7. BEAUTY FROM ASHES

7. BEAUTY FROM ASHES

Christ wants to make us into living sacrifices. Satan wants to make us into the living dead.

Isaiah 61:1-3

You are His child just like He loves His own Son, Jesus. He will never appoint a fire in our lives, unless in advance, He knows He can bring you through that fire, without smelling like smoke. If God allows the fire, it is because He can bring beauty from ashes.

God never allows or appoints a fire unless He can bring beauty from the ashes.

Isaiah 1:18-26

God was saying “I am not going to bring on you a judging fire to destroy you; but I am going to allow a fire to come; and through this process, I am not condemning you – I am refining you. I am going to remove the dross from your life.”

 48:10-11

Though you have chosen other gods, I have to bring you back to myself. I am refining you. At times, God will do that through the fires of affliction.

 Job 23:10

When God has proved what is inside of me, and brought it to the surface, I will come forth as gold. He knows the way that I take.

 1 Peter 1:3-9

In the long term, in our lives, one of the greatest hindrances to the filling, abundant, effective-serving life of Christ, is not being able to let go of things that have hurt us. Sometimes, we can go on for the rest of our lives, still harboring that hurt. We do not allow God to turn our ashes (strongholds) into beauty. Wounds that we will never let Him uncover, cleanse and heal, become strongholds.

1. We cannot avoid fiery trials (1 Peter 1:6).

Living the most righteous life, pursuing godliness, we are still going to go through fiery trials, because our faith is going to be tried and proved. It is not just about us; it is also about the people who are near us. Sometimes the things that we go through are not just for our sakes.

1 Peter 1:6 – God never tempts us to sin. That is only something Satan does, or our own lusts will do (James 1:12-15). God only tests us to prove our faith (2 Corinthians 4:17) – in a little while.

What form can these trials take? Any kind of trial, temptation, or test.

The Greek word “poikilos” means “variegated, diverse, manifold” (1 Peter 4:10).

Poikilos is derived from the English word “polkadot” – in all sorts of polkadotted trials.

1 Peter 4:10 – various (poikilos-polkadotted) trials. God has given you all sorts of polkadot gifts to administer to the body, in all sorts of polkadot trials. If we cooperate with God when we come out of that fire, we don’t have to smell like smoke for the rest of our lives. We have to survive on God.

2. Whatever the reason, the purpose of refinement is always to make us objects of beauty (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

There is a purpose to every season under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). When your season comes, and there is true authentic suffering, you can know that God is out to make something beautiful in this situation.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – God says “I want you to know me and believe me.” There are crowns at stake, and we need to trust God. He is very busy will the details of our lives. We may be wasting away on the outside, but as God refines us, we are becoming more and more beautiful.

3. One primary purpose of fiery trials is to surface the dross

(John 18:15-18, 25-27; 21:7-12).

God turns up the heat at times so the innermost impurities can come to the surface; so He can skim it off. We have to bring it to God and say “Okay, sometimes God, it’s something that I didn’t even know I had.” God’s Spirit’s conviction is always to set us free, not condemn.

John 18:15-18; 25-27 – Christ knew that when He called Peter, he was going to do this in advance. God wanted to teach Peter something about Himself, and show Him what dwells in Him without the Spirit of God; so when the Spirit of God moves in, Peter will know that he needs him – so he let something inside of Peter come to the surface.

John 21:7-12 – God brought Peter to a place of restoration. It was fires of hope; a unique smell coming from the fire.

4. We cannot often refuse the fire, but we can refuse to be refined by it (Jeremiah 6:27-30).

We can determine not to cooperate with God. We will be rebels, and it is called “rebellion” when God says “I am trying to turn these ashes into something beautiful, and you will not let me. You will not uncover the wound.” You have never gone through anything that is not supposed to mean something (Romans 8:28). Do you trust God?

5. Sometimes our fiery trials are absolutely necessary to fulfill our callings

(1 Peter 1:6; 4:19).

“If need be” means “necessary or inevitable in the nature of things.”

God says “If need be, bear with me here, because I am working something in you that is a necessity to what I have called you to do.”

1 Peter 4:19 – God is faithful, and trust Him. “Commit yourself” means “putting something on the altar.” Put that suffering that you are going through on the altar and let Him refine it.

6. The ultimate goal of the Refiner is to see His reflection in the precious metal (1 Peter 1:7).

The whole purpose is when He looks at that gleaming surface, He sees His own face. That is His glory. It is not too late; you can still give it to Him. How about today?