Making & Being Made

Have you ever made bread? It's really tough to get it airy and fluffy! I read on a recipe that it takes flour, water, salt, honey, milk, yeast and butter. Although, these ingredients are simple and fairly easy to handle, when you put them together, but not in the right amount, you got yourself a mess! It got me thinking: we are the same way!

We have our "Flours". People that are light. It goes where ever the wind blows, if it's not taken care properly.  We have our "Waters". In the right proportion, it can hydrate a person and kill their thirst. Too much, in the other hand can suffocate. The "Salts" can add flavor or dehydrate what ever it touches. The "Honeys" are sweet. It can help balance the "Salts". Are, also, very sticky, and once they are on you, its very hard to wipe it away. You can only wash it away, but it will change its composition. The "Milks" can make you strong. The "Yeast" can make you grow. The "Butters" can either make you slick as a slug or help tie everything together. Even if we follow the recipe and put everyone of these ingredients in a bow, they, by themselves will not become a bread.

As the body of Christ, we need to come together as one, much like the ingredients for a bread. We know that the Creator will add to us as He sees the need. If we are too "full of airs", He will knead them out. If we lack consistency,  He will add more Flour". For taste, He will add more "Honey" or "Salt" to this "Bread-like Body." When the ingredients are joined together to the right texture then we have the "Time in the Oven." In the "oven" is where our fears come to life and temptations come to haunt. This is the true test of the dough. To either come together or completely fall apart. While all of this is happening, we wait....

With every phase of our lives, we have all faced this: The waiting. Waiting for a son to come home, waiting for a baby to be born, waiting for the spouse to calm down. Waiting requires Patience. Otherwise, if you don't let the bread rest and rise up to the "challenge", when you take it out of the oven, it will be tough as nails.

I encourage you to be like the recipe of a bread and make yourselves available to Him and let Him mold you, according to His will. It might take some adjustment on all of our part but when this bread comes out of the oven- and trust me it will- it will be perfect in every way!

RESPONDING WITH PRAISE

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The overflow of singing praises amid great difficulties has tremendous spiritual power. Paul and Silas set the biblical pattern in the prison in Philippi (Acts 16).

Helen Berhane spent almost three years in the shipping container prisons of Eritrea. In her book Song of the Nightingale, she shares about the first time she and other women were put in an old metal shipping container that was very hot and filled with fleas and lice:

Everyone was very despondent, and many of the women were angry. They asked me what we should do and I knew they were expecting me to say that we should shout or bang the container, to let our captors know that we were not going to tolerate this treatment. But I remembered… [reading] about how Christians, like nightingales, could not be prevented from singing even in captivity, and I suggested that we sing: “We should praise God in spite of the fleas, in spite of the lice, in spite of the heat. We should thank God despite our circumstances.” So I began to sing with them, and pray, and share the Word of God from memory.[1]

Pastor Ung Sophal sat in a filthy Cambodian prison badly beaten. His hands and feet were chained for five months. “Only my mouth was unchained,” he said.

“...So I sang to God in prison all the time. Another prisoner heard me singing through a small hole in the wall, so I taught him the song—a bit at a time. He passed it on and soon eight of us were singing.”

Archbishop Dominic Tang spent twenty-two years in prison in China for his faith. He reports:

“Besides my prayer and meditation, every day I sang some hymns in a soft voice: ‘Jesus I live for you; Jesus I die for you; Jesus I belong to you. Whether alive or dead I am for Jesus!’ This hymn was taught to me by a Protestant prisoner who lived in my cell.”[2]

RESPONSE: Today I will respond to all the challenges of life I face with praise and thankfulness.

PRAYER: Pray that all Christian prisoners around the world will also respond to their circumstances as those documented above.

