HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GCH!!!
Today is the first day of our week long Anniversary celebration!! Want to enter our contest to win some fabulous prizes?? All you have to do is read the blog below, and then leave a comment about it! That’s it!!
Today’s Prize: A box of lovely goodies: “21 Days – Your Journey to Enjoying Everyday Life” by Joyce Meyer, a Coffee Mug by Dayspring (also includes a Gift Card to Dunkin’ Donuts), a book by Wendy Anderson Halperin titled “Love Is”, and a couple of extra little goodies that we will surprise you with!!
Only ONE WINNER will be chosen EACH DAY FROM May 6th to May 10th. DEADLINE FOR TODAY’S ENTRIES: 8PM Central Time Zone. Each day we will post a new prize!! ALL WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY, MAY 11th, ON OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE.
And now, onto today’s blog!
This week we begin learning what it takes to “forge a sword.” These are words that are not used often in our society. I had questions, so I did some research. The word forge is a verb for a process, much like the word mold is. The dictionary defines these words for us:
We are familiar with molds when we want to make uniform soaps, candles, and yes, CHOCOLATES. If you have attempted to make any of these items even once you will have learned some very important facts to make the end product the best it can be. The product has to be melted, or softened from its original form and poured into the mold to obtain the desired shape and size. But that is not enough. The mold has to be shaken, dropped on a table, etc., to remove all air bubbles from the finished product. These bubbles can cause the product to crack, fall apart and ruin the end result. If you have done everything exactly right, you will end up with many, many identical soaps, candles, and yes, fewer chocolates. 🙂
If you want to make soap, you melt and pour soap. If you want a candle, you melt and pour wax. If you want chocolate – well, you get the picture. When you forge something, you take separate metals, heat them to a molten liquid, burn off the impurities (anything that isn’t metal) and prepare to meld them into your final product. This intense heat leaves a liquid virtually free of imperfections and no “bubbles;” the original metal is not changed from what it originally was, but is so much more useful now. According to my research, forged products are 15% stronger than molded products.
By this time you are wondering what all this has to do with you, me, and our study. Did you know that the first mention of forging was in Genesis 4? There was a man who forged tools out of bronze and iron. The forge was used since the beginning of time to make useful tools and God uses that same process to make us useful in His Kingdom. The prophet Isaiah uses this terminology and applies it to the Christian walk as God’s plan for His people. Look at these verses in Isaiah 54 and see what God revealed to him about the people of Israel and later for you and me:
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.
God has placed a protective covering over his people. A holy promise to protect, restore and vindicate any wrong done against us. He has forged us to be strong and durable and fit for our work here on earth.
This is the work God wants to forge in our hearts:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33 and 34
Jeremiah says that in the end, we will all know the Lord. Every one of us. If we have made the commitment to follow Jesus, it’s time to submit to the original Blacksmith and let Him forge you into the character He needs you to be.
Lisa says, “The process of making a sword is a whole lot like the process of making a life” (page 105). What kind of life do you want to be known for? I want to mix my life with God’s teaching and let Him make me what He needs me to be. How about you?
These truths are what God brings to the mixture to be forged. You and I have a choice to join Him and face the refining fire. Attacks are not fun. Pounding surely hurts and bruises. Fire is hot! Water is healing. Pressure makes us experienced and strong. Our finished product will be one strong, mighty warrior for the Kingdom of God. Prepare your heart for the truths coming at you this week. Do not be surprised if the fiery arrows increase. Smile…and purpose in your heart to become a stronger warrior and stand. God has promised the victorious ending. We get to watch it unfold around us.
Our song to start the week is from the Crabb Family and the Gaither’s: Through the Fire
Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We praise Your name above all names. We thank You for loving us enough to want to forge us into a unique creation and not just a molded image like so many others. We want to be strong, we want to be taught, we want to endure until the end, we want to be victorious. Father, we submit our lives to the refining fire of Your love. Remove the impurities and make us strong. We want to be forever known as ONE with You. Let the forging begin and fit us for Your service. AMEN.
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If you would like to join us for the “Girls with Swords” Online Bible/Book study, click HERE to be taken to our sign-up page. Once you complete the enrollment process, we will email you further details. We hope you will join us!
About Teresa Bolme
Wow, Teresa, your prayer was so powerful! I read it aloud and got louder and louder with each word as I prayed in agreement! (Thankfully, Steve had just left the house for a business trip!) 🙂
I want the Lord to forge me (as hard as that may be) into a weapon fit for the work He has planned for me. Is 54:16. As Lisa said, “…in order to transform our weaknesses into strengths, our rigidity into flexibility. He hones a shapeless life into one of sharp and focused purpose.”
“Do Your work in me, Lord.”
You ARE being forged, my friend. You have given God permission to purify your heart and use your life to honor Him. <3
Its so amazing how much God loves us. When you truly understand the cross you think wow! He did that for me. Then you find out there is even more blessing upon blessing! He is going to walk with us every day loving encouraging disciplining and teaching until we are made into the people he desires who demonstrate his character to the world. That is
Love. Thank you jesus.
AMEN
Wow – amazing Teresa!! YES – we want to finish the race set before us. To go through the fire is refreshing, knowing He cares and loves us enough to take each one of us through to mold us into mighty warriors. The song Refiners Fire kept going through my head also – Refiners fire, my hearts one desire is to be holy. Set apart for You my Master, ready to do Your will. Love the Crabb Family – song was amazing to start this Monday morning, Thank you Teresa and Amen!!
