I am neither a butcher, a baker nor a candle stick maker.  In a nut shell-I am no “Martha Stewart.”  So when I heard a sermon recently about being the active ingredient in our miracles, I “googled” bread making for a better understanding of the concept.  I had to “google” it because, well, I’ve never actually baked bread.  I’m so undomesticated I felt I’d never be a Proverbs 31 woman simply because I also don’t know how to sew.  Thankfully I’ve had a few studies on that chapter to realize I don’t need to know how to sew or cook to be a Proverbs 31 kind of woman.  But I digress…

What does bread baking have to with miracle making?  The answer is, they both have an “active ingredient” and without the active ingredient, neither turn out the way they’re supposed to.  You see, in bread making, the active ingredient is yeast.  Why is yeast so important to the bread?  It makes it rise-it makes it fluffy-it MOVES the bread.  Without it, you have flat bread, plain and simple.

Yeast is a very sensitive active ingredient.  In bread-making research, I learned there is a special way you must prepare the yeast in order to properly activate it.  You only use a small amount, mixed with just the right temperature of water.  Too much yeast-your bread will over rise.  Get the wrong water temperature in your mixture and your yeast won’t activate.  All these tiny mistakes can lead to a big disaster in your oven.

There are a lot of references in the Bible regarding yeast.  Most are instructions given to the Israelites and specific to food preparations that prohibited the usage of yeast.  But there is one verse I found that really describes the power of yeast as an active ingredient.  Matthew 13:33 says; “…‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.’” (NLT)  Jesus was explaining how mighty the kingdom of Heaven really is-so powerful that everything is affected by it.  Here’s where the miracle making comes in to play…

God places desires upon hearts.  Psalms 37:4 reminds that if we delight ourselves in Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts.  But we also know that a God-given desire can take a VERY long time to come to fruition.  Abraham is a prime example from our biblical history showing us how God is not in a hurry, but always on time and He’s definitely not opposed to making us wait lengthy periods of time before our dream becomes our reality.  That’s where our role of being the active ingredient in our miracle takes place-in the waiting season.

God told Abraham about Isaac twenty-five years before Isaac’s birth.  And what did Abraham do? He left his home country and went where God told him to go.  He tried to manufacture his own miracle and fathered Ishmael.  But when God reminded Abraham what He had promised, Abraham slept with his wife and God opened Sarah’s womb to carry Isaac.  Romans chapter four reminds us of Abraham’s faith:  “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.  And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.” (Verses 20-22, NLT)

Like Abraham, we too, are called to be the active ingredients to our miracle.  When God shows us the dream, when He lights the steps we are to walk to make that dream a reality, we must get going and walk the walk.  Waiting is not about sitting around expecting fairies to plop our miracle right in our lap.  Waiting means walking in faith, trusting God’s process and in His perfect timing.  It also means being the active (not passive) ingredient to our miracle.  We are the yeast to our miracle-like the Kingdom of Heaven reference in Matthew 13, we are only a small portion of our miracle but because the miracle involves our life and His purpose for it, our obedience permeates every aspect of the miracle.

So when God gives you a dream-activate your faith, trust His process and ask Him to show you how to be the active ingredient in the miracle He wants to give you.  Why?  Because God didn’t just promise greatness to Abraham and the other guys in the Bible-His promises apply to everyone who has gone before us, everyone who will come after us, and everyone in present day, including you and me.  Don’t believe me?  Believe Romans 4:23-24 then, “And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (NLT)

Just make sure you’re activating correctly-activate too much and you’re manufacturing your own miracle.  Activate in your own strength and you’ll end up like bread with no yeast-going nowhere.