"The Refiner's Fire"

"My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments." (Psalms 119:120)

  This is not speaking of something scary, as in the fear of something monstrous; this is a beautiful fear that ends up making us surrender our lives over to a God that not only loves us, but that has every good and wonderful thing planned for our eternity with Him. There are two very different perspectives being presented here; based upon the last verse, the therefore is also pointing to the hereafter! When it comes to our heart, the intensions and desires within it, and the motivation that drives us to do the things that we do, these things are all those things which Paul speaks about in Romans 7:14-25. In contrast to the lost, those that do not have the Holy Spirit living within them, there is nothing they can do about who they are or how they deal with sin; sin is holding them bound to sin, which consequently holds them captive to death. In Paul's closing argument regarding the sin that lives in him, he cries out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" If there is one thing that I remember from the day of my salvation, it was the transformation I experience from death to life. The flesh was not the issue, it was something else within me that was liberated and set free from my own flesh, the flesh being that which is still held captive to death! This flesh is dying, each and every day it draws closer and closer to the ground from which it came; but my spirit is drawing closer and closer to my Creator! The change we have within us is not of ourselves, it is of God! It is God's Spirit living in us that makes the difference, not the works that we do, but the Spirit working in us! Therefore, our flesh needs to tremble with fear; more than that, Paul uses more than trembling as the result we have to consider, we need to crucify the flesh and consider it dead in Christ. Fortunately, the word "trembleth," has within its definition some nails; so just in case, we can visualize the cross that we are nailed to, thereby making His judgment count for something. As to the conversation I had with that older brother about our need to be baptized in order to be saved: the need is not for a physical dunking, but a spiritual death; where we count the old man to crucified with Christ and the new man to be risen up in glory. This is where our new man is kept, exalted and living in eternity. As Paul explains it, in Ephesians 1:3, "who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." What part of, Heaven is our home, don't you understand? The death that we have been freed from is not our physical death...

"You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Able. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from Heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire." (Hebrews 12:24-29) NLT