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| PentecostalTheology.com
WORKING OUT THE HIDDEN TREASURE – Ray E Horton
My mother once told me as a child that I have a heart of gold. I don’t know how old I was, so I don’t know if she saw my reborn new creation spirit, or if it was prophetic insight into that time. But she saw something within.
As believers, we all have hearts of gold, but usually it takes a lifetime to at least partially work that hidden treasure out into out daily living.
We all need Jesus
As believers, we all have hearts of gold, but it takes a lifetime to work that hidden treasure out into out daily living
I’m glad I remembered my mother saying that, because it validates my memory of always wanting to be a good person. During much of my youthful years I would go out of my way to be polite, to help others and to show love. I also know that good intentions and even good actions don’t make a person. It is what is in their heart – we all need Jesus.
Until the gold is worked out into the soulish realm, it is easy to fail miserably. I sure did. And I’m finding a truth more and more that I had rejected for years, that it is often the Refiner’s fire that needs to refine us.
I still believe that God’s best is that we would learn and grow through the chastisement and admonition of His Word and Spirit. But truth is, there are times in our lives when we are not listening to His voice.
It’s not even that the fiery trials come from God. He has no bad to give. He is not mad at us; He loves us and sent Jesus to take the penalty of our sin and put us in right standing with God. The bad that befalls us comes from this fallen world, the lies of the enemy, or the inevitable consequences of our own sin.
Even with repentance and forgiveness, consequences will come. We have a choice: We let consequences embitter us, or let God use them to refine us more into the His image on the outside, that image in which He created us, then re-created us on the inside.
Let His mercy override your weakness
The beautiful thing is, when we don’t resist God’s melting and molding as He work all things to the good, His mercy is in play, and He brings us through stronger than ever.
It is so important to recognize the treasure, the gold that is within each of us believers, so that when hard times come, we can have a right perspective and let go and let Him transform us from glory to glory. And thank God for the encouragers in our lives who can look beyond and see the gold.
If you’ve been through the wringer, so to speak, whether because of not using your spiritual authority and resisting the attacks of the devil or not standing against the ways of the world, or if it is the consequences of your own sin, know that God still loves you and is with you. That will never change.
You may have lost a loved one, lost a job, gone through divorce, hurt others badly, maybe even unintentionally, or whatever, and you are hurting, or lonely, or regretful. Look up, for your salvation has drawn nigh.
We learn from the past, and let the Lord work in our lives, all the time keeping an eye on the gold, Jesus within our new creation perfected spirit. And then we go forward, seeing that He is with us, will never leave us or forsake us, and has a wonderful destiny for our future. Submit to God, resist the devil and his lies and accusations, and he will flee. You are free in Jesus.
