Malachi 3:1-3 (NKJV)
"Behold, I send My messenger,and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts.
"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."
This won't be a long study or anything like that, but this scripture has kind of been making the rounds in my head for the last few days. I randomly turned to it and something about it keeps me coming back. Maybe it is because it is because it is prophesying again of Jesus' coming (as the whole Bible speaks of Him), or maybe it is because of the season I am in right now in my life.
Without digging into the Hebrew, I'll just say what this scripture means to me - Jesus is coming and quickly. We are his temples (those who are in Him) and we have to be prepared for Him, at any time. The question is, will we be able to stand? Will we have enough of the love of the Father to stand? I believe it is Revelation that talks about people's flesh fleeing at the Lord's coming because it will be so awesome. Malachi is saying the same in the Old Testament. The message is clear - get it together. In this season, I have to be assured that if I know nothing else, the Father is in me and I am in the Father, and that He loves me. I do not know what He intends for me to be in Him at the end of it all, but the important thing is that I am here and I know I am a part of the Body. And as a part of that Body, I will go through fiery trials and I'll be washed of all the gunk of my past.
And even with the cleansing taking place and the hurt that I have felt at times, there is also beauty. What I think is important that I understand, that we understand, is that, this thing is not all suffering. Yes, we have to be open to the unpleasant aspects of being saved, like people not agreeing with you or even thinking you're nutty, but we also have to believe in the beauty and glory that God has for us as we endure. And I believe, that glory is meant to manifest in this earth and not just in heaven. I am going to allow these experiences to build my faith. I actually wrote all the prophesies over my life in my bible and checked off those that have already manifested. I suggest you do the same. There will be times that it seems like those prophesies are all you got, but it may be all you need to push through to the next one to be checked off the list. God's Word is life. As we lay our lives down, we have to remember that His resurrection life, His dunamos, is in us and allow those words, His Word to feed us in times of famine.
