This morning I will be starting a new teaching, one that will take several weeks. Over the New Year weekend I was praying about what I should be sharing and I felt strongly impressed to share excerpts from my book “Like A Diamond”.
These are teachings that gave me knowledge and strength for daily life many years ago. They are the foundations that are keep my feet firmly planted on the Solid Rock during life’s most tumultous and trying times.
“My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests.” Hosea 4:6a NLT
The Jewish people had forgotten God’s word; they no longer remembered God’s promises and were following false teaching. Their enemies had captured them and there was chaos and devastation in their land. God said it was because the priests had not been teaching them His word and they had no knowledge of His promises.
“I was saved when I was a small child and for many years my Christian experience was limited. I grew up with the concept that we just struggle by the best we can while we are on earth. Then one day we will go to heaven when we die and it will be worth all the pain and heartache we went through here.
However, all that started to change in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I began to hear teaching on victorious Christian living. This was all new to me and to be honest, my first thought was this seems too good to be true.
Yet, it was true! The word Gospel means exactly that – good news. Reading my Bible became a delight. Each page was filled with promises and stories of God meeting the people He created and filling their lives with blessings.
The Holy Spirit began to open my understanding to the miraculous transformation that the Lord would like to make in each of our lives. It is a refining process, a development – it takes a Master touch to reveal our true potential.
Our lives, when we come to Christ, can be compared to a diamond in the rough. When the diamond hunter first finds “diamond rough” it is unattractive. It is often encased by common mineral deposits.
It is the work of a Master Diamond Cutter that gives the stone its brilliance. They assess the stone to determine the size and weight of the finished product. Will they choose to cut one large diamond or perhaps two smaller ones will be more valuable? Will it be a round or a square brilliant cut?
Once the sawing or cutting of the diamond rough is complete the bruting process begins. Bruting is the art of cutting a diamond round. From here the diamond is polished, enhancing its many facets, weight, and clarity. A final inspection involves a thorough cleaning.
Our lives as Christians have greater value than that of the world’s largest diamond. God, the Father, is our Master Diamond Cutter. He sees us when we are encased in dirt. He chooses us to be His own. Through His Word what is detrimental to our beauty is cut away. We are then polished and refined so that our true beauty shines brilliantly.
Our Christian lives, like a diamond, are multi-faceted. In each chapter of this book we will look at some facets of our new life in Christ. For some this will be new information like it was for me all those years ago. For others it will be a refresher, an opportunity for another polishing. God’s word always brings a change, a glorious change.
As the facets of our life in Christ begin to be revealed we will shine “Like A Diamond”.”
“And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Malachi 3:17 AMPC
I hope you will join me over the next weeks as we mine the truths of God’s Word and It reveals the value that God places on us, His children.