I most definitely prefer the bliss of the Lord's presence and the joy of His nearness, to the Fires of purging. I really, really do! However, I have learned over the years that His cleansing Fire, is the Fire of His passion that burns within us. We can learn to have peace and joy even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, by fixing our hearts and minds relentlessly on the Lord. At any time during trials & spiritual attacks, if we begin to react out of our flesh instead of our spirit, we feel the Fire of God's passion trying to consume what is not of Him, in order for us to not become contaminated by things like sinful reactions, demonic oppression, etc.

The reason we feel such contention inside of us during these trying times, is because His passion for us is trying to draw us into Him instead of away from Him. When we begin to react to our situations in the flesh, we feel the Fire burning, doing it's cleansing work. However, this pain can become one of our longed for friends. As we grow in the Lord, we realize that yielding to the Fire of God, embracing our Cross (His mindset for our situation, which crucifies our fleshly desires) should be our immediate response to Him because it yields love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. (Galatians 5:22)

Let me say it another way. Hard times are hard on our flesh. But as we grow closer to the Lord, we realize that the pain is mostly caused by our reactions. When we have the mind of Christ we find ourselves walking through the freedom or the healing, much more quickly than when we carry on with wrong thinking. However, it doesn't mean that submitting ourselves to His ways doesn't hurt. It can really hurt! It is crucifying our flesh! But by His grace, the more we yield, the easier it becomes. AND, the faster we abandon our ways for His.

It's like that saying, "You don't know what's inside the tube of toothpaste until it gets squeezed." The Lord is in the midst of our trials, He never leaves us, but He does allow them to squeeze out what is in us for us to see. He isn't stuck on our shortcomings and sins and neither should we. When we see the "crud" being squeezed out, we must immediately release it to the Lord and be thankful that He is freeing us from it as we repent and trust Him. We learn that if we embrace the Fire and watch our reactions, we can see for ourselves what hinders us from greater intimacy with the Lord.

Many times we don't realize the beauty that comes from these times, until later. I would much rather only experience the times of joy and laughter and rejoicing, but ironically, some of the greatest joy we will experience is when we've gone through the Cross to get it.

When we ask the Lord to remove everything that hinders love, He will. The fires of purging are most desirable yet can burn hotter than we imagine when we first ask. Let's give Him every argument, everything that is in opposition to His ways and His way of thinking, so that we can be everything He has already seen that we are.

"But it's unthinkable that I could ever brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his cross my relationship to the world and its relationship to me have been crucified." (Galatians 6:14- God's Word Translation)

About the author:

These are the words with which Gretchen describes herself:  Wife, Mother, Writing, Dancing, Glory, Bliss, Joy, Longing, Worshiping, Reading, Coffee, Ice-Cream, Nature, ...and more Jesus! She and her husband Len are missionaries in Puerto Rico.