Title: PURIFIED BRIDE
Category: Edifying
Blog Entry:
MARK 7:22 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.' "
EPHESIANS 5:27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
PROVERBS 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
ZECHARIAH 13:8 In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire;I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, `They are my people,' and they will say, `The LORD is our God.' "
1 PETER 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God ; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
AMOS 2:6-8 " For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.
Amos 5:17-28 Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light . It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god--which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty. Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
RELATION 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
MALACHAI 3:3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.
PSALMS 23 :4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
EZEKIAL 22:30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
We know Jesus is coming back for His spotless Bride. Peter tells us that Judgment begins in the house of the Lord. What? How can we be unblemished and unwrinkled if we have gone through the fire? How can a loving God use His people so hard?
It is that very heat that brings all of our impurities up to the surface so that the silver worker or Goldsmith can skim the dross off and the finished product will become pure and spotless.
Often as we are being purified; we holler out, “Stop Lord, it’s very, very hot, Stop it. Quit making my life so difficult” OR. “I rebuke you Satan. Leave me alone.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-19, " Rejoice always; pray without ceasing ; in everything give thanks ; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Do you see that in everything ? I maintain that it is good to go through various trials and persecutions, it burns out the dross, purifies our characters and helps us to be stronger more ready to withstand the tribulations we are about to go through..
Yet we are being chastened or purified; and due to our many appeals to God for surcease, the process is never finished. In Psalm 23 David says “Your rod and staff are my comfort.” A Shepherd used the rod to ward off animals that harass the flock or he will give a straying sheep a sharp whack to teach them not to do something. The staff was for gentle leading, an extension of his arm to help guide a fast moving flock of sheep to travel in the right direction. Still David says that God’s chastening and correction are a comfort, Apparently this man after God’s own heart was teachable and ready to be purified and made holy and acceptable to his master accepting the using of the rod of punishment and staff of correction as a comfort.
The day of the Lord will be hard, especially for those in the house of God. And most especially for those who are in the most sin and have not allowed God to purify them. As it says in Zechariah 13 only 1/3 of the people will ne called His people, they will be purified then will be His people.
In Matthew when Jesus is asked about the time of the end He says at that time we will be persecuted, hated, put to death and then the Love of MOST WILL GROW COLD. How do you suppose that will happen? Will it be because we are just not ready to be persecuted, hated and killed?
Maybe like the Laodiceans who God says are Lukewarm, some will just not be ready? Or as Jeremiah said 12:5 - " If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
How indeed? How can Christians who are untested and un-chastened, and uncorrected remain faithful and on fire and loving towards God if they find the ‘easy’ times to be too difficult?
I know how bad it’s going to be, I had visions of the “time of the end”, it will be a hard, hard time. Jesus told me I’d be alive at that time. I think of the hymn ALL IS WELL WITH MY SOUL when those visions try to overwhelm me.
Lord, Help me to stand in the gap, to pray for mercy and correction for us as your people, Help us to seek after the comfort of knowing we are being chastened and corrected by you. Purify us Lord, prepare us to compete with horses, even in the thickets. Help us to be able to persevere in the face of persecution, help us to look to you for our salvation. And as Martin Luther wrote in the hymn A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD , ‘ The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever. ’ Guide us Lord, to be your Bride without spot or wrinkle presented to our Bridegroom to be seated at your banquet table. IN JESUS' NAME, AMEN
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