Maria’s Refinement Process

I'm Maria, I would like to share my story of being refined and how Jesus uses other believers to help us grow and see clearly when we are in the refinement process. I pray as I share what I have been learning and the scriptures I have been studying that they will encourage you. 

One of my close friends knew I was having a hard time overcoming some situations in my life, so she was praying for me. While she was praying for me, God gave her these statements to ask me and scriptures for me to ponder.

You are in the refinement fire.
Are you being obedient while you’re in the fire? 

It’s important to remain obedient. Are you praising Him? Finding joy in the suffering? He is allowing this to strengthen you and to give you endurance. Ask Him to show you joy, and glimpses of Him throughout your day. Ask Him for the physical endurance and mental clarity to get your job done. 

These may seem like hard questions my friend was asking me, but she asked because she loves me and this is what God was telling her to ask me. 

She proceeded to tell me Jesus is baptizing me in fire. We see in Romans 5 we are to exult in our tribulations.

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

Exult is the Greek word kauchaomai which means to boast
Strong's Concordance Helps Word-studies says this.
kauxáomai – properly, living with "head up high," i.e. boasting from a particular vantage point by having the right base of operation to deal successfully with a matter (see WP at 2 Cor 5:12).
(kauxáomai) likely comes from the root, auχēn ("neck"), i.e. what holds the head up high (upright); figuratively, it refers to living with God-given confidence.

Tribulation is the Greek word thlipsis which means a pressing, pressing together, pressure, oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits
Strong's Concordance Helps Word-studies says this.
thlípsis – properly, pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that "hems someone in"; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, "without options").
thlípsis ("compression, tribulation") carries the challenge of coping with the internal pressure of a tribulation, especially when feeling there is "no way of escape" ("hemmed in").

My friend encouraged me to ponder not focusing on what I ‘feel’ but focusing on what, why, and how Jesus is doing His mighty work inside me. She sent me these scriptures as examples of how the disciples did this in scripture and encouraged others to do the same.

After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:21-22

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:35

The Greek word for distress is stenochória which means narrowness of space, difficulty
Strong's Concordance Helps Word-studies says this.
stenoxōría (from 4728 /stenós, "narrow, confined" and 5561 /xṓra, "space, territory, area") – properly, a narrow place; (figuratively) a difficult circumstance – which God always authorized and hence only produces a temporal sense of confinement. Through Christ's inworking of faith (4102 /pístis, "divine persuasion"), internal distress (sense of pressure, anguish) is ironically the way He shows His limitless work – in our "limitations"!

She encouraged me, that while I was not being physically chased out of town like Paul or stoned like Paul, I was feeling spiritual pressure to quit. The truth is, that we cannot allow the pressures of the circumstances we are in to control us. We must overcome whatever our feelings are telling us and cling to the Word of God. My friend encouraged me to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and ask Him for help, knowing He will answer no matter how I feel about the situation I am in. 

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
James 1:5-6

My friend also reminded me that while I am being tempted to resort to my flesh, I'm not to give in to it but to ask God for my way of escape. She reminded me that He provides a way of escape every time. She posed a question to me, asking me if He only gives a way of escape when He feels like it. 

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13

She encouraged me to pay attention to how much my discernment is growing and continue to be fine-tuned. She encouraged me to remember that I am in a spiritual workout and that I'm being trained by Jesus, who knows me best.

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14

My process to overcome, after receiving the Lord's wisdom to me through my friend is this.

The Lord showed me Deuteronomy 32 (which speaks of Israel and our forefathers and what GOD was willing to offer them if they surrendered to His ways).  It also spoke to my heart of how the Lord is willing to take us through the 'places of wilderness' when we are willing to surrender to the work He is doing in our lives during that process, into His restoration.

‭Deuteronomy 32:9-14 AMP‬
For the Lord’s portion and chosen share is His people; Jacob (Israel) is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land , And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And He made him suck honey from the rock , And oil from the flinty rock, Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat — And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.

The statements 'Suck honey from a rock' and 'oil from the flinty rock' stood out to me. As it speaks of His treasure within, which will pour out of us when we accept His refinement. When we embrace the refinement process in trials.

Which speaks of this verse:
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

I encourage you to allow other disciples of Jesus to rebuke and admonish you when necessary. If they are giving you the truth, take it in and be humble enough to take it to the Lord in prayer. I have women who love me enough to point me back to the truth and not simply tell me what I want to hear. They don't give me their own opinions, and they do not tear me down; they build me up in the word of God.