Who can resist freshly baked bread warm from the oven? Wouldn’t you like some? Well, following the recipe above, is one way to do it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stay fresh, eventually drying up or running out.
But what about bread that stays fresh as long as we want it to and can’t be depleted? Jesus is that bread.
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.
He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst,
John 6:35
DRIED UP?
Do you feel like Jesus has dried up from your life?
Mistakes we have made, problems or hectic schedules can dry up our spirits. Unlike a loaf of stale bread, we can renew our dried-up spirits by reactivating our faith. Following the steps for the yeast in our recipe will show us how.
Step #1 Proofing
Dry yeast is just a bunch of dehydrated granules until we wake it up! With proofing, we allow the yeast to soak up warm water and sugar. This process wakes up the dry yeast so that it can activate changes in the dough.
Would you like to wake up your faith?
Then try imitating the proofing process by soaking up the warmth and sweetness of God’s Word. How do we soak it up? By reading it aloud and meditating on its’ meaning. This “proofing” will wake up our faith so that it can activate changes in our hearts and minds.
So, then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God,
Romans 10:17
Step #2 Fermentation
Once the yeast is awake, we mix it with the other ingredients to strengthen the dough. As the yeast reacts with the dough, fermentation takes place causing the dough to develop a soft texture and rise.
Now that our faith is awake, we mix God’s Word into our daily lives to strengthen it. This combination acts like fermenting yeast causing our hearts to soften enabling us to better hear from Jesus and learn His ways. As we listen and follow Jesus, the bread of Jesus stays fresh in our hearts allowing us to rise above difficult situations.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate in it day and night,
that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have good success,
Joshua 1:8
IT WON’T RISE!
If our dough doesn’t rise, what do we do? We check our ingredients and make a new start! It’s the warm ingredient that encourages the yeast to activate. If we mix ingredients that are too hot, too cold or too salty, then poof! The yeast doesn’t activate and nothing rises!
If we struggle to rise above our situations, perhaps it’s time to check the ingredients in our lives. Are we living or working in conditions conductive to activating faith? Are we mixed up in hot problems, cold relationships or exposed to salty, critical words that make our spirits and our faith dry up?
If so, don’t give up! Make a new start by mixing people and situations into our lives that provide a warm, encouraging atmosphere. Together we can activate faith in our lives and rise!
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones,
Proverbs 16:24
WHAT IF THE BREAD RUNS OUT?
Wouldn’t we all like an endless supply of warm, freshly baked bread? Unless you own a bakery, that’s probably an impossible request.
However, Jesus is like a bottomless bag of bread which feeds and satisfies our hearts forever with His love.
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you,
Jeremiah 31:3
Don’t’ we all need bread like that in our life?
REFLECTION
Do you need to reactivate the faith in your life?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, as I write Joshua 1:8 and say it aloud, reactivate the faith in my heart. Mix into my life people who will encourage and help me to strengthen my faith in You. In Jesus name. Amen.
REACTIVATE FAITH IN JESUS WITH GOD’S WORD
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*For information on making Jesus Christ your Savior, email me or visit, http://www.peacewithgod.net/
Photo desert, Kevin Schmid
Photo balloons, Jesse Gardner
