Purify Your Soul

Purification through Trials and Tribulation – R. Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1;

ENCOURAGING WORD:

As born-again Christian’s, we will go through our share of trials and tribulation as was promised to us in John 16:33 where we read, “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Notice, it does not say that we might have tribulation, it says, “we will have tribulation.” Just to clarify what tribulation means in the text in which it is written, this is not speaking of the “great tribulation” that will come to those that have rejected Jesus Christ during their time here on earth. That is for those that are still here during the foretold seven year period where God will judge the world and all the inhabitants therein that have not come to Jesus Christ during this time. We all agree that trials and tribulation are not something that we look forward to, but it is a necessary component of our Christian walk. We read in James 1: 2-3; “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diver’s temptation; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience”. I do not think we really understand what James is referring to when it says that we should count it all joy.

Let me put it in terms that I think most of us would understand. I am going to use the purification process of gold as an example. When gold is first mined, it is anything but pure gold for the most part. Gold must go through a purifying process where it is heated to a fine liquid. Every time gold is put through the fire and it comes to a boiling point, some of the impurities of the gold will rise to the top which is referred to as dross. Then they will scrape off the top layer and remove all the impurities. They will continue this process over and over until they have pure gold. How many times that gold is put through the fire will determine what the karat rating is. It starts out at 10 karat which means it is 41.7% gold all the way up to 24 karat which brings it to 100% pure gold. This is exactly what God does with his children. We are put through the fire through various trials so that when our trial is over, hopefully, if we have learned from it, God will remove the impurities that have risen to the top. God will continue to allow His children to be put through trails, so they will continue to conform into the image of Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. This process could take a long time, or it could take a shorter time depending on how quickly we learn from the trials that God allows us to go through. The last step of purification will be at the catching up of the saints to meet the Lord in the air. We read in 1 John 3:2 where it tells us, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” This is where we will finally become a 24-karat child of God. We will be in our perfect glorified bodies free from the presence of sin for the rest of eternity. See, when you look into pure gold, you should be able to see your reflection. As you are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ you should be able to look at yourself and see yourself becoming more and more like Jesus Christ every day! We read this short little verse in Psalm 51:10; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Notice what He is saying in this verse, God will create in us a “new heart’. If we read this in the text in which it is written, we will be given a “new heart,” not an old heart that has been repaired. So, every time we go through this process of purification, and learn from it, we receive a clean heart to replace the old heart! We will continue through this process until we are formed to the image of Jesus Christ. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Here is a good analogy of what takes place during your Christian walk. We are all born with a spiritual hole on our heart. As we continue to grow in faith, trust and understanding the true Word of God, that hole in our old heart will be replaced by a clean heart, once we receive the Holy Spirit, it is then that our hearts begin the process of being filled. We read in Proverbs 3:5-6; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” When our heart is full of the Holy Spirit it is then that He will direct our paths.

I mention all this because of all the chaos that is permeating throughout American as well as the rest of the world. I believe that what we are witnessing and being put through what could very well be the last opportunity to call out to the Lord in repentance and forgiveness before the wrath of God is poured out on a God rejecting world. Also, for those that have proclaimed to be a born again believer that I believe God is testing their hearts to see if they really trust in Jesus and have the faith that they confessed to having when all things were going well. True obedience to Gods Word is revealed when tough times enter our lives, until then, they are only words. The sad truth is that people that I have accepted and known as true born-again believers are not being the shining light that they are supposed to be, they are running around in fear more than those that have no hope. Now that things are not going so well, they are believing what the world is saying and not what the Bible teaches. We read in Romans 12:2; “and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”.  But who does this transforming? It is not us. It is God’s Holy Spirit that is shaping us, molding us, and forming us through the trials that we go through so that we will transform into the same image or likeness of Jesus Christ. In other words, as we go through life, we are going in one of two directions, we are conforming to the likeness of this world or we are transforming into the image of Jesus Christ. So, my friends, when we go through these trials, we need to give them all to Jesus Christ so that he can guide us through them and purify us through this process. Jesus did not promise that we would not go through trials, but He did promise that He would see us through them. Every day God will give us a reason to ponder this question, “Do you trust Me?” When you truly put all your trust in Jesus Christ you will find a sense of joy and happiness that passes all human understanding. We read in Jude 1:24; where it says, “now to Him (God) who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy” but we must strive to live a life of holiness and be blameless before God. That is what it means to be transformed into the image of Christ. God’s Holy Spirit works in us as we work out our own salvation, and day by day, we (should) become more like Christ. If your life is not transforming into the image of Jesus Christ, then most likely your conversion to Christianity is just lip service.

This is the reason why we must go through trials and tribulation so that we will eventually transform into the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without trials in our life it is impossible to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we are all told to do. So, when the book of James says that we should count it all joy when we go through these various trials, I believe he is referring the joy that we will feel when we get through these trials. (Do not let your trials go unlearned) I can personally look back at some pretty tough trials that I went through, but after they were all through I could definitely see the changes that they made in my life and why I had to go through them. We need to keep this following Bible verse in our memory bank, Romans 8:28; where we read, “and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Friends, as hard as some of our trials can get, we need to know that they are working out for the good according to the promise of God.

ACTION POINT:

God loves His children and just like an earthly father who loves his children, He will not allow anything to come into their life that will harm them. And as the Bible says in Luke 13:11; “If you (earthly fathers) then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” God loves us more than we can love our own children and if you are a good parent, you know how much love that is. So, let us all focus on what it cost Jesus Christ so that we can spend eternity with Him. That goes well beyond any rational thought that we can imagine. I once heard a Christian brother say, and I repeat, “If there are words for Him, (Jesus) Then, I don’t have them. You see my brain has not yet reached the point where it could form a thought that could adequately describe the greatness of my God and my lungs have not yet developed the ability to release a breath with enough agility to breathe out the greatness of His love and my voice – You see my voice is so inhibited, restrained by human limits, that it’s hard to even send the praise up You see – if there are words for Him, then, I don’t have them,” He goes on the describe in even more detail about his love and inability to describe our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Our God is greater than we could ever imagine and bigger than we could ever describe. The following verse says it all, John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What is the most misunderstood word in this verse, “whosoever”? There are so-called Christian sects that teach that we are all predestined to either go to heaven or hell. If that is true, then John 3:16 is not true. I take the Word of God very seriously and every Word that is spoken is absolute truth. So, since you are a “whosoever’ why not make that choice today to believe on Gods only begotten son and the price that He paid for your salvation. The gift of grace is the greatest gift available to us and too reject it will bring with it eternal consequences. Please do not reject Jesus Christ, ask Him today to come into your heart and hold residency there so that when you pass from this world, you will be forever with Him in a perfect environment, so perfect that the Bible says, “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9. I, for one, am not going to pass on this perfect opportunity provided by our great and awesome God! Will you? “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!”

From our Chaplin-R Fritz

Purification through Trials and Tribulations

Trials are a part of life; we all have them. Nobody gets through life without them. If we know God, he wants to test us to see if we trust him or what we will do in different circumstances. Trust and faith are what God is looking for from us. 1 Peter 1:7 says “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” Trials make us who we are at the moment. Nobody likes to change, but you can try to change because you want to or sometimes you will be forced to change and that is your choice. If you choose not to or drag your feet, sometimes God will decide what is best for you and your trial will begin in his time. I look at trials as “opportunities” for you and the Lord to have a better relationship. What you might not understand is when you choose to follow Jesus Christ, he accepted you the way you were. We were having trials all our life. It is now when the trials can really change your life forever because it is your time to have a helper (Jesus Christ) to get you through the issues you have had possibly most of your life. After I retired, a couple of issues were brough to my attention by the Holy Spirit, something that I had deep in my soul that I did not know existed. One thing I learned was when the Holy Spirit showed me a picture what the problem was, it was a whole lot easier to deal with helping as you go. We all have something in our souls that needs to be dealt with. It might have been brought up at one time and we refused to deal with it and you left it packed in your soul or you will get “Grace” to help you once and for all deal with your issues. 1Peter 5:9-10 says “Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”  The God of all grace wants to collaborate with us to perfect us and make us in his image.

The Holy Spirit is what God gave us to overcome the things of this world if we operate in his spirit instead of the flesh (your spirit). Ezekiel 36:26-27 says and this is God speaking “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them.”  Notice it talks about God putting his spirit within you and that it will cause you to “obey” what you are to do. We still have a choice, but If you let the Holy Spirit control your words and actions you will obey. We need to die daily to our self and our spirit and let the Holy Spirit in us to be in control. 1 Corinthians 15:30 says “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”  What I am talking about is your trust in the Lord Jesus and your faith. It always comes down to you and your faith. We all trust and believe in ourselves, but we need to trust our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who created us and is always looking out for us. It might not look like it, but we are looking through our eyes and not his and do not see the whole picture of our situations. I have seen a lot of times where the Holy Spirit has showed me the whole picture knowing that I would obey what the Lord wanted accomplished. That is why I talk about the Holy Spirit and your relationship with the Lord. You should know you were bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  God gave his spirit to those who have the Holy Spirit, use your body and spirit to glorify him.The Holy Spirit knows what is best for you. The purification process is a process for the rest of our life with God helping us to become more like him. If we are going to be with Jesus, Let us just work through our trials with trust and belief.