Daily Devotionals Day & Night

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying this beautiful fall "hump day". I'm doing well, looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I've been so busy lately I haven't realized how much my housework has backed up. I only need to do some deep cleaning, so it isn't that serious, but I have my weekend open to work on that. I still haven't seen Tyler Perry's new movie, "I can do bad all by myself". I heard it was really good, so I'm going to see a matinee on Saturday for sure. Grandma continues to do well, she did some therapy yesterday, and was able to get up and walk the hallway a bit. I'm so happy about her progress, God is so good! I've found a publisher for my book, and am looking forward to being published by the end of the year, Praise God! I have a few challenges, but it's nothing that God can't handle. I need your prayers for that as well, because I need financial support, as well as the mental focus and tenacity. Procrastination is my middle name, and I'm working on breaking out of that, with God's help. Have a wonderful day, and be blessed family!

Today's scriptures are about our purification process. I think the refinement process is one of the most misunderstood parts of the Christian life. Most of us think being Christian’s means that we're not supposed to experience any heartache or pain. When we do go through trails and tribulation, we often blame God, or asked to be delivered from them. However, God isn’t a Genie that grants our every wish, He has a job for us to do, and He’ll do whatever it takes to see that through. He knew each of us from the creation of earth. He knows exactly what we lack, in addition to our strengths. He’s given us free will, so He knows that the devil will temp us in every way, and what we'll fall for. He refines us, to get us to better think the way Jesus thinks. All mankind have a sense of curiosity, and despite the fact that we're all given boundaries, we continually test our limits. This started at the beginning with Adam and Eve. God told them that they would "surely die" if they ate from that tree, but they did it anyway. Disobedience is expected because of our sinful nature, and God has to chastise us to make us righteous. He will never seriously hurt us, but He will allow us to touch the fire to make us truly understand that it's hot. Sometimes we won't learn from our mistakes until we're burned. The refinement process is like the purification of precious metals, such as gold or silver. The metal is found in the dirt, and it's often a lackluster and dull nugget. When this metal is put in fire, all of it's impurities are burned away, and it becomes bright, shinny, and pliable. There's a thin line between purifying the metal and destroying it. When we are saved, we're similar to that dirty nugget of gold. We have great value to the Kingdom of God; we just need to be cleaned up a bit. Jesus blood washes our Spirit, but we need to get our outside to match our inside. God puts us through the fire in order to mold us into the righteous beings we were created to be. If you're going through something painful right now, just know that God is allowing this for a reason, but He's always there to see you through it. If you prayed for deliverance, but are still going through, then God's intentions may not be to deliver you from it, so He'll be right there bring you through it. Be steadfast and true to the Lord, continuing to Praise Him every single day. No matter what you're going through, He's working to make you better. It's written in Hebrews 13:5: The Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Purification is the process of removing impurities from something, and in some cases things need to be added along the way. Remember to ask God for the lessons behind your pain, and He will reveal them to you, in hopes that you will grow from them. If you don't know Jesus as Lord, then you're still that dirty, dull gold nugget, waiting to be discovered and cleaned up. Jesus is waiting to hear from you, He's a prayer away. My favorite verse today is: I ... will refine them as silver is refined, ... they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, the Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455105&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=5408289&ct=7319679

I love you!