Dear Ones,                                                                                                                                                                            Hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this lovely weather!  I plan to do food prep and clean the apartment and get in a lovely walk.
Devotions from Judy’s heart                                                                                                                                                  Some people are all talk and little action. I wonder if that is true of many Christians who can talk the good talk but it doesn’t lead to helping others and doing good deeds. Is it just talk? I am in the fourth quarter of my life and no longer have big groups for meals, for we live in an apartment now and no longer want to have a dozen things a day to attend. But I do want to grow in the Lord and ask the Lord often to help me finish well.

When I get together regularly with a friend, we have a question we contemplate, write about, and share together when we meet the next time. One such question was: “How has God used His refining fire on me?” Now we all face hard times when we have difficulties and recognize God is trying to get our attention. Maybe we have gradually grown lukewarm in our love for the Lord and He allows things to come into our lives to help us deal with our old nature. I hope we all want Him to burn away the chaff (those things that are not life-producing and weigh us down). When we ask the Lord to use His refining fire on us, He does it in various ways and circumstances to help us die to our flesh and refine us. We don’t always jump up and down with gratitude during the process, but later we see the fruit of His loving hand and are grateful.

We can probably all think of people God has put in our lives that He has used to refine us. Maybe they have gossiped about us, spoken lies or hurt us in some way. What is our response? Do we care more about our reputation and try to defend ourselves, or are we humble and give it to the Lord letting Him work things out in His timing? God can also use friends and family in our lives to refine us, speak corrective words and pray for us. They help us get on the path again and draw closer to the Lord. His kind of refining may seem more welcoming and healing, and God uses many ways to help get rid of our chaff.

Let us be open to all the ways God uses to burn off the things that distract us and draw us away from a deep relationship with Him.

Challenge for today: Thank the Lord for His refining fire and rejoice as it burns away more of your flesh nature! Malachi 3:2, “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy