God Puts The Gas On

Emphasis — Refinement Has a Purpose

A while back, I listened to a woman teach about a season in her walk with Christ when she told God to “put the gas on.” She followed that statement by saying she didn’t necessarily recommend praying it.

Not because she regretted what God did, but because He answered her.

The growth came quickly. The lessons came quickly. God began taking her through the things she needed to walk through at an accelerated pace.

That story stayed with me.

Fast-forward to about a month ago when I began a school called Embers of Refinement.

I didn’t tell God to put the gas on.

But somewhere along the way, I believe he decided it was time to turn up the heat.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

In only a month, God has challenged me, stretched me, corrected me, encouraged me, and increased my hunger for His Word. Things I have prayed about are beginning to connect with things He has been teaching me for years.

There are moments when I think, Lord, this has only been a month. I’m not sure I can handle an entire year.

But underneath that thought is something much stronger:

I don’t want Him to stop.

Because I’m beginning to understand that the fire isn’t meant to destroy what God has placed inside us.

The fire reveals it.

Attribute — God Is the Refiner

Scripture never presents refinement as meaningless suffering. There is purpose in the hands of the Refiner.

“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
—Job 23:10 KJV

Gold doesn’t fear the refiner because the refiner knows exactly how much heat is necessary.

And neither does God lose control of the temperature when He is refining His children.

Malachi describes the Lord as “a refiner’s fire” and says:

“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
—Malachi 3:2–3 KJV

That word sit means something to me.

The Refiner isn’t absent from the process.

He doesn’t light the fire and walk away.

He sits with what belongs to Him.

He watches.

He knows what needs to remain and what needs to go. He knows what impurities need to rise to the surface. He knows the exact temperature necessary to accomplish His purpose without destroying what He is refining.

That changes how I look at difficult seasons of spiritual growth.

The heat isn’t evidence that God has left.

Sometimes the heat is evidence that God is working.

Theme — “When Thou Walkest Through the Fire”

“When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” — Isaiah 43:2 KJV

Notice Scripture doesn’t say if you walk through the fire.

It says when.

God never promised us a life without refinement. He promised His presence in the middle of it.

And I think that’s what I’m beginning to understand through Embers of Refinement.

I entered this season already loving God. I was already hungry for His Word. I already wanted to serve Him and become everything He was calling me to become.

But hunger for God will eventually lead us beyond simply asking Him to use us.

At some point, we have to allow Him to prepare us.

And preparation requires surrender.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God…”
—Romans 12:1 KJV

A living sacrifice doesn’t determine the temperature of the altar.

It simply stays surrendered.

That’s where this season is challenging me.

Can I trust God when He answers prayers differently than I expected?

Can I trust Him when growth comes faster than I anticipated?

Can I allow Him to expose something without immediately defending it?

Can I receive corrections with the same gratitude that I receive encouragement?

Can I say, “Lord, refine me,” and then remain surrendered when He actually does?

Because refinement isn’t rejection.

Correction isn’t condemnation.

And conviction isn’t punishment.

When they come from the hand of God, they are evidence that He loves us too much to leave us where He found us.

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth…”
—Hebrews 12:6 KJV

The Fire Is Preparing Something

There is another side to refinement that we sometimes forget.

God doesn’t only remove things in the fire.

He prepares things there.

Moses encountered God in a burning bush.

The three Hebrew men discovered that there was Another One walking with them in the furnace.

The disciples received the Holy Ghost as tongues “like as of fire” rested upon them.

And throughout Scripture, fire repeatedly accompanies the presence, purification, power, and holiness of God.

So perhaps the question isn’t simply, “Lord, when will You get me out of this fire?”

Maybe sometimes the better question is:

“Lord, what are You producing in me through it?”

Because God sees beyond the season I’m standing in.

He knows what He’s preparing me to carry.

He knows where he's sending me.

He knows which parts of me aren’t ready yet.

And He loves me enough to deal with them before I get there.

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
—Philippians 2:13 KJV

I didn’t ask God to put the gas on.

But after only a month in Embers of Refinement, there are moments when it certainly feels like He has.

And if I’m being refined, I don’t want to run from the fire.

I want to know the Refiner in it.

I want to come out knowing His voice more clearly, handling His Word more carefully, loving people more deeply, walking more humbly, and looking more like Jesus than I did when I entered.

Because the goal isn’t simply to survive the fire.

The goal is transformation.

“But we all… are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
—2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV

Life Application

If you are in a season of refinement, don’t immediately assume something has gone wrong.

Ask God what He is producing.

What is He exposing that needs to be surrendered? What is He strengthening that you’re going to need later? What is He teaching you about His character? What is He developing in you that couldn’t have been developed in comfort?

Don’t run simply because the temperature changed.

Stay close to the Refiner.

Stay in His Word.

Stay teachable.

Stay surrendered.

You may not understand the intensity of the season until you see the weight of what God was preparing you to carry.

Prayer

Father, I surrender myself again to You.
Refine me without allowing my heart to become hardened by the process.
Remove what does not look like Jesus and strengthen what You have placed within me.
Teach me to recognize Your presence even when I feel the heat.
Give me the courage to remain surrendered until Your purpose is accomplished.
In Jesus’ name, amen.