Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiners fire and like fullers soap. And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
Celebration by Lora Allison is a book I very much enjoy. It talks about holiness in the worship arts. A paragraph she has in this book says Can you remember when your mother used to scrub you mercilessly and you hated it? I have memories not quite that pleasant and much less merciful. As a victim of third degree burns from a car accident I had to submit my exposed nerve endings to the scrub brush in a chlorine filled tank to remove the dead skin to prepare for skin grafting. No mattter how muh I screamed, I knew it was necessary. I never pulled away. We must submit to the refining, cleansing and purifying of a most merciful God. We must willingly choose the furnace as a price of fellowship with Him. That which is unholy cannot stand before a holy God.
Prayer:Lord I pray that we desire You above all else. Help us to submit to Your purifying work in our lives. We choose not to pull away. Amen.