Inner Truth~The Effective Messenger

IMPURITIES DULL OUR WITNESS

What is in your heart? 

David asked the Lord to examine his heart.  Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.”  Zechariah 13:9 says, “…refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested…”  The word refine refers to that melting process to remove impurities from precious metals.

Our faith is refined through fiery trials.  Job 23:10 says, “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”  The Amplified says, “…I shall come forth as refined gold (pure and luminous).”

Is your witness dull, tarnished, blocked, or does it express the character of Christ?  Psalm 34:5 says that they looked to Him and were radiant.  When He looks into the gold of your life, does He see His own reflection?  We live in glass houses.  Others are watching our lives unfold through our trials to see if what we say is lived.  Is your messenger the same as your message?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had their faith in God tested by fire.  Their faith held, and the Lord revealed Himself to them in the midst of the fire.  They were brought out of the fiery furnace and examined.  Daniel 3:27 says, “…they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.”  Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”

The Wycliff manuscripts were the kindling for John Hus’ burning at the stake in 1415.  Nero lit his gardens with human torches.  In 1956 five men were killed by the Aucas, yet it opened the door for the salvation of that tribe.  In 2014 twenty-one Egyptian Christians were beheaded.  What will happen today?  We don’t know what the future holds for us, but we do know Who holds our future.  It is all about faith.

The early church was persecuted.  In Acts 1:8 the words of Jesus are written.  It says, “…and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world.”  As Stephen was being stoned to death he said, “Look!  I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).  Paul fulfilled the Lord’s word to Ananias, “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).

Here is a line from the old hymn ‘How Firm A Foundation’, “The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

God has a high purpose in our trials.  Romans 5:3 Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.”  Our thanksgiving releases His joy gift within.

John 15:11 Amplified says, “I have told you these things that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.”  His joy gift remains.  Yet, our complaining, bitterness, unforgiveness, refusing to release unresolved issues, etc., suppress that witness of joy.

Isaiah 12:2-3 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.  Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

John 7:38 Amplified says, “He who believes in Me (who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me) as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow (continuously) springs and rivers of living water.”  What flows continuously from your inner being?

Matthew 12:34 says that out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks.  Our thoughts control our brain, and our brain controls our body.  Therefore our thoughts in our trials are the key to releasing that joy gift reflected to glorify Him.

Trials refine our faith.  The lies that the enemy has hidden through fiery darts are designed to undermine and overthrow our faith.  The enemy-implanted questionings, doubt, fears, and unbelief must be silenced.  The hidden unresolved issues that are buried in our unconscious will be exposed.  As we embrace our trials, His deep work is accomplished.  The hidden dross will rise and be skimmed off through His divinely orchestrated and impeccably timed trials.

Our Rock-strength witness comes through the implanted Word of God.  When we hide His Word in our hearts, it is the discerning key in our faith that will quench the fiery darts of the evil one.

j marilyn adams ~ January 14, 2016