God is turning up the heat, get ready to burst under pressure!
God gave me a vision of a thermometer on a wall. The temperature in the room started to get hotter, and the hotter it got the more the mercury in the thermometer would rise, until finally the thermometer burst due to the amount of pressure from the rising temperatures.
Have you been feeling intense pressure in this season? So much pressure that you are ready to burst? Are you at a breaking point? Then get ready because God is turning up the heat!
In the vision the thermometer represented us. The elevated temperature represented God taking us through a Refiners Fire. A fire to bring to the surface all impurities and negative toxins so that He can scrape away anything that does not belong in us. Fear, anxiety, doubt, shame, guilt, and sin must go in Jesus’ name! The bursting of the thermometer represented God’s glory that is released in us and through us, but only for those who will not resist the refiner’s fire. Those who will not give up the fight, those who will remain in faith, and those who will not lose hope knowing that God is in control! When our life seems as if it is out of control, then it is time to give the control back to God!
Do not allow the pressure to implode you on the inside, instead get ready to explode with God’s glory!
Malachi 3:1-3(NKJV) “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand it when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. 3 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, that they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.
When God brings correction to our life it is not to hurt us, condemn us, scold us, or belittle us. Correction comes because He loves us, cares about us, convicts us, refines us, and builds us up!
When we are under intense pressure, it could be because of the choices we make. Sometimes pressure comes from when the enemy will attack, but when he does, we have the authority through Jesus to resist the devil. So, it is not God’s fault when we are under pressure. But there are times that even in the choices we make that God will allow us to simmer in it a little while. The more we experience the pressure, the less we will want to be in it, till eventually the breakthrough comes and we are able to learn from it. Learn how not to allow ourselves to be under pressure again. Every season, every step of the process should be a learning experience to better equip us.
So, God will refine us, He will purify and purge anything that is negative in our life. So that we will shine like silver and gold!
Isaiah 60:1-2 (NKJV) Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
If you endure the heat and the pressure, then like a Diamond you are going to shine brightly!
Natural diamonds are formed at elevated temperatures and pressure at deep depths in the Earth’s mantle.
Just think how deeply we suppress our emotions, those emotions that cause us to feel under pressure. Now imagine that while the junk is buried deep inside of you that as God turns up the heat and the pressure is intensified, start looking at your situation as a way God is preparing you to shine like a diamond! That God is trying to mold and shape the situation for breakthrough!
Humans can make “fake” or “synthetic” diamonds out of carbon containing materials. And with being “man-made” the gem is not as precious as a real diamond; it is not valuable.
But when God creates a real diamond, the gem is precious and is highly valued to Him. Even natural raw diamonds must go through a process. Raw diamonds need to be polished, cleaned, and cut to make it look like a beautiful gem. Diamonds in their raw form are not beautiful like polished diamonds.
When we allow our own way in dealing with pressure, it takes control of our lives, then we create a fake sense of security. We no longer value ourselves because of trying to hide behind a mask. Living a lie.
Philippians 2:14-16 “14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
God’s Refiner’s Fire should make us want to turn back to Him!
Malachi 3:4-7 (NKJV) 4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, as in former years. 5 And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—Because they do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. 6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’
Do not allow the pressure to make you turn against God!
Malachi 3:16-18 (NKJV) 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name. 17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.
I love verse 17, “I make them My jewels” – it is time to shine church! It is time to shine! Like a diamond in the rough!
God is turning up the heat, get ready to burst under pressure! Get ready to burst with the glory of God!
