Prayer: Refine Me with Your Holy Fire
Malachi 3:2-3
…for He is like a refiner’s fire…
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…
A refiner of gold and silver turns up the fire and stirs the molten metal in the pot until the dross (impurities) rises to the top. When the refiner sees the dross floating on the surface, he can carefully scoop it out. He repeats this process as often as necessary until all the dross is removed.
Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary to India for 55 years ( [1867–1951), was watching a goldsmith refining some gold.
She asked, “How do you know when the gold is truly purified?”
The goldsmith answered, “When I look in the crucible and can see my face’s reflection in the melted gold, then I know it is pure.”
Notice also in this verse that the Refiner “sits” to do his work. There can be no rushing here. Refining can only take place in the rest of His love, patience, and grace!
Interestingly, the temperature needed for this precious metal refining process is an extreme 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit! However, the more the Holy Spirit reveals to us the dross of our human nature, the more obvious it becomes that an even hotter fire must be required to melt and refine us!
Hebrews 12:29
For our God is a consuming fire.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the great love (1 John 3:1; Rom 5:8) you lavished upon us through Your Son. Thank You for causing me to be born again into Your family and unto a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). As Your child, I open up my heart to You. Please have Your way in me—not my will, but Yours be done.
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Yourself on the Cross where You took my sins and the curse of sin upon Yourself. For the “joy set before [You]” (Heb 12:2), You “tasted death” for us, and You are “not ashamed to call [us] brethren” (Heb 2:10-11). Thank You for Your precious Blood that cleansed and continues to cleanse me as I walk in Your light (1 John 1:7).
You are the Eternal Word of Life. The instant I received You (John 1:12-13), I was born again and received the gift of Eternal Life, and within me was implanted the precious Seed – that Seed is You, Jesus! You are in me and being “formed” within me (Gal 4:19). You in me, Jesus, how can it be? Within me, You are the “Hope of Glory” (Col 1:27)!
Jesus, I love You. You are my Lord, my Savior, my Shepherd, my Refiner, and my Heavenly Bridegroom.
Holy Spirit, You are the “Parakletos,” the Comforter, Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, and Strengthener sent down by God as the Promise of the Father on Pentecost. Since the day I asked the Father for His promise (Luke 11:13; Luke 24:49), I received You, and just as Jesus promised, I was “baptized with Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16; Acts 1:4-5). On that very moment, You filled me and took up residency inside me.
You now dwell inside me to reveal more and more of Jesus to me (John 16:13-15) and within me (Gal 1:16). According to the New Covenant promises, You are inscribing God’s Word upon my heart and my mind, working in me “both to will and to do for [God’s} good pleasure” (Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:26-27; Heb 8:10; Heb 10:16; Phil 2:13).
Holy Spirit, like a consuming Holy Fire within me, please continue to refine me no matter how much I may complain! Let that fire burn up all the dross and transform me “into the same image [of Christ] from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18). As God promised Jacob, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you” (Gen 28:15), so I believe that God “who began a good work in [me] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6) – until the day in which Jesus can see His reflection in me!
Psalm 138:8
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
O Blessed Refiner, thank You for sitting down right at my side while You raise the temperature of that Holy Fire of the Spirit as high as needed in order to “perfect that which concerns me” – until You finally see Your reflection in me.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