Doesn’t it feel good to look back at where we came from and who God is purifying us to be? What an awesome God we serve.
Everywhere I go people are looking for their path. The thought that keeps coming to me is LOOK UP! Ask the Father to put you on that path. Let Him point you in the right direction and make you who He wants you to be. All part of the refining process.
When I was first learning this concept I owned a ceramic shop and I poured our own items to sale and use in classes. There were a few times I had to use clay for a project and that clay needed to be prepared before we could use it. It needed to be beat, thrown, and pounded over and over again. And then once the project was done, it needed to be baked in a VERY hot kiln. I could relate this to the trials I was going through at the time. It was a great visual. Sometimes real life visuals are what we need to understand what God is saying to us in his Word.
I know there had to be times when you wished you could skip one of the processes. You have practical experience demonstrating that each step has to be done exactly right to have a product worth the effort. We are ALL worth the effort to God.
What resounded In this today was we are “individually forged” no two of us are made the same. Each mold differently to fit together, each one polished to reflect the light. What a God we serve who should live us enough to know where we are each at and to want us to be our very best.
I pray – Thank you Father God for loving me more than enough. Jesus for opening up the heavenlies so I may know my Father and Holy Spirit for fueling the fire that dwells in me and I will keep lite to help bring others to my Father’s house. In Jesus name. Amen.
We are all different and made for a different purpose. We each complement the other when we function as a body of believers. Thank you for being individually forged to be you.
oh.boy. sitting here crying my tears of praise…thanking my Father for His perfect wisdom…the beautiful way that He moves us, and grabs our attention, and brings us along to just exactly where He knows we need to be…and then provokes our hearts! oh.boy.
thank you, teresa, for speaking words of life! and for reminding us of God’s promises. that we WILL come through the fire but we absolutely have to go through it WITH Him…not trying to do it on our own. <3
"He never promised that the cross would not get heavy, and the hill would not be hard to climb.
He never offered a victory without fighting. He said help would always come in time. Just remember when you're standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says ‘give in,’…just hold on…our Lord will show up and He will take you through the fire again.”
I’m so glad you connected with one of my favorite songs. 😀
God is so good! He made us in His image so that we could enjoy what He has made and to praise Him. He has given us gifts that we all need to use in being warriors for him.
Let’s go on a scavenger hunt and find those gifts together!
I like the concept of melting away all the old ways and resolidifying with Gods way! Water has always been healing to me. Creeks lakes oceans swimming pools hot baths- so refreshing.
I LOVE water too!
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. This scripture has been coming up repeatedly in my studies the past few months. I couldn’t help but think of it in relation to your prayer and this writing. Thank you Teresa, for such a visually inspiring post. God bless!
Very needed information,a great reminder to keep our hearts and minds open to be molded and shaped by him,to be more like the Lord and his way’s,very good words to live by.
Thank you, Teresa, for the great lesson today, for the insights, and for the prayer for all of us to be shaped into His image. “Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me” as the song goes. God bless you and use you mightily in His kingdom!
Powerful prayer Teresa! “The process of making a sword is a whole lot like the process of making a life”… I loved this line. 🙂
Happy anniversary to Girlfriends Coffee Hour!!! It is amazing how the Lord can use us when we are willing. My prayer like yours Theresa is to be open to the Lord’s refining fire done in love.I recently visited two cemeteries near my home within walking distances with a dear Christian friend of 41 years. Margit is 71 years old and still open to serving the Lord often helping and witnessing to hospice patients in Florida. Margit spoke openly about many of the people in the cemetery. She showed me graves of people I worked with at Pottstown Hospital. We spoke openly about these people. Many of these people lives were ended short. I didn’t know if they were saved or not because I didn’t know them that well or work with them directly.When I looked over the graves, I wonder and asked in thought to the Lord, how many of these people in the graves have accepted your gift of salvation?
I felt an overwhelming sadness not knowing that day. I pray today refine me Lord so I can be an effective witness for You. The fire we go through and HIS saving grace that the Lord has to offer is a powerful witnessing tool.
“God has placed a protective covering over his people. A holy promise to protect, restore and vindicate any wrong done against us. He has forged us to be strong and durable and fit for our work here on earth.”
I loved this quote! This brings such a great comfort! 🙂
Pressure works best when subject is pliable – wow! How much harder do I make it by not being pliable? Isaiah 43:1-2 is one of my favorite scriptures. Love the reminder that these are affliction I am just passing through.
I loved this blog today!! I am doing another study at church called “unglued” by Lysa Terkeurst and one thing that stands out to me from last week was God Chisel me!! I felt as though the two were combined this day as I go over both studies for me to allow God to chisel me and to forge me into the person He wishes me to be!! I absolutely love the fact that He wishes to do these things for us to become the people He wishes us to be for Him and With Him what a wondrous feeling to fill my heart with today thank you 🙂 <3
Thanks again T for a powerful blog post:) I want God to forge Himself into my heart. I want every ounce of my being to be HIS! With His strength and power we can get back up from everything that has tried to bring us down! Holding onto His strength this week:)
Teresa, God has truly gifted you with words of encouragement. I love to read your blogs!
One of my all time favorite songs that I claim and hold on to. Love your heart! <3
Great explanation of the meaning of forge. Your prayer also showed me as said how uniquely we are forged: “We thank You for loving us enough to want to forge us into a unique creation and not just a molded image like so many others.” Quite a lot to think about.
Teresa, so true, the forging process, the heat is applied before we come forth as gold. We all are I. This journey. Thank you for you insight. god bless you all !