When we spend time in His Word and when we spend time in prayer, the two merge together and shape and mold us into a vessel that can be used by God, a vessel that does not hesitate when it is time to take that step or leap of faith. One who does not look at the boundaries that man puts upon us, but who expands beyond limitations and runs with it. We spend too much time worrying about the boundaries man puts around us and far too little time focusing on what Christ put within us.

God is healing our nation, and if we have learned nothing else in this past year, it is to trust God and not man because man will continue to feed you lie after lie. Look at the media and what they have done. My son wanted to be a journalist but he is so discouraged by the deception in the media that he does not want anything to do with it. We do not know what to believe anymore, what is “fed” to us—we do not know what to believe.

We have to come to a place where Christ has so transformed us from deep within that we hear the truth from Him. If He speaks to us, He speaks truth to us, He reveals the truth to us. We hunger after the truth. Our spirits are pricked at the thoughts of truth. Truth! That is what we want, that is what we crave; that is what we seek after: truth. Truth in all things, whether it’s personal, professional, relational; it does not matter. Truth must reign in our life. Why? Because it is truth that transforms the believer. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). What does that mean? It is the truth of God, the truth of the Gospel. And you could live with the truth that is imparted into your soul and allow God to transform your inner man into a vessel, living for the One who died to give us eternal life.

There was a season where I waited to hear from Mom, you know? “Lord, what do we do? Oh, hey, let us ask Mom!” And it is not bad—always go for the confirmation. I am all for confirmations, but God had to teach me to find Him for myself so that I could hear Him, hear His voice and know His voice. So when all the voices start coming at me, I know Whose voice I need to be listening to, “Whose” with a capital “W.”

If we are going to live a life where we know no bounds, we have to know Who we serve—we have got to be able to know and understand His voice. And we have got to have a level of faith that will keep us from stumbling when the obstacles come. The only way we can get to that point is if we let Him do the work of the Word in our lives, transforming us, giving us that newness of life that Paul speaks of in Romans 6. We must let God do His work.

I am not pointing fingers here because when I study this, He does the work in me. And I am only sharing with you what He is doing in me. I am not sitting here talking “at” you—I am sharing the revelation He gives me because I love you and I want you to see the value and the treasure of digging into the Word and letting God do His work in you. We get calls from people saying, “It’s too hard, I can’t press in, things keep getting in my way. I try not to sin, but…” I have to be honest. If you will study the Word of God, really study it and set in your heart to change, He will transform you into a person who “clothes themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and makes no provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:14)

I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the silversmith who builds a fire and then places freshly mined silver into the pot. He stokes the fire until it reaches a certain temperature, where the impurities of the metal (the dross) come to the surface. The silversmith looks down into the pot and removes that dross. Again, he builds his fire, hotter this time, and the imperfections—the impurities—separate and rise to the surface of that precious metal. He looks into his pot, scrapes another layer of dross off the top and cools it down. Then he goes back in and builds the fire up hotter and hotter, because each set temperature takes out certain impurities in the silver, that precious metal, and he knows how to produce the purest silver. So, he stokes it up again and again. Why? Because each new temperature increase takes out another type of impurity contained in this precious metal. He does this again, and again, and again, until he looks down into that pot of silver and sees his own reflection. Then he knows the impurities have been removed and this silver is pure and now ready to be used. That is the work of the silversmith.

The Lord is our silversmith and we are that precious metal. We go through the fire, we go through the trials. Why? So He can remove the dross and finally have a product ready for His use. Embrace the fire my friends, embrace it! Because when we do, it does its work in us—the impurities are taken out. The Silversmith is preparing us to be vessels. How will you be used in the days ahead? You are a part of the Body of Christ. How will you be used in the days ahead? If all boundaries were removed, how would you be used in the days ahead?

A couple of weeks ago, I encouraged the team to find the passion that God put within them and I encourage you to do the same. I spoke to Artem—our worship leader—a couple of weeks ago and he said, “I was built for worship, I am built for that.” It is his passion. What are you built for? What is your passion? And by your passion, I mean the passion that God put in you.

Are you living your life as one serving the One Who died for you? Have you let Him do His work in you, so you can walk in a newness of life? When He looks upon you, does He see His own image? And if it is not quite clear, are you letting Him stoke the fire to work out the dross? If you are going to live a life knowing no bounds, all of this must be met. You must know your passion. He must do His work in you. You must submit and embrace the fire, because the truth is, most of our boundaries we put on ourselves—fear, insecurities, sin. God is preparing us to be vessels at this time in history and we need to be ready. Press on my friends, press on and do not let go until you’ve crossed that finish line!

Heavenly Father, I thank You. I want to thank You for Your Word, I want to thank You for work You do in us, in Your Word. I want to thank You for the fire. I want to thank You for the Holy Spirit who comes and teaches us, who works through my stammering and touches us, Lord God. Let Your Holy Spirit do the work in us. Let us become vessels that can be used by You. Help us to become Your vessel: a precious metal, Lord God, ready for Your use. Help us, Lord God, to be ready, whatever capacity you are calling us in. Prepare us, oh God. Heal us. Restore us. Minister to us. Impart Your faith to us. Heal our faith. Restore our faith to us. Heal our faith. Give us a true vision of the passion that you have placed within us. Do Your work Lord, do Your work in us!

Blessings & Love,

Ricci Wilson