Daily devotion – The refining is underway!
REFINING THE CHURCH OF GOD
Last night, as we gathered together to study God’s Word and pray, as we do each Wednesday evening, part of our prayer time was spent remembering those who have suffered terrible loss in recent years.
We prayed for Jewish families who lost loved ones on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel border and attacked military bases and civilian communities. More than 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, including women, children and the elderly. It was the deadliest single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
We also prayed for those affected by the Bondi Beach massacre on December 14, 2025, when 15 victims were killed and many others were injured.
But we must ask ourselves a sobering question:
What has changed since those terrible days?
And perhaps even more importantly:
What has changed in the Church?
Have these events caused us to become more serious about the Lord? More devoted to His Word? More committed to prayer? More burdened for the lost? More passionate about the Gospel and the soon return of Jesus Christ?
Sadly, while antisemitism has continued to grow, there is also a danger that the Church can become accustomed to tragedy. We hear the news, we grieve, we pray—and then we move on.
But God is not calling His Church merely to observe the times. He is calling us to wake up, stand firm and live differently because of the times in which we are living.
🔥 THE CHURCH IS BEING REFINED
The days in which we find ourselves in 2026 are increasingly becoming a time of refining and sifting for the Church.
Pressure reveals what is genuine.
Difficulty reveals where our faith is resting.
And testing reveals whether we truly belong to Christ—or whether our Christianity has simply been religious activity.
Jesus warned us that there would be those who appear to follow Him for a time but eventually fall away.
The Apostle John writes:
1 John 2:19
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
The shaking of the Church does not necessarily mean the Church is failing.
Sometimes God shakes what can be shaken so that what is genuine will remain.
Those who are merely religious, those who are simply curious, and those who have never truly surrendered their lives to Christ may increasingly fall away like autumn leaves.
But those who truly belong to Jesus should become stronger, deeper and more committed.
🔥 EVEN FINANCIAL PRESSURE CAN REVEAL THE HEART
We are also living through difficult economic times. Rising costs and financial pressures affect everyone, including Christians.
But pressure can reveal where our trust really lies.
Those who know Christ understand that our ultimate security is not found in the economy, our bank account, our possessions or our circumstances.
Our confidence is in God.
The poor widow in Mark 12 had very little, yet she gave what she had to the Lord. Her circumstances did not determine her devotion.
Jesus saw something that others may not have seen.
She trusted God.
And that is the kind of faith God is looking for in His Church today.
When everything around us is uncertain, will we still trust Him?
When giving costs us something, will we still honour Him?
When serving becomes difficult, will we still serve?
When the world becomes increasingly hostile to biblical Christianity, will we still stand?
⚖️ JUDGMENT BEGINS AT THE HOUSE OF GOD
Peter gives us a sobering statement:
1 Peter 4:17
“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
God is refining His Church.
He is exposing what is genuine and what is false.
He is testing our priorities.
He is challenging our commitment.
He is calling us away from spiritual complacency and back to wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ.
The world will one day face judgments and events far greater than anything we have yet witnessed. Scripture warns us of coming events that will shake this world to its foundations.
But before we become preoccupied with what God will do in the world, perhaps we need to allow Him to examine what He is doing in us.
Is He refining you?
🔥 BUT THE FAITHFUL ARE GROWING STRONGER
There is also great encouragement in all of this.
Not everyone is falling away.
Not everyone is becoming cold.
Not everyone is compromising.
There are believers who, through these very difficulties, are becoming stronger in Christ.
They are praying more.
They are reading God’s Word more.
They are witnessing more.
They are serving more.
They are giving more.
They are becoming more passionate about Jesus.
They are looking beyond this temporary world and longing for the return of their Saviour.
The refining fire does not destroy genuine faith—it strengthens it.
So where does all this leave you today?
Not your neighbour.
Not another Christian.
You.
When God allows the pressure to come, what does it reveal about your faith?
When the world becomes darker, does your light shine brighter?
When others compromise, do you stand?
When others walk away, do you remain faithful?
When others become fearful, do you trust God?
And when the Lord examines His Church, what will He find in you?
The answer should be simple:
A believer who is more devoted to Jesus than ever before.
A believer who loves God’s Word.
A believer who is faithful in prayer.
A believer who serves with joy.
A believer who gives sacrificially.
A believer who refuses to compromise.
A believer who is watching and waiting for the return of Jesus Christ.
The world may be shaking.
The Church may be being sifted.
The days may be becoming darker.
But Jesus Christ has not changed.
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” — Hebrews 13:8
So let the refining do its work.
Let God remove what needs to be removed, strengthen what needs to be strengthened, and deepen what needs to be deepened.
And when the shaking is over, may we still be standing—not because we were strong in ourselves, but because our faith was firmly established in Jesus Christ.
🔥 The question is not whether the world is being shaken.
The question is: What is the shaking revealing about you?