A Time of Sifting

Recently I was thinking about how the Lord is sifting His people like never before. This is a time of sifting, of separation. Many people are leaving the local church and the Lord. They are those who have not allowed His Spirit to come into their lives and sift it. They never allowed themselves to be crushed; they have become ‘foreign objects’ in the flour- they won’t sift through.

How many of us can remember that almost every recipe called for the flour to be sifted. We had to sift it with the baking powder, salt, baking soda and other ingredients. How many times were there pieces that were hard and would not sift? We threw it out. We didn’t want those hard, mineralized pieces to be in our batter.

It is the same process for the Lord, though He doesn’t throw us out. He usually gives us another chance to be sifted, over and over again. There are those who are willing to go through the sifting process, the refining process. Others have refused-when the heat is turned up, when the pressure is put on- they run. They become chaff-unsuitable for God’s purposes. Their hearts have never been softened- never melted in His Presence.

It is the sifting time of the Lord! It may look like the “church” is dwindling down in numbers. But God isn’t concerned with numbers but with the sincerity, depth of love and purity and the willingness to ALLOW the refining process to take place.

Are you going through severe trials and storms? Are things harder than they used to be for you? Do you feel like everytime you turn around, God is showing you an area of your life that you need to deal with? It could be that God is sifting your heart- straining out the hardened areas that won’t be crushed. Allow it to take place. Allow your spirit to melt in His Presence and allow Him to do that work that He desires to do.

It is during this "sifting" time, that we as Christians could become discouraged and disheartened. We may feel like giving up. But this is the time we need to be more determined than ever to let God have His way in our lives. It will always be for the best, though for a time, we don't like what is happening to us. We must spend much time in His Presence, allowing His Spirit to bring in that needed correction, to allow that sifting and refining process to take place. Being molded and conformed to His image does not come without a price. The price--our self will, desires and ambitions, to name a few. We must allow God to sift these things out of lives so that we can be soft and pliable in His Hands.

Amos 9:9: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (KJV)

Zechariah 13:9: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” (KJV)