PROPHETIC WORDS

THE REFINING AND PURIFYING FIRE

by Len Buttner

July 2024

The Lord has spoken to me clearly about a time of refining in the Body of Christ. How will we face the judicial and punitive action of Divine providence, which is at work now, and the corrective action into the future?

The fire that cleanses and refines (Prov 17:3) “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.”  The silversmith uses fire to purge the dross from the precious metal. I am perceiving a stirring deep within our hearts, a fire that wants to breakout in our lives, home, churches and in the nations of the world.

How do we bear the action of the fire, the coming affliction of the present judgment of God and into the future?  Will anyone be left standing when He appears?  For He is a purifying fire; He is like lye soap.  Like a refiner of silver and gold.

We read in (Mal 3:1- 4 The Voice) “These are the words of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies:

Eternal One: Pay attention! I am sending My messenger, and he will clear the road ahead for Me. The Lord you seek will suddenly arrive at His temple. And the Messenger of God’s covenant, your soul’s delight, Watch, because He, too, is coming. 

God declares His Anointed One will come, and the way will be prepared. Notice has been given –

    Be Ready

2 Can anyone live through the day when He arrives? Will anyone be left standing when He appears? He is a purifying fire; He is like lye soap. 3 Like a refiner of silver,  He will purify the descendants of Levi—Until they are pure, unalloyed gold and silver. Then they will draw near to the Eternal One, Presenting offerings with righteous, clean hands. 4 Then the Eternal One will unequivocally accept the sweet offering of Judah and Jerusalem as He did in the days of old, as in the former years when the covenant was new.”  (Mal 3:1- 4 The Voice)

What is the character and nature, of God, that He is enkindling in us? – a fire of His love and a time of refining, renewing, and a purifying of our hearts. The Biblical concept, which involves each one of us, is the work of the Holy Spirit refining His church body, starting with those in Christian leadership and those within the body of Christ.  We are undergoing a process of being purified and refired through the refiner's fire.

We are each called to be transformed into the image of Christ. The Scriptures are clear: "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another …" (2 Cor 3:18).

Scripture again confirms that fire is used as a form of judgment, but also used in a purification and refining process in the lives of God’s people to ignite us. 

We are being challenged once again to obey God with a holy reverential fear, with an emphasis on God’s holiness. 

We are called to approach God with great awe and reverence.  “For our God is a consuming fire.” (A Jealous God).  (Heb12:29) 

Fire is used in the process of the perfecting man, and God is using the refiner’s fire of our circumstances to purify and shape us.

We are further reminded of the refining work by the Apostle Paul in (Rom 8:29) "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son ...”

This refining process is undertaken through a process of fire, as with metal elements being separated under high temperatures. Once the desired temperature is reached, the mineral waste and dross rises to the surface, consequently enabling the retrieval of the pure metal.

Adapting this analogy we see God is turning up the temperature in the lives of His chosen people. It is a time of exposing us to conditions that will challenge our faithfulness, teach us perseverance, and test our faith. These trials have the purpose of separating us from behaviors that do not serve us well, and by extension, do not serve God’s Kingdom.

God is giving us the invitation to surrender our will, to give Him the permission to do what He will do in our lives. The process of purifying us can be a painful matter if we resist the work of the Spirit.

Malachi offers us a proof text that points to John the Baptist, who brings the same message of refinement and repentance to us from the Gospels. Just as silver and gold must be purified, God’s way must be made straight for us to follow Him. The Good News that comes with refining and purification is that God will not leave His world unchanged.

In (1 Pet 4:12) "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you."  

Do we count it a blessing to suffer for the name of Christ? (1 Pet 1:7) "That the genuineness of your faith; being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire." 

Out of the refiner's fire we will emerge as a glorious Bride delivered and victorious. There will be a sacred reawakening of an inner intimacy, a mantle of righteousness portrayed upon the church as a formidable spiritual authority that offers us protection and breakthrough.  

If we listen to the national news media it is easy to think that evil is winning in this world right now. Every day brings more stories of wickedness that cause greater despair. Division seems to be everywhere, causing fear and mistrust among us.

The promise is in (1 John 5:4) ”For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”  

The Purpose of the Refiner’s Fire is for Christians

To purify: Though we were created in the image of God, our sinful nature and our thought patterns cause spiritual strongholds that impact our living in a broken world. These behaviours keep us falling short of God’s glory. God is purifying our hearts from ungodly practices and desires through spiritual fire, consequently enabling us to see Him more clearly.  We read in (Matt 5:8)“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

We are to be a righteous offering:  God desires to use us as a living sacrifice to share the gospel with nations:   “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.” (Rom 12:1). 

In order to be able to present ourselves as a righteous offering, we can only achieve this through spiritual refinement.

To reflect the character of Jesus Christ:  The refining process is a repetitive process. After the initial dross is skimmed off the top of the refining pot, the refiner continues to increase the heat to do the final skimming off the surface.  We read in (Psa 12:6) the spiritual process of refinement is repeated up to seven times. “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.”  The refiner will only stop the process once the metal residue reflects His image, like a mirror. In the same way, God wants to spiritually purify us with the result that our hearts and actions reflect, “a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

The fire will test each person's work, all human accomplishments – everything will be tried in the fire of God: The Refiner of silver, will know by the testing process exactly when we have being purified. There is that extraordinary moment when the Refiner knows all the dross has gone from the silver.

The image of the refiner is reflected in the silver and suddenly a liquid mirror is reflecting the image of the refiner. When our Lord Jesus can observe His image reflected in us, then our trial-by-fire and purification has being accomplished by His perfect work.  Repentance is about turning from ungodly things to Godly things. We are urged to make our paths straight, to close the distance between us and God.

The Holy Spirit is lighting His fire within us because we are the keepers of that flame of truth.

The fire of God is making us aware that we are to be a Holy Habitation of God. As we read in (1 Pet 2:5) “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

The power of Holy Spirit ministered to our hearts is the only power on earth that can transform us from worldliness to true spirituality.

This is a season where we are being consumed by the divine grace of Jesus, where the Holy Spirit is like a fire in our lives, releasing God’s presence, God’s passion, and God’s purity.

BIO