Running the race #35 Refiner's Fire (20mar09)

Dear…

''My soul is also vexed; but thou, O Lord, how long?'
Psalms 6:1-4

Man looks for solutions, God looks for obedience.
In days of old, when one is besetted by a series of troubles, the easy answer is probably you are hexed, and it is always convenient to look for a member of the fairer sex, to burn on the stakes as a witch. Today, the favorite flogging horse for the cause of our present troubles is where the bonuses are channelled, for there lies the fat cats, at least that is where the politicians and the popular press are directing the mobs to.

And for the more peaceable amongst us, many simply look to the soothsayers and in our modern world, we can find many day in day out on the popular media, as the world search for the light out of the present financial mess.

'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail…….Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places….'

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Moving away from the traumas of the financial markets, physical well-being has been of some concern for me lately, but it pales in comparison to the news I just received on two friends. One had to be hospitalized due to a viral infection, and there is now some uncertainty as it seems the source of the problem emanates from the liver. The other had a relapse of his cancer, and is now at stage 4.

Is it possible to frolick effortlessly with joy like a young fawn enjoying the freedom of an open space, when one is carrying such burdensome concerns?

'For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us…..for we are saved by hope…….'

Romans 8:18-26

The last thing that anyone wants to hear from us, no matter the good intentions nor the truism of our words, is the notion that life on earth is temporal, and that it is eternity that we should work upon.

The carnal man in all of us will never be able to comprehend the will of God, if we continue to rely upon our imperfect senses, and continue to look everywhere except unto our Sovereign Lord. The lifting of the blindness in our hearts, and the uplifting of our soul can only come by the grace of God, when His Spirit falls upon us who believed.

So, how does one bring an individual who clearly is not enjoying his or her moment of present agony to consider that God is real, that it is important to want to come unto His presence and to repent and believe?

And for that matter, anyone in any circumstances, be it joy, pain or anything in between, believing is already a challenge, following is almost insurmountable?

The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.'

John 20:25

The world today still largely believe in the credibility of the Americans to honour their debts. Of course, President Obama was quick to try to put to rest any doubts that PM Wen Jiabao of China had about the safety of their holdings in US Treasuries. Lip service each might be paying to each other, for just as fast as the Americans are in printing Treasury Bills, the Chinese are no slower off the mark in spending these hard earned, but hardly, hardy US dollars both in their domestic stimulus programmes as well as in acquring assets overseas.

Intuitively, I will trust more a guy who profess to trust in God, for the fear of God will ensure that the person does not waver too far off from His will. But having the words "in God we trusts" can make one almost a Pharisee, for we mouth our faith in God, but our hearts are far from Him.

'Son of men, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face; should I be enquired of at all by them?'

Ezekiel 14:3

'Shall not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.'
Psalms 43:20-21

But who can we really trust, when only the Lord our God knows what is in a man's heart. And in that same vein, it is understandable that a non-believer finds it such a challenge to want to believe in us, who professed the love of a God that is not at all visible in their eyes, and even more dauntingly, a God Who does not seem to grant wishes the way we want it, but commands us to let go and let Him. And not forgetting that we are often far from the ideal role model.

I , therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.'
Ephesians 4:1

It is never our task to turn the hearts of a man, but we can allow the Lord to use us to water, or to plant, but all increase comes from Him. But can the Perfect God use an imperfect platform? The Lord can but the Lord wants to perfect us as well, for in making us progressively in His likeness, will the world be able to see the glory of God in a visible form, will then the unwillingly be prepared to move that little more to being willing.

But our self must decrease, and allow God to increase in our lives.

Add thou not unto His words, less He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.'
Proverbs 30:6

I am not the first, nor likely the last of good intentioned believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, who truly felt led to share the gospel of peace and joy. And indeed God has blessed my ministry, my life as I respond to His call. But being an imperfect and finite human being, living in a world that has fallen to the wiles of the devil, there is every danger that one could expressed the thoughts of the Lord our God incorrectly or worse, interposed our own thoughts as that of the Lord our God.

And who can be sure that the seemingly Christlike us can very quickly return to our sinful self, the moment we let our emotions or circumstances get the better of us?

'But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope. And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.'

Malachi 3:2-3

Every moment of our lives, we are being refined, to be transformed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, the refining can be subtle, sometimes the heat in the furnace gets jacked up a few degrees more, to almost unbearable, but God is in control and He knows our limits. In my sharing a couple of months back, I thought God wanted me to buy physical gold, which I did, much as it goes against my understanding and wisdom. But what purpose can gold truly serve in the long term, should the financial system throughly meltdown? There are some decent reasons to hold some gold, but just a couple of weeks back, the Lord brought me to a deeper and more correct understanding of this issue of gold.

'Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God,…..'
Jeremiah 42:6

We are the gold being refined by the Lord. The gold that we buy from the Lord our God is us, an imperfect sinful human being, who by the grace of God are being refined, as He strips us clean of our impurities.

Economic cycles will come back, but the intensity and magnitude of the volatility will get worse, not better. The world has always been a difficult place, being a fallen world, but it will get even more difficult and whimsical.

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.'
Ephesians 4:12

Most commit suicide when they find life so burdensome, and the void in their lives inescapable. Much as we the desirous believer and follower of our Lord Jesus Christ wants to be the perfected product for the world to aspire to, we will not till, the day our Lord returns. But as the world looks at the imperfect us, no different from them, warts and all, but yet the difference is our willingness to submit more and more to the will of God, much as they are unwilling.

'I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus'
Philippians 3:14

The literal surrender of our self, to the control of the Holy Spirit, that resultiing glowing countenance of inner peace and joy, that they so desire but cannot attain, may just convince the unbelieving and even the non-following believers, that truly, without submission to the Lord, there can be no refinement, there can be no peace and joy.

A Christian on fire, is not one whose fiery sinful emotions has taken over, but rather, one who is submissive to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, whose desire to respond as God leads, will not be doused by the futile efforts of the devil to water down our faith, by buckets of deceit and delusion.

But to keep our faith not just glowing but roaring, we must come to the source of all comfort and grace, the Lord our God.

'Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.'
Psalm 37:3

''And ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'
Ephesians 4:21-24

God Blesses

Eng Hieang
(18Mar09)

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