“Difficult circumstances and situations do not cause problems between people. They only expose the sin that is already there. Remember this. I am intensifying the refiner’s fire. I am revealing final strongholds in My remnant. I am exposing the deepest, most hidden sins within those I am about to use.
"At times, you will look and feel as if you have learned nothing during My dealings with you. You will see who you really are not and understand how desperately you need Me for everything. That is how it should be. Remember these humbling times when pride begins to swell as you begin to see the fruit of Our labors ripen in your life. Recall these moments of understanding that there is little value in the work of your own hands. The full recognition of your spiritual bankruptcy without My hand upon you will protect you when I am using you mightily.”
Phil 4:12-13 AMP
12) I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.
13) I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
Hebrews 5:8-9 AMP
8) Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered
9) And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.
Rev. 3:19 AMP
Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].
Someone with little understanding told me that many couples in ministry were getting divorced because they had such extreme financial problems during these difficult times. He went on to explain that he was helping them by providing his income-producing vehicle as a means to help the horrible statistics within the church.
There is no question that ministries all over the land are struggling because of a lack of finances, but this man’s reasoning was incredibly faulty. His solution was not helping in every case; in fact, he was probably hindering the work of the Lord in many because of his lack of understanding of God’s ways.
Difficult times, no matter what form they take, never cause relationships to fall apart, or people to fall away from their calling, or marriages to break up. They only expose the sin that was hidden deep within the participants all along. Finding and revealing that sin is, as a matter of fact, the purpose for the refiner’s fires. Removal from situations that the Lord is using to expose hidden sin temporarily hinders God’s plans and delays the release of His people into the work He has for them.
Those of you who come out of such fires—hungry for more of God, full of the understanding of your complete spiritual bankruptcy, and absolutely confident in the Lord’s competency, love, and reliability—have allowed the refining fires in your lives to do the necessary work. You have submitted to the Lord’s work in your life and can now move on, possibly even to the next fire. Those who are called by the Lord for greater things, who then “bail out” because of the pressure, will miss the best that the Lord has for them; and will probably find themselves in a similar refining situation in the near future. The Lord loves you too much to allow you to remain where you are.
Give me Your strength to stand wherever You ask me to stand, Lord,
Jim Corbett
