refiner's fire

Opening Prayer:

There must be more than this,
O breath of God come breathe within,
There must be more than this,
Spirit of God we wait for You.

Fill us anew we pray,
Fill us anew we pray.

Consuming fire fan into flame,
A passion for Your Name,
Spirit of God fall in this place,
Lord have Your way,
Lord have Your way with us,

Come like a rushing wind,
Clothe us with power from on high,
Now set the captives free,
Leave us abandoned to Your praise.

Lord let Your glory fall,
Lord let Your glory fall.

Stir it up in our hearts Lord,
Stir it up in our hearts Lord,
Stir it up in our hearts Lord.

A passion for Your Name.

(Consuming Fire by Hillsong United)

Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4

Journal: What do the images of a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap do within you?  Where do you sense their need in your life and heart?  What need to be refined or cleansed within you?  How is God refining you these days?

Reflection: When I come with my refiner’s fire, who can stand?  For I will burn away all that stands in the way of you being all that I made you to be.  I will burn away all of the impurities and imperfections that you have allowed to take up residence in your life and heart.  The things that mar and harm and defeat you.  O how I long to get my hands on you and plunge you into the consuming fire of my love and holiness; to burn away all of your doubt and your fear and your uncertainty.  To destroy all of your anxiety and your insecurity and your self-contempt.  To put an end to the constant comparison and competition and performing.  To eliminate the incessant inner dialogue, the voices of fear and deception that determine so much of how you live your life.  For then, when all of these things have been done away with, there you will stand, pure and strong and beautiful and precious, just the way I made you to be.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, how can I face your refining fire?  I know I am but a broken and distorted image of the one you dreamt into being.  Forgive me for that.  Thank you for the comfort and the confidence of knowing that no matter how hot your consuming fires get, within or around me, your intention for them, and your work through them, is good.  It is for my refinement, that I might be the one you made me to be.  Amen.