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Showing posts with the label Purified

Contents revealed

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. (Psalm 85:11) Teaching involves the impartation of knowledge held by one to another. Whenever we ask God to teach us his ways, we are asking for the impartation of the mind of Christ. We want God to prepare us for the day's tasks - demonstrating to us how it is we are to respond to the challenges of the day. Critics of 'the religious life' will say we are asking to be 'brainwashed'. Those into spiritualism will say we are asking for 'enlightenment'. Neither is true - we are asking for God to show us his will, demonstrate how we live within that will, and to keep us safe from the attacks of all manner of untruth that comes our way. When God grants us wisdom (the ability to apply the knowledge we have received), he does so in order to purify our hearts. His goal is to rid us of all the things that stand in the way of our total communion with ...

For just a little while

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while . These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls . (I Peter 1:6-9) One of the hardest things for some of us to come to grips with is that we have to face and endure trials. Yes, the timeframe may be limited, but why on earth do we have to face them at all? Peter was writing to a group of believers who were likely facing great persecution on a daily basis, yet he tells them to rejoice and take hope. How...