1
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Nightly Scripture,

2
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 1: a calling, scripture centered devotional podcast designed to help you

3
00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,000
Speaker 1: end each day with God's word in your mind and

4
00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:27,280
Speaker 1: on your heart. Right after this short word from our sponsors,

5
00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 1: we'll reflect on tonight's scripture Malachi three. Tonight's scripture reflection

6
00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,879
Speaker 1: is written by Lynette Kittle and read by Lea Gerard.

7
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: Malachi three. I will send my messenger, who will prepare

8
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,240
Speaker 1: the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are

9
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:03,040
Speaker 1: seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the Covenant,

10
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 1: whom you desire, will come, says the Lord Almighty. But

11
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 1: who can endure the day of his coming? Who can

12
00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,600
Speaker 1: stand when he appears, For he will be like a

13
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:22,000
Speaker 1: refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as

14
00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:26,840
Speaker 1: a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the

15
00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 1: levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the

16
00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,039
Speaker 1: Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

17
00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,840
Speaker 1: and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable

18
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 1: to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in

19
00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:48,760
Speaker 1: former years. So I will come to put you on trial.

20
00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: I will be quick to testify against sorcerers adulterers and perjurers,

21
00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 1: against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress

22
00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,920
Speaker 1: the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among

23
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000
Speaker 1: you of justice. But do not fear me, says the

24
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 1: Lord Almighty. I, the Lord, do not change, so you,

25
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the

26
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,239
Speaker 1: time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my

27
00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,920
Speaker 1: decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and

28
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 1: I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But

29
00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:37,240
Speaker 1: you ask, how are we to return. Will a mere

30
00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 1: mortal rob God? Yet you rob me? But you ask

31
00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:46,400
Speaker 1: how are we robbing you? In tithes and offerings. You're

32
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,960
Speaker 1: under a curse your whole nation because you're robbing me.

33
00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,919
Speaker 1: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may

34
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: be food in my house. Test me in this, says

35
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,040
Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty. And if I will not throw open

36
00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 1: the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing

37
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,920
Speaker 1: that there will not be room enough to store it,

38
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,720
Speaker 1: I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the

39
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,520
Speaker 1: vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before

40
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:21,320
Speaker 1: it's ripe, says the Lord Almighty. Then all the nations

41
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,040
Speaker 1: will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,

42
00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,640
Speaker 1: says the Lord Almighty. You have spoken arrogantly against me,

43
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,200
Speaker 1: says the Lord. Yet you ask what have we said

44
00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:39,279
Speaker 1: against you? You have said it is futile to serve God.

45
00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,400
Speaker 1: What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and

46
00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:48,520
Speaker 1: going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now

47
00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:54,560
Speaker 1: we call the arrogant blest. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even

48
00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,680
Speaker 1: when they put God to the test, they get away

49
00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 1: with it. Then those feared the Lord talked with each other,

50
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,680
Speaker 1: and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance

51
00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,160
Speaker 1: was written in his presence concerning those who feared the

52
00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,480
Speaker 1: Lord and honored his name. On the day when I act,

53
00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,680
Speaker 1: says the Lord Almighty, they will be my treasure possession.

54
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,600
Speaker 1: I will spare them, just as a father has compassion

55
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,920
Speaker 1: and spares his son who serves him. And you will

56
00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,359
Speaker 1: again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked,

57
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:40,200
Speaker 1: between those who serve God and those who do not. Sadly,

58
00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,919
Speaker 1: more and more people have heart conditions, not the kind

59
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,919
Speaker 1: that requires physical surgery, medication, or exercise, but the kind

60
00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:55,279
Speaker 1: of heart condition that needs to be spiritually softened, refined,

61
00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:00,800
Speaker 1: and made new by the love of God, and we

62
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 1: don't recognize what causes this kind of heart condition, such

63
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:14,159
Speaker 1: as jealousy, greed, self righteousness, partiality withholding good, slander, and more.

64
00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,720
Speaker 1: Whereas physical heart conditions cause physical limitations where those afflicted

65
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,960
Speaker 1: have to be cautious and often are unable to keep

66
00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:30,560
Speaker 1: up with others, spiritual heart conditions cause spiritual imitations too,

67
00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,200
Speaker 1: such as our prayers not being heard and answered, blessings

68
00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,240
Speaker 1: unable to be poured out to us, and the devourer

69
00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,960
Speaker 1: robbing us of the fruitfulness God has prepared and waiting

70
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,800
Speaker 1: for us. Yet it doesn't have to be that way,

71
00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,640
Speaker 1: because we can ask God to refine our hearts with

72
00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:57,919
Speaker 1: his love, which means we surrender to his burning away

73
00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,080
Speaker 1: of sinfulness in our lives in a washing with his

74
00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,919
Speaker 1: word like soap to cleanse away dirtiness that has built

75
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,640
Speaker 1: up in our hearts. But isn't the purging of our

76
00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,080
Speaker 1: heart's worth it to endure his purifying and cleansing so

77
00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,000
Speaker 1: that we might walk and live in His blessings. It

78
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:22,679
Speaker 1: also involves us giving our all to Him withholding nothing

79
00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:31,839
Speaker 1: from his hand. God starting tonight, purify and refine my heart,

80
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,640
Speaker 1: burning away and cleansing all within it. That's not a few,

81
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000
Speaker 1: Even though I don't know all that will be involved,

82
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,440
Speaker 1: or all the changes and challenges that may come through

83
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,239
Speaker 1: it in my life, or if I even feel strong

84
00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,200
Speaker 1: enough to endure it on my own, I surrender to

85
00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,920
Speaker 1: your will. I ask you to do your work and

86
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,760
Speaker 1: through me cleanse, mold, and make my heart softened and

87
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,520
Speaker 1: tuned to you and your word. Shape my heart to

88
00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,720
Speaker 1: be generous towards you, with holding nothing from your hand.

89
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 1: Pour your love into my heart so that it fills

90
00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:19,320
Speaker 1: and consumes me and makes me overflow with love for

91
00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:32,840
Speaker 1: you and for others. Amen. Thank you for listening to

92
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: your Nightly Scripture. If tonight's episode blessed you, be sure

93
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,080
Speaker 1: to follow the show on Apple Podcasts so your next

94
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:48,160
Speaker 1: Nightly Scripture is ready when you are. Your Nightly Scripture

95
00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,320
Speaker 1: is a production of life, audio and sale and media.

96
00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,320
Speaker 1: Thank you and we'll see you tomorrow. Night