The Magic is in the Heat

Heat is part of the process. Without heat, we wouldn’t have any bread. We can only make dough. God turns our dough into bread!

These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return. I Peter 1:7 (TLB)

We don’t like the heat, the fiery trials, but they are part of the growing process. Heat causes the yeast (faith) in the dough to rise. Without a heated oven, the dough would not bake. It would just sit in the oven. When we mix the Word of God with faith using the beaters of our tongue in the bowl of our mouth, and deposit it into the oven of our heart or Spirit, then God turns the heat on and sets the timer to turn our dough into bread. God starts making what we are praying for – it is “in the making!”

For this wonderful news—the message that God wants to save us—has been given to us just as it was to the Israelites who lived in the time of Moses. But it didn’t do them any good because they didn’t believe it. They didn’t mix it with faith. Hebrews 4:2 (TLB)

Game On!

Game On!

That’s when the “heat is on!” That’s when the going gets tough, the tough get going. No pain, no gain. That is the heat of the battle. If we had no opponent, it wouldn’t be a game. There has to be an opponent in order to have a competition, in order to get the win. God is setting us up for a win. And that is the fun of it, the competition, to get the upper hand and win the victory.

And remember, there is a time limit. There is a set time for bread to bake and turn from dough to bread. There is a set game time, a beginning and an end. Even though you may feel like your trial will never end, take heart, there is always “the end, game over.” This too will pass. There is a time for everything, as it says in Ecclesiastes 3. God will not let you stay in the fire too long and burn up, even though you may think so sometimes. He is closely watching over you. He is removing all the dross, so you come forth from the fire as pure silver or gold.

Like a refiner of silver he will sit and closely watch as the dross is burned away. Malachi 3:3 (TLB)

You may feel like you’ve been ran over by a bus and hung out to dry, as we say. But that’s okay…you’re still standing!  That’s all the matters in the end…did you get the win? You may get hit 100 times, but did you get back up and keep running the ball down the field? Or did you let your opponent run over you and decided to quit and not get back up? God is making winners out of whiners, victors out of victims. Stay in the game and don’t quit. Don’t try to get out of your fiery situation too early and turn the oven off. This too will pass. Everything is subject to change, including your circumstances.

So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete. James 1:4 (TLB)

If you stay in the game, you get the win. If you finish the test, you pass and move on. If you quit and don’t finish it, you have to start over. So heads up…finish it the first time and you don’t have to do a repeat. You can do this – having done all…Stand!

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (KJV)