How many of us can attest to the kindness of God when we go through life’s challenges? I know plenty of people who have lived through the most challenging of circumstances and came out at the other end with a renewed faith and love for the Lord. The Apostle James says, trials produce patience.
Unfortunately, I also know many who have turned their back on God when faced with the most heightened trials life has thrown at them. We are called to pray for the kindness of the Father to lead them back into His redemptive love. When we are distant from God, His love endures, and with anticipation, He waits for us to come back to Him.
James encourages us to “…count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4). James wasn’t talking about the principle of time, rather it’s the endurance of heart—putting patience to work, from which we become stronger in our faith in God. How? Our trust in God grows, our maturity in Him is complete, our posture of steadfastness in the knowledge of who He is becomes rigid, and our hunger for more of God increases.
Hebrews points us to Jesus, “… the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). The destination is not where, or what, but it is who. The knowledge of who He is in our journey in life, empowers us to persevere.
The prophet Malachi spoke of God as like the fire that refines us, and like soap that cleans us. (Malachi 3:2). God’s desire is for righteousness, because He is righteous. The process of refining, and the journey of persevering through trials, is to attain a condition of the heart—for, and because of, the Father.
When we come to gather at this year’s PK Event, we are praying that the presence of God will fall like a refiner’s fire, but gentle in His love. There is nothing like the presence of God daily, but when His people gather in worship, prayer and in unity, He will come with power.
I look forward to seeing you at the 2025 PK Refiner’s Fire Event on Saturday 2 August.
To join me at the PK Event [click here]
In His richest blessings
Frank Po Ching
