fiery trials of life as they being used by God to refine us to become more like our Lord.
Reference Passage : … James 1:12 [ESV] … 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
… God blesses and crowns those in heaven who remain steadfast in their (our) faith when they [we] stand the test of the fiery trials of life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Linda Washington, AT THIS LINK uses the same metaphor used often in the Bible repetitively (see highlight and reference passages) to illustrate how God uses the trials of life as fire was used in Bible times to refine and purify gold/silver.
I don’t think it’s difficult for any reader here to identify with going thru the fiery trials of life, does it, … especially in these troublesome and viral times we’re living thru now? And the word picture of gold being purified by fire (see photo) would have been easy for any of those addressed by Peter’s letter to Christians in his day who were be persecuted so horribly, … some even being tarred and burned alive in Asia Minor.
And the faith of Christians - true believers - has always been under fire all thru history, hasn’t it? Job certainly experienced it [see Job 23:10]; and a number of the Prophets (see two references above), wrote of how the remnant of believers would be put thru fiery trials when the Lord, … the Messiah, … comes for His bride, the Church. And perhaps we now are beginning to experience just the beginnings of some of those fiery trials which will intensify in the end times. I pray that we’ll be able to see that these trials are just preparing us as The Bridegroom coming for His Bride.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being with us as we go thru any fiery trial which You use to purify our faith.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to go thru any trial You use to make us like Yourself. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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