1 Peter 1:7  These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.

As gold is heated to a temperature of nearly two thousand degrees, impurities rise to the surface, making them easy to remove. When the remaining gold is cooled, the result is a refined, pure, high-quality gold; it is precious and valuable.

We are precious to God and valuable enough for Him to have sent His Son to earth to suffer death on a cross. His death served as a payment for us to spend eternity in heaven with Him. As Christians, we know we have been cleansed of our sins, yet we constantly face the struggle with our sinful natures. What can we do? We can continually ask for God's cleansing fire. Each day, we can ask Him to purify us.

There is no need to fear the Refiner's fire. Isaiah submitted to the cleansing fire of a burning coal upon his lips. A cleansing process was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill his purpose as a prophet of God. God's method of purification may not be comfortable. It may force us to wrestle with issues buried deep with our hearts. It may even be painful. But submission to the cleansing fire of God will allow us to be made pure in His sight.

And that is all we could ever desire.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

Try this experiment. Go outside and and pick up a twig. (Maybe wait until it warms up!) Grasping each end, bend the twig. It bends easily, doesn't it? It may even break. Now pick up four or five twigs. Holding them together in a bunch, try to bend them. Not as easy, is it?

The same principle holds true for families. When all in a family are united in harmony - staying together, praying together - the storms of life may shake us, but they won't break us.

How much more powerful, then, the family who stands together in the Lord! In Matthew 18:20, Jesus promised, "Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." When we invite Jesus to fill our homes with His presence, we will be blessed to find harmony and love which could never exist without Him.

We need one another in every way - praying before meals, doing devotions daily, attending church services as a family, working in the yard, and watching TV together. The family that is unified, that vows to live according to God's Word, will weather the storms of life and be stronger for the journey.

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Joshua 24:15  And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

What better example to your family than proclaiming and living the words, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"? Most people, especially children, learn by example. When you take a stand for God, not only proclaiming His lordship over your life but also living it to the fullest, others will learn to do the same.

However, sometimes we run into trouble. Many daily activities tend to take priority over our lives: the quest for a promotion at work, striving to be a top athlete, or putting excellence in academics. While all noble causes, when we slip into seeking to control our lives in order to reach our goals, we rebel against the lordship of Jesus Christ and we are serving other gods.

God knows the desires of our hearts. He knows our needs and our wants. He wants us to be happy, but He also knows what is best for us. When we serve the Lord, we open ourselves to His blessings. When we surrender ourselves to His will, we let Him be Lord of our lives - every part of them.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

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Ephesians 2:19-20 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

If you have ever stood on a sandy beach as the waves lapped at your feet, you know that the longer you remain, the further your feet sink into the shifting sands. Eventually, you'll be up to your ankles! On a rocky coastline in Maine, however, you can stand on the shore with wave after wave rushing over your feet and you won't sink at all. You stand firm on the strength of the boulders beneath you.

Shifting sands don't make a very good foundation - for our feet or for our faith. We need solid rock - strong and unchanging. Like the wise man who built his house upon a rock (Luke 6:48), we can rest secure in building our faith upon the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. When the winds of change blow and the waves of uncertainty rush over us, we can cling to the immovable, unchanging love of Jesus.

For this we have reason to praise, Christ is the solid rock on which we stand. We can depend upon His words, trust in His tender mercies, and praise Him day after day for the grace that has saved us. Praise the risen Lamb and in everything be glad. Our foundation is firm; our salvation is sure. Praise His name!

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Imagine how the disciples must have felt on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit literally came down upon them! Picture that powerful scene: God made His presence known with the blowing of a violent wind and tongues of fire. Those who had been touched began to speak in other languages, proclaiming the wonders of God.

The disciples had been on a roller coaster of emotions. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead, die on a cross, rise from the dead, and ascend to heaven - only to leave them to carry on His work. Now they were expected to go into all the world, preaching the gospel. How were they to accomplish this task? How could God have left such a responsibility in their inexperienced hands? He could do it because He knew, when the Holy Spirit came down upon them, they could change the world. So God sent the Spirit down - and the world has never been the same.

Do you feel weak? Incapable of running the race set before you? You already have the Holy Spirit, but sometimes you need to be reignited with fresh fire; sometimes you need to be refreshed with power sent down like rain into your soul. Ask God to send it down! At your request, He will pour down His power and refreshment to help you do whatever He has called you to do, no matter how weak you feel.

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2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Do we truly believe that God cares for us? We may say that we trust Him, but....

So we work hard to save the money to buy a car, a house, and a quality education for our children. While such planning is not bad, it can become a problem if having our needs met is not enough and we feel that we must assuage all our desires as well.

God our provider promises to supply all our needs. What are our needs? Food, clothing, and shelter are life's most basic needs. Does God provide these? We would probably have to answer that yes, indeed, we have food, clothing, and shelter - that God has provided for us. While He may not have met all our desires, He has indeed met all our needs.

But even more important than God's provision for our physical needs is His provision for our spiritual needs. He has provided grace that is sufficient to fill the longing in our hearts for God. It is by His grace alone that we can come to Him.

Unlike trendy clothes, gourmet food, and fancy houses, grace is free and it is eternal. We don't have to earn it. We can't purchase it. It is offered as a gift. And it is ours forever.

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Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Why do we praise? What causes us to lift our voices and worship God? From the beginning of time, all humanity has had reasons to praise almighty God - from the creation of the heavens and the earth to the promise of new heavens and a new earth, from the gift of the Promised Land to the gift of salvation through the promised Immanuel. Indeed, God is great and greatly to be praised!

How should we praise the Lord? How can we lift Him high upon our praise? We do that when we live to glorify Him, when we thank Him, when we use our gifts to serve Him. How many ways can we praise God? As many ways as we can imagine! David played his harp; Solomon ruled with wisdom; Paul wrote letters to Churches; C.S. Lewis wrote great literary works; Charles Colson ministered in prison; Fanny Crosby composed hymns. But most important, we praise God when we enthrone Him in our lives - making everything we do a sacrifice of praise to Him.

God is great, glorious, and excellent. May our lives reflect His power and glory. May His praise be ever on our lips, for He is greatly to be praised!

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,