Why Spiritual Refining Feels Like Losing Everything

If your life feels like it’s getting smaller instead of better, you’re not alone and you’re not broken. We talk candidly about spiritual pruning, the kind that feels like being stripped down to nothing, and why we believe God often initiates that refining work right before He entrusts greater weight and responsibility. This is discipleship without the polish: surrender over comfort, God at the center rather than on the shelf, and a faith that learns to lean on Him instead of proving how strong we are on our own.

From there, we connect the personal to the prophetic. We share why Israel matters as a “sundial” for biblical prophecy and why the church should pay attention when major shifts happen in the land. With Ezekiel 38 and 39 as our anchor, we discuss Gog and Magog, the nations described in the text, and the claim that God Himself will make His name known in a way that grabs the attention of the whole world. That perspective reframes the headlines: not as fuel for fear, but as a call to discernment, humility, and readiness to meet Jesus.

We also slow down on the meaning of God’s glory. We describe it as weighty and substantive, not vague or misty, and we ask what has to be removed in us before we can steward that presence well. If you’ve been hearing talk of revival while experiencing weakness, this conversation offers a different lens: refining may be the preparation you’ve been praying for.

Subscribe for more, share this with someone walking through a hard season, and leave a review if it strengthens you. What part of pruning do you find hardest right now?

