Refining Fire: How God Purifies Us

Have you ever wondered why God allows difficult trials in your life? The answer might be found in an ancient biblical metaphor that still resonates powerfully today.

When gold or silver enters a refiner's fire, something remarkable happens. The intense heat doesn't destroy the precious metal—it purifies it, burning away impurities and revealing something more valuable. In the same way, God works as a divine refiner in our lives. Drawing from the powerful imagery in Malachi 3:2-4, this episode explores how God sits "as a refiner and purifier of silver," personally overseeing our spiritual transformation.

The beauty of this refining process lies in its purpose. Unlike random suffering, spiritual refinement prepares us to stand in God's presence and offer worship that truly pleases Him. Through Jesus Christ's sacrifice, we're being continuously purified—at our conversion, through daily challenges, and as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices.

While none of us naturally welcomes trials, understanding them as purposeful refinement changes our perspective. The temporary discomfort leads to lasting transformation. As Romans 13:11 reminds us, "now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." With Christ's return approaching, God's refining work takes on greater urgency as He prepares a church "without spot or wrinkle."

Have you experienced God's refining process in your own life? 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Joy in this Journey
• 0:57 Reading from Malachi 3:2-4
• 1:53 Understanding God as Refining Fire
• 4:14 Stages of the Refining Process
• 6:06 Closing Prayer and Call to Action
• 10:13 Episode Closing and Social Media Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome to Joy in this Journey podcast by Faithline. Join us as we bring you weekly episodes on Bible devotionals to empower you to live in faith. By faith, through God's grace, Find joy in your journey today.

Speaker 2: 0:27

God's grace, find joy in your journey today. God bless you everyone and thank you for joining us once again on this new episode of the podcast. Joy in this Journey by Faithline. I pray so that this episode and all the other episodes of the podcast, your lives have been, and continue to be, ministered and transformed by the Holy Spirit. The verses we will read today have been of great encouragement to me and they continue to do in my life.

Speaker 2: 0:57

Each and every day I will be reading in the book of Malachi, chapter 3, verses 2 to 4. We read in the name of the Father, the 3, verses 2 to 4,. We read In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years.

Speaker 2: 1:53

These verses are very powerful and they speak about the very beautiful and sometimes painful process that children of God must go through, the purifying process. Fire is a very fascinating element and it has many benefits. We use fire for many things, like cooking, for heating and even to mold or create things. As most of us know, to refine metal it needs to be exposed to very high heat. Fire removes all the impurities from metals and at the end you are left with pure, clean gold or silver. 1 Peter, 1.7 tells us that just like a metal is processed through heat to be purified, so must our faith be tested by fire may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2: 3:11

The verses read in the book of Malachi tells us that God is that purifying fire. Not only this, but that he himself sits down to refine and clean metal, that he will be the one to refine the children of Levi and as we know, the children of Levi were the drive of the priesthood and God was talking about how he will refine and clean them so that, after going through this refining process, their offerings will be pleasing to him. In a certain way. We are like the tribe of Levi. We are the people God is refining and cleansing. We, who he calls us chosen people and royal priesthood. Like says in first peter 2, 9, he purifies us and cleanses us with the precious blood of our beautiful lamb, jesus christ. Hebrews 1, verses 10 and 14, says by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Jesus' precious blood shed on the cross of Calvary is what purifies us, what cleanses us and gives us access to the presence of God.

Speaker 2: 4:48

This refining process has different stages in the life of a believer. One is when we first come to Christ and we are transformed into a new creation, christ and we are transformed into a new creation. The other one is through our walk with Jesus, day by day, trial by trial, as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform and shape our life through his word and through his guidance. The other one also happens when we choose to give our lives as living offering to him, like he says in romans 12, verse 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable to god, which is your reasonable service. The refining process is not an easy one. In the verses of 1 Peter we read before. It tells us that this process for believers happened through trials and through tribulations, but it's through those things that God allows in our lives that our lives and our faith can be pleasing offerings to God.

Speaker 2: 6:06

At the beginning of the verses we read in the book of Malachi, there are some questions asked. But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? And later on the answers are kind of given to us. It says for he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. In other words, for someone to stand before his presence, we need to be wrapped up in that refining fire and cleansed by that launderer's soap, and cleansed by the launderer's soap. God makes it very clear throughout his word that he is seeking a holy church without spots or wrinkles.

Speaker 2: 6:48

Ephesians 5.27 says that he gave himself to sanctify the church so that at the end he might present himself a glorious church not having a spot or a wrinkle or any such thing. So now that, through Jesus, we have access to that purifying fire that is like a laundry or soap, now that we know and understand that he himself has been determined to purify, to cleanse us. Now that we can see his glory face to face, not only once a year, but whenever we want, and we have access to his presence and we can call upon his name, let us allow that refining fire to be active and working in our lives. Let us let him clean us and shape us and mold us however he wants to, even though this means that we have to go through trials and through tribulations and, most importantly, that we must be intentional in how we spend our time and how we spend time in his presence, and how much of our day we give to him and how much of our time we give to him. So, to finish, I want to leave you with this verse on romans 13, verse 11, that says and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed, understanding that Jesus is coming soon and that we need to be transformed more and more each and every day and that we should spend more time in his presence.

Speaker 2: 8:49

Thank you, lord, for your sacrifice. Thank you because you are fire, a fire that purifies, a fire that cleanses, just as your word says, lord pur, clean us, wash us, refine us like silver, like gold, so that our offerings may be pleasing in your eyes. Open our hearts, lord, and help us hear your voice, allowing you to mold and purify us. Help us to be wise with our time, lord, to know how to make the most of the time you give us. Help us holy spirit, especially in this end days, lord, recognizing that you are coming back soon and that you are coming for a church without spots or wrinkles. May your strength be in everyone who is listening to this podcast. Lord, transform our lives, change our hearts and draw us closer to you. In Jesus' name, we pray amen. This is your sister in Christ, lauren, until next time.

Speaker 1: 10:13

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