Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Brian Doerksen
singer/songwriter
* ~ ♥ ~ ✞ ~ ♥ ~ *
There are numerous uses for fire. Fire on a torch will light the way in a cavern. A bonfire can provide warmth and a place to prepare food for campers. A fire can also destroy property and lives, as we have seen this summer in the Western states.
There is a fire that I definitely want in my life. This fire destroys the impurities in my life. It is the Refiner’s Fire.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and He will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple;
and the Messenger of the covenant in Whom you delight,
behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,
and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,
and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
as in the days of old and as in former years.
Malachi 3:1-4
Silver doesn’t come right out of the ground pure. It is found in dirt, surrounded by other minerals such as copper, lead, and zinc. To get the pure silver that has value, it must be refined. There are several different refining methods, but the one that intrigues me most is the refining fire. Silver melts at very high temperatures. It is lightweight compared to other minerals, so it will float to the top; and the dross (the other minerals and impurities) will separate from the silver so it can be extracted in its pure form. A similar process is done to purify gold, as well.
Do you see a comparison with our lives? Each of us is precious in God’s sight since He created us in His image. But each of us in our carnal nature comes to Jesus imperfect, impure. We have sin (dirt) in our lives. We have bad habits (copper), bad attitudes (zinc), and even fears (lead) that cling to us and weigh us down. To stay in His presence we must become perfect, pure even as God is pure.
Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Proverbs 30:5 KJV
[The Douay-Rheims Bible says, “Every word of God is fire tried:”]
The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.
Psalm 12:6 NLT
As for God, His way is blameless (pure); the word of the LORD is tested;
2 Samuel 22:13NAS
I want to stay in the presence of my/our pure and holy God. I can’t do that without allowing Him to refine me. I sing this song with the sincere desire to be purified, cleansed of all impurities that cling to my life. The refining fire may hurt because there are things in my carnal nature that I don’t want to let go. But when I submit to God’s purifying, I find that I’m very glad to get rid of those impurities and their weight.
…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us….
Hebrews 12:1 ESV
* ~ ♥ ~ ✞ ~ ♥ ~ *
So I pray today and I hope you will join me:
Lord, purify my heart. Please cleanse me from deep within. I choose to allow You to use Your refining fire to cleanse the dross of my life away. Please forgive me, Lord, for holding onto those things which tarnish the precious creation that You made me to be. My one desire, Lord, is to be set apart for You—pure and holy—so I am ready to do Your Will. In Jesus’ pure and holy Name, I pray. Amen.