Transcript

ecording Chaos And A Strong Start

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I can always tell when there's going to be a good podcast episode. And that's because my dogs will start barking, my kids will start making commotion, and things will start coming unglued at times where it's just before I'm going to publish or broadcast a podcast episode. And prior to that, it could be quiet as a mouse. And then come time to record, and voila. Well, I just I just came from one of those uh times, and so I anticipate this being a very good podcast episode. We're going to be next week moving into a time where we're going to be focusing in on the life of King David prior to his kingship, and then the process that he went through in order to become the king, and then his time as a king. Really, the life of David is a very relevant life at all times for a person to do a real good character study on, because it's full of full, just full of messages and meaning to each person's life. And it can impact the person's collective experience together with other people because he was a ruler of a nation. And he had different facets of that nation doing different things at different times. So he was a brilliant organizer, amongst other things. But the relevancy to his lifestyle and his ministry then and to the time that we're living in right now carries with it some pretty significant prophetic insights that we're going to want to look into. And so we're going to, but for now, we're still looking at some of the things that are going on in the world that we live in and highlighting some of the ways that we have been either understanding that, addressing it, or are processing it. And one of those things right now pertains to this time that we're living in and what we're moving into. And the time that we're living in right now is a time of significant pruning. It's happening all around the nations. And it's specifically involving us who are believers who make up what's known as the church, the ecclesia, the body of Christ. And corporately as well as individually, we have seen a time of significant pruning taking place, and it doesn't necessarily feel good or look good. It's that side of walking as a disciple where we look at it and say, This is not a call of convenience that the Lord has placed on us when he has called us to be his own. It's a call for complete surrender and submission, to give our entire lives over to his care and to have him be our God and we his people. Where he's not just a centerpiece that we look at, but he is central to everything about our lives. We are his as well as he is ours. And so there are certain things that are taking place right now that are difficult to sometimes experience because it looks like things are really not happening in a way that we want them to happen. We talked about the great things of God and what he's doing, and we look at our lives and we say, I'm not seeing that great thing of God happening. In fact, I'm seeing just the opposite. I feel like I'm being stripped down to nothing. And the fact of the matter is, you are. Because before God does anything significant, He takes us and allows us to go through, in fact, not just allows us to, he initiates the time of pruning. Significant pruning, refining, whatever terminology you want to use, it's removing the impurities of the things that don't bear fruit. Because he wants us to be able to contain and host greater things than what we have previously, but in order to do that, he has to strip things away. And that's taking place on a very massive scale as well as on a very personal level. And so if you're seeing pruning taking place, that's not a sign of God's dis it's not a sign of Him, his disapproval. It's not a sign of his anger, it's actually a sign of his love. Because those who the Father loves, he disciplines, he prunes, he causes us to become better people, and sometimes the process is not comfortable. The outcome will be significant, but the process is not comfortable. And so I just want to kind of clarify some things for someone who might be listening, and you're going through a time where it just doesn't seem like you're seeing the glory of the Lord. It's like what you're seeing is a whole lot of yourself being refined. That's good. Because that's what's in the past, what has prohibited you from being able to carry the weight of God's glory. It's because there's been too much self involved. Especially for those of us in the Western Hemisphere, because we view things on a more individualistic basis or level than many other parts of the world, how they see things. They see things collectively, we see things individually if we're living in the West. And so this notion of us going through weakness sometimes flies in the face of how we should see ourselves strong, rugged individuals. That's not what God's after. And he wants to demonstrate his glory to us and through us, not for us to show off what we can do without him as individuals. And so that is a word up for someone who is going through a tough time and feeling as though you're hearing about the glory of God, but all you're experiencing is a bunch of you being refined. That's to prepare you to host and steward the glory of the Lord, because his glory is weighty. It is not just a floating mist that fills the air and makes it shine. There's substance to his glory, because his glory is his presence. And his presence is his word, and his word will not fail, because his word is Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, who dwelt among us and has given us the way into relationship with the Father, citizenship in the kingdom of God, and a life that is free from sin and death. Hallelujah. Praise God. And so the real heartbeat, though, of this particular message today, outside of knowing that if you're going in as you're going through a refining time, it's not God's displeasure, it's his approval. It's a sign that he is taking you through a time, he's going to bring you to another place, and he's going to manifest his glory in a greater way, both to you and through you. Part of how I know that's true is by what I'm seeing take place in the land of Israel right now. Israel has been and always will be a sundial for us to look at. If we see things taking place in Israel, we should perk up our attention and listen, because God is getting our attention. He has always used Israel as his sundial. Israel is the apple of his eye. We, the body of Christ, are grafted in as a wild olive branch, Gentiles, grafted into the promises and the covenants of God found in Israel, and we, together with the Jewish nation, as Gentiles, we become one new man. Powerful. Hallelujah. Unheard of. Jews and Gentiles getting along as one new man. That's miraculous. And we are living in a time where that is taking place. But we're also living in a time where we see prophetic things going on in the we see prophetic things going on in the world that we live in right now. And the basis for what I'm referring to today comes straight out of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. And if you're looking to study this yourself, I would encourage you to look at Ezekiel chapter 38, verses 1 through 6, and then verses 14 through 23. And to top it off, I'd look at Ezekiel 39, verses 7 through 8. In fact, I'm going to read from Ezekiel 39 verses 7 through 8 right now. Ezekiel says, I will make known my holy name, and he's speaking on behalf of the Lord. So the Lord is saying to Ezekiel, I will make my holy name known among my people. Israel. As noble as that effort might seem, because of the things that have been produced out of Iran, that's not the narrative that we're looking at. The narrative we're looking at is that God Himself is going to demonstrate to the nations his mighty right arm. He's going to reveal his glory in such a powerful way that's going to capture the attention of everyone when we see these things taking place. And what these things that we're looking at, they are when Russia, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya, and Central Asia, meaning all the Stan nations like Uzbekistan, Pakistan, all the Central Asian nations, when they come together against Israel, look out. Because God himself is going to display his mighty right arm. He said it, he promised it, and it's going to take place. He himself is going to reveal himself. And anytime there's a great revelation coming from God, because in him is life, and the life of the light of men, that light. God is love and God is light. And the light, the very light, the very presence of God is so brilliant. Darkness, darkness, there is no darkness. There is no shadow of turning in God. Darkness flees from his presence. But when darkness flees, it leaves behind some very desolate things. And God is the one who comes up to clean things up and to make things right in the end. And darkness is right now going to be shown the mighty right arm of God as it pertains to the infiltration of Gog and Magog, or Russia, joining together with the various countries surrounding Israel, and they look to come upon Israel and attack Israel. That's going to be taking place very soon. That's the next significant prophetic event to take place is Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 fulfillment. And we folks are living in an hour in which that is a plausibility. It's highly plausible that that event of God bringing Magog in, and Gog the leader, being shown a devastating blow that it takes years to recover from. And where there's going to be a type of peace that's going to come, but it's not going to be lasting. Because that is a signal. That is a point in which we know that the next things that will be taking place following that are going to be revealed as we see them revealed in the book of Revelation and in the prophet Daniel. And in Ezekiel's writings, there are going to be certain things that Isaiah spoke of that are yet to be fulfilled. But we are living in the time in which the next significant prophetic thing to take place is going to be Russia, along with Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya, and Central Asia, nations coming together and coming to attack Israel. And as soon as they step foot on the soil of Israel, God is going to devastate their armies. It's going to be a crippling blow. And then there are going to be things that take place that unless the days were shortened, even those who are believers wouldn't be able to withstand the judgments of God. The trumpets, the bulls of anger, the decisions that God has made concerning how He's going to bring time and space to a conclusion and introduce a new heavens and a new earth that will be joined together for eternity. Hallelujah. We're living in a very powerful day and hour, and it's important for me to dial things up so that you can have a you can have an understanding along with other really good, relevant teachings that you're receiving. We are a drop in the ocean of communication, but we are one of God's drops. And so all pulled together, something's taking place that's significant, and the word is getting out. Don't be caught unawares if you're going through a time of refining, and don't be caught unawares when you see things take place where Russia and the surrounding Middle Eastern nations and Central Asian countries come against Israel and God shows his mighty right arm. Not the United States, not Israel, not the military of the United States or Israel, not through some negotiations, through diplomacy. It's going to be a demonstration of God's mighty power. His mighty right arm is going to be revealed, and I look forward to seeing that take place. Hallelujah. Get ready, get ready. We're going to pray. Father, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. God, for who you are, for what you're doing and how you're doing it. I pray your blessing upon those who are listening to this. And they would be recipients of those ears to hear and eyes to see. What you are saying, Holy Spirit, to the church right now. And how you're preparing us, equipping us, but also making us ready to meet Jesus. We honor you, we submit ourselves to you, and we thank you for once again who you are and what you're doing. You alone are God, and we honor you. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Amen. Alright, folks, we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com or type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.