“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

Some of my favorite outdoor memories are from sitting around warm campfires with friends, singing and laughing together. God was using those times to change me from the inside out. The element of fire always reminds me of transformation. It changes anything that comes into contact with it. What a perfect metaphor for the awesome, fearsome, beautiful, transforming, refining fire of the Lord’s presence with us.

God’s desire for you and me is to make us more like Himself. He will meet us where we are, but He will not leave us as we are. He won’t toss us into the fire of life to make ashes of us. But He may allow the fires that refine us like gold.

He is going to complete what He started in you for His glory and purposes. While this process may be slow and painful at times, your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. “I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God’” (Zechariah 13:9).

Insight: Lord, my life belongs to You. Refine me as fire by Your Spirit. Use me as You see fit. Amen