Refiner's Fire

Ps 37:28, (NASB), For the Lord loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

Mic 7:18, (NASB), Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love.

Zeph 3:17, (NASB), "The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

Rom 5:8, (NASB), But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom 8:39, (NASB), nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Cor 13:14, (NASB), The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Eph 3:19, (NASB), and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

1 Jn 4:9, (NASB), By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

The Bible is so clear, that I almost need not explain what Im saying in this blog. God loved us when we were sinners, and His ultimate action of showing His love was to send His one and only Son to take our place on the cross for our sins. God loves imperfect people. He loved us before Christ had even died for our sins.

God will always love us, and never forsake us from the beginning of time God loved us, to now, till the end of time God loves us. Gods love is UNCHANGING towards His people, He passes over our iniquities He doesn't condemn us, because Christ took our place.

Not only does God love us, but He rejoices over us with SHOUTS OF JOY!! So in the midst of your hard days, or in the midst of your guilt from sinning KNOW that God loves you, His love is unchanging, and He forgives all sins of His people.

The Bible also says "to KNOW this love which SURPASSES all knowledge" and then we shall "be filled up to all the fullness of God". Its not just about knowing facts but about understanding Gods love for His People. Which encompasses what He did for our sins, and that we add nothing to it.

Then it goes to say that The Love of God is manifestated in us. Meaning we have the mind of Christ, we have the love of God in us, and we are to show Gods love to people. God loves his people and hates those whom are not his. We are to love Gods people, all brethern, be kind to them, rejoice with them, mourn with them, they are our family.

Our spiritual life isn't about always being put together, there are times when our walk is hard. We shouldn't be so concerned about our imperfections as we should be about Gods love towards the imperfect. Its realizing that our faith begins with admitting we will never have our act completely together. Though we have Christ in us, we are still sinning while on this earth. We will make mistakes, our spiritual walk isn't all put together like priests seem to show. Messy disciples are exactly the kind of people Jesus came to earth for and who company he enjoyed.. He was with tax collectors, sinners, drunkards, adulterers, etc. and you know whom he fought? The Pharisees, the religious people of that day who kept to the laws, and made spiritual growth about doing and not resting in the love of Christ.

"Jesus responds to desire. Which is why he responded to people who interrupted him, yelled at him, touched him, screamed obscenities at him, barged in on him, crashed through ceilings to get to him. Jesus cares more about desire than about competence" (Messy Spirituality, pg31).

Have you yelled at Jesus today? How much do you desire to just spend time with Him, rest in Him?

I know my lack of yelling at Jesus, I know I lack the godly competence I need to pray right, live a holy life right, do anything completely right. But God is there in our imperfections, God is always there to teach us.. Just desire Him, desire His ways and His teachings, and His disciplines. If you're having a hard day just yell at Him, its better than ignoring Him.

And a last quote "Messy spirituality is a good term for the place where desperation meets Jesus. More often than not, in Jesus' day, desperate people who tried to get to Jesus were surrounded by religious people who either ignored or rejected those who were seeking to have their hunger for God filled. Sadly, not much has changed over the years."

Some may not like the term messy spirituality... but I think its what is being said behind it.. that spirituality isn't perfect, we dont have to be perfect in our prayer life, our church attendance, our reading of the Bible to be spiritual. We can be spiritual in the messiness of our lives, because God loves the imperfect person.