Some days are rougher than others.

Posted: 24 Oct 2017 01:03 AM PDT

“I have refined you but not in the way silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering” Isaiah 48:10 (NLT).

No one likes those times when stress gets turned up, deadlines mount, and expectations seem unreachable.
But sometimes God uses heat in your life to burn off the stuff that’s tying you down.
You just need to trust God through the pain.
What’s got you tied up? What’s limiting you from being all God meant for you to be?
God can use the trials in your life to eliminate what’s holding you back.
God says in Isaiah 48:10, “I have refined you but not in the way silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering” (NLT).
It’s highly unlikely you’ll literally go through a fiery furnace in your life, but you’ll go through the furnace of suffering many, many times. God will refine you with that fire.
It’s like silver and gold. When they heat it up, they get rid of impurities. Then you’re left with 100 percent gold or 100 percent silver.
If you ask a silversmith how to know when silver is pure, he’ll tell you it happens when you can see your reflection while looking into the cauldron.
God knows you’re purified when he can see his own reflection in you. You look more Christlike.
It’s the fire that does that.
Talk It Over:
– How has God made you more like Jesus through tough times?
– Sometimes it is easier to turn away from Christ in the midst of our suffering, instead of allowing it to make us more like him. Why?
– What does it mean for you to “be like Jesus” after God refines you through suffering?
By Rick Warren