God is refining us!!!

Good Sunday to all. Waine and I are in Hawkinsville and will be leaving for Kingston tomorrow so pray traveling mercies for us. Mackenzie and Brooks were with us for the better part of two weeks and we were able to be part of these two children's lives which is always a blessing. Mackenzie is a vegetarian and her discipline is truly inspirational. She reads every label and never shied away from asking the necessary questions to assure herself that she was indeed not eating animal products. Her main objection is the way in which animals are raised and then rushed to market. She does believe in the Power of One and Waine and I applaud her. She actually had a positive affect onus as we also then ordered entrees that were meatless. You see everyone can make a difference.

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 9 verses 7-16 "Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. Should I not punish them for this? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone. I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there. Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to the hearing and reading of His Word.

When God loves you, He will REFINE and TEST you which is all that He can do when we yield to sin. This is what He did with His people of promise and this is what He will do with us. When we deceive ourselves because we do not have the Love of God in our hearts we will be refined and tested because at the end of the day what matters to God is US. We are His sheep; we are His chosen ones and we are the people that He loves. But He does not love sin and cannot be in the same space as SIN so He has to refine and test us until we leave sin alone and get back into communion with Him.

It is clear that many Christians are living their life of abundance and then there are those that struggle everyday. What's the difference? Well it is not the love of God; that love is metered equally among all of us. Could it be the sin in the lives of Christians which prevents and blocks the abundance of God? I do believe this is the crux of why some Christians are enjoying the life of abundance promised to us and others have not yet gotten there. The journey is the same for all and the pace of the journey is completely up to each of us. The Life of Abundance that Christ sacrificed His life for is truly one that God wants all of us to experience. We need just turn away from false gods (pride, anger, deceitfulness, unkind hearts and thoughts) so that He can stop refining us and testing us and we can start experiencing the abundance that all of this life has to offer.

Be blessed today and I thank God for each and everyone of you.  Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie