Put on the New Turban 2

^{Malachi 4:1-2}

¹ “For behold, the day is coming,
 Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.
² But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
 And grow fat like stall-fed calves. AMP

God has a dispensation of time and seasons for our development as He prepares us for our destined place in which we will fulfill His plan and purpose for our lives. In these seasons, He will allow us to go through circumstances designed to burn the wicked things out of us that have been imbedded in us by the world and its system. Like a candle wick that is twisted, braided, or knitted together so it can absorb the liquefied wax and carry it to the flame, so we have absorbed the ways of the world as mentioned in other posts by our cultures, traditions, and by people that have influenced our thinking, beliefs, and our behavior.

The Lord helps us come out of the worldly ways that have been twisted in our conscious and subconscious minds and have led us to think and believe in ways that are contrary to His will and the ways of His kingdom. These cannot be used where He is taking us to influence others as citizens of heaven. So in essence, the circumstances He allows us to go through are designed to untwist us from those ways of thinking, believing, and behaving as God burns our wicked (twisted) ways with His fire and washes us with His word to renew our minds to His will and to His ways. Our job is to continually go to Him to be washed and allow His fire to burn what cannot remain in us.

We don’t need to run from these trials designed to help us see Him as the only God there is and that make us more and more into His image and likeness. This way, we can love Him and love others as we learn to love ourselves because we have learned to also receive His love for us. There are two things that God judges and develops in us through these trials: our sole worship of Him and our love for others as we love ourselves. We get tested at every level for these two areas of our walk with God.

With this plumb line God measures where we are on the way to where we are going. He checks to see which other gods (idols) we have raised for ourselves and how we treat others in our minds, with our mouths, and with our actions. God is not mocked, whatsoever we sow we reap (Galatians 6:7), therefore,  it is important to yield ourselves to endure these trials and not pretend that because we love God and we know He loves us, we can make a mockery of His amazing grace for us to do the things He has called us to do.

Malachi 3:2-4 states, ² But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the priests, the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then will the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in ancient years. AMP

The scripture talks about the priests, the sons of Levi being the ones that would need to endure these trials in which the Lord burns the dross and the dirt that has kept them in heart-hardness, sin, and bondage. We are all called to be priests of the Lord. God ordained that since the time of the Israelites' exodus  from Egypt. Exodus 19:5-6 explains, ⁵ Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites. AMP

But the truth is that we cannot be set free without the help of the Son of Righteousness (Jesus) who comes to help us enjoy life in abundance as He heals us and restores us from the inside out. Also, as the Scripture reveals, because we are called to be holy and consecrated for the worship of the Lord, He removes the things in us that keep us from walking in holiness, so we can fulfill our priesthood of being set apart to walk in our status as peculiar possessions and treasures of the Lord among the people, and as citizens of heaven. Thus, it is important to remain steadfast, immovable, and enduring in these trials that will turn us into refined gold for the glory of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). To Him alone be all the glory.

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