Today's Devotional

July 11, 2005

Subject:  How God Does Bar B Que

Revelation 3:16 - "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth."

You know, we really were created to be "on fire" for God.  I thought about that this weekend as I fired up the grill.  Of course wood gives your bar b que its flavor, for those who don't know how we do it in Texas, but I also had to use some regular charcoal to get the fire started.  However, I noticed shortly after setting the charcoal on fire that some of them refused to burn.  Somehow the bag holding the charcoal had gotten dampened on the bottom and so those at the bottom of the bag had become somewhat moist.  It took me a little longer to get the pit ready on this day because of that.  I had to spend time taking the coals that had difficulty burning and putting them in direct contact with the really hot coals so that they could feel the heat and catch on fire.

This really is often how God prepares His church when He's cooking up something.  Sometimes His plan requires that everybody be "on fire" for Him before He begins His work.  So if there are some that are lukewarm, He may spew you out of His mouth, but He still knows that you are like charcoal.  He created you to "burn hot" for Him.  Therefore He may place you in direct contact with those who are burning hot with a passion for the things of God knowing that this will eventually ignite you.  

One day God's bar b que pit is gonna have nothing but hot charcoals in it.  Until then, He's gonna spend time drying out those coals that have been watered down by the culture and this world system.  Today if you are a coal that hasn't been ignited, standby for the Firestarter.  Soon you will get lit.

Carlen