The Names Of Our God: A Refiner And Purifier

As a young boy in the 50's my mother knew what it would take to purify my mouth from the bad words that I had picked up from some of the neighborhoods older boys.

I was very strong headed and had a rebellious streak, as I tested out my new words; not really knowing what they meant, only that some how they got reactions when used.

After being told to stop using these words, I realized they had something, a power that other words didn't, which only inspired me to test them out more.

When I tried them on my mother, she promptly took me into the bathroom and put the Ivory soap bar in my mouth.

It tasted awful and left a horrible aftertaste that took awhile to go away.

My mothers action conveyed to me very clearly that my new words were not acceptable to her.

A couple of times with the soap got the idea across to me that certain words were never to be used at all.

Just the mere threat from mom, "Do you want me to wash your mouth out with soap? Then stop using that word!", always did the trick.

  When my own son was at that age of testing out the new words he learned at school he got something totally unexpected by him or I.

First let me say this, while I had a father, he was an absentee father because he was in the military and hardly ever home, maybe a few weeks out of the year.

My folks divorced when I was seven so I actually didn't have a father in my life.

So when I delivered my son in our bedroom, the first words out of my mouth as I held my newborn son up to the Lord, while he took his first breaths of air, were, "Father I don't know how to raise a son, Your going to have to help me."

God did in so many ways.

So back to my son testing out his new words.

It was during a summer heat wave, my son and I were only in shorts in the kitchen.

As I was reaching into the refrigerator for the pitcher of ice cold water as my son tested a particularly bad word on his mother.

Without even premeditating or even having time to think about it, my hand grabbed the pitcher of ice water and I poured the entire contents over my sons head, while finding myself saying to him, "Don't you ever use that word in this house again.

Between the shock of the cold water and his dad's reaction, I never heard him say any bad words again.

It shocked me too.

It was as if my hand was on automatic pilot with the pitcher as the words just flowed out of me; the Lord was in it in my opinion.

1 Peter 1:7 King James Version (KJV)

⁷ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

God allows us to have trials that are as fire to us, burning off that which is not like Him. 

There is much in all of us, within our nature that needs to be purified.

All, indeed, have sinned and come short of the glory of God ( Romans 3:23 ).

Jesus is our Refiner and Purifier ( Malachi 3:3 ).

" He will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap" (Malachi 3:2).

Metal is heated by the refiner until the dross of impurity's floats to the surface and is drawn off. The process is repeated until the metal is purified.

Over time, as we walk with God he refines and purifies us through trials until we become more and more like Him.

The trials bring to the surface those things like dross that do not belong in our lives.

Through this name of God we know that all of us will be made to be what He wants us to be.