PREOCUPAÇÕES- O PÃO DIÁRIO- 23-11-2012

Leitura Bíblica: Êxodo 16:1-12

VERSÍCULO EM DESTAQUE : Não se preocupem com o amanhã, pois o amanhã trará as sua próprias preocupações. Basta a cada dia o seu próprio mal (Mateus 6:34).

Vivemos na era do imediatismo, ou seja, tudo tem de ser feito para “ontem”. Quando os assuntos do dia não são resolvidos, não ficamos em paz. Estamos distantes do lugar de trabalho, mas a nossa cabeça está lá; já saímos da sala de aula, mas ainda estamos concentrados nos estudos. Dificilmente nos desligamos das situações que fazem parte do nosso dia a dia. Isso acontece porque antes mesmo do dia iniciar já pensamos em como ele vai terminar, e quando vamos dormir imaginamos como será o novo dia. A nossa mente sempre está à frente do tempo cronológico. Queremos resolver logo tudo e por isso passamos a ter uma série de preocupações. Esse tipo de ansiedade torna o dia duas vezes mais difícil.

O texto de hoje nos faz perceber o cuidado de Deus. Israel se encontra no início da peregrinação no deserto e com isso começa uma série de reclamações. A partir deste texto podemos notar como o povo de Deus era insatisfeito. Quando pensavam que não teriam o que comer, e depois de se queixarem, Deus lhes concedeu carne naquele dia e o maná durante quarenta anos. Mesmo assim, depois deste milagre, o povo sempre encontrou outras razões para murmurar. Nunca estavam contentes. Será que é assim que queremos viver? Quando não somos atendidos conforme a nossa necessidade, precisamos ficar agitados e resmungar contra a vida e contra Deus? Se fizermos isso agiremos como o povo de Israel durante o seu período no deserto: não importa quantas vezes Deus supra as nossas necessidades, nunca estaremos satisfeitos. Jesus disse que não devemos ficar ansiosos pelo dia de amanhã, pois com isso estaremos adiantando situações que talvez nem aconteçam em nossa vida. Deus quer que confiemos nEle, pois Ele tem cuidado de nós (I Pedro 5:7). 

Josh McDowell's Youth Devotions - TRACING THE TRUTH

Don't walk.
Merge right.
No right turn on red.
You see those phrases all the time, don't you? These are just a few examples of the precepts (instructions and commands) that we follow, often without even thinking.
Refrigerate after opening.
Shake before using.
Tear here to open.
Watch your step.
Place first-class postage here.
Precepts are all around us. They're a part of our life. They help us function more easily and more comfortably in life. And most of the time, they're pretty painless.
God has given us precepts as well. We usually call them commandments. He has told us, "Do not worship any other gods besides me. Do not steal. Do not lie. Love one another." These precepts are just a few of the commands God gives in the Bible. Jewish tradition maintains that God gave 624 specific commands!
God has communicated a lot about himself through precepts. His commands reveal what he likes, what he doesn't like, what he says is good or bad. But the precepts of the Lord are not just a bunch of do's and don'ts; they also show us important principles God values.
Principles help explain the why behind a command. A concern for safety is one of the principles behind a mother's command to look both ways before crossing the street. Reverence for life is the principle behind the command "Do not kill." A principle behind the command "Do not give false testimony" is honesty. Learning to identify the principles behind God's precepts will help us see the overarching truth that applies, even when a specific command doesn't seem to apply.
But if you really want to know right from wrong, you must look beyond the precept, beyond the principle, to the person of God. His nature defines right and wrong. The reason honesty is right and lying is wrong is that God is truth. The reason love is right and hatred is wrong is that God is love. The reason mercy is right and cruelty is wrong is that God is merciful.
REFLECT: Choose a virtue (for example: purity, love, honesty, justice). See if you can explain why it is right by tracing it through precept and principle to the person of God. Or think about the virtue you chose. Is it something you value? Why?
PRAY: "Father God, when I don't know which way to turn, help me remember to rely on your principles for direction."
Ephesians 4:14-15 NTLH

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