Hot Chocolate

It is so cold today. Immediately after church, I came home, put on some flannel PJs, and ate a bowl of hot soup. Well, either the soup didn't warm me up enough or I just wanted something sweet (or a combination of both), so I made some really sweet hot chocolate.
In a small saucepan, heat up about 1 and 1/2 cups skim milk with 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Pour into a mug with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. You can also put marshmallows on top. That's my preference, but I had no marshmallows. I'll blog on those on another day. They are one of my favorite things to make.




"Food" for thought:

On another note, I wanted to talk about a few verses in Revelation.

Revelation 3:15-16

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

This reminds me of something that happened while I was on a mission trip in Peru. I was at church, and the church members made everyone "hot chocolate." Well, a sweet lady gave me a cup, and I took a swallow. To my surprise, it was lukewarm (yikes). I started thinking of the impurities in the water and felt like spitting it out. I kindly put it down and pretended to be digging something out of my purse. When the sweet lady left, I gave the cup to my translator and told him that I couldn't finish it. So, my point of that story: I don't want God to "spit me out of his mouth" because I'm lukewarm. I want to be a pleasing taste to Him.

When we were children, do you remember playing hide and seek with an object? When the other person got closer to the object, you would say, "you're hot" or when they got farther away from it, you would say, "your cold" Well, the same is with us. When we get closer to God, we are "hot," but the farther we get from Him, we are "cold." I don't know about you, but I want to get closer and closer to Him day by day. If we do that, we'll be "HOT." Hot is good. I pray that each day of our lives would be a "hot" day until the day that we find and see Him face to face. Let Him burn within you!

I found a sermon by John Piper (one of my favorite preachers), and he talked about these verses in Revelation. This is what he says:

"In verses 15 and 16, Jesus brings his indictment of the Laodicean church and delivers his threat. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." His indictment against the church is that they are half-hearted in their relation to him. They do not have the fervor and warmth and zeal of a true lover of Christ; nor are they outright unbelievers who flatly reject Jesus and make no pretence of faith. They are halfway in between. Christ has a moderate influence on their lives. They are not uninfluenced by the Lord; but neither do they go overboard or get very excited about the Creator of all. In relation to prayer, it would be safe to say that they probably pray at meals and pause for two or three minutes at bedtime. But they do not burn with a desire for more of God. They do not go hard after him in the secret place. They do not fling the door wide and welcome him to the innermost places of their emotions. But they keep him just outside the door and do their business with him cooly, lukewarmly through the mail slot. They like the ancient (but very unbiblical) proverb: Moderation in all things."

"Jesus' threat to the lukewarm church is that he will spew them out of his mouth. If you wanted to shock a lukewarm Christian, you could hardly think of a more gross and startling image: Jesus Christ putting the cup to his lips in the hope of tasting a pleasing drink, and then spitting it out on the ground. I find it very hard to make this mean that such people will, after all, be saved and enjoy the blessings and fellowship of Christ for all eternity. Surely the image of spitting the people out of his mouth means that he has found them to be unacceptable and rejects them. The faith that saves is not a lukewarm, half-hearted faith. And so he warns Laodicea, and every other church, if you do not repent (as verse 19 says) and become zealous, or hot, then the mechanical, cool superficiality of your faith will be your destruction, and I will spew you out of my mouth. There is ample reason in these verses alone for us to be on our knees in fasting and prayer..."

"The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, "I need nothing." The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don't look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn't matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are. Do you seek the Lord earnestly and often in secret for deeper knowledge of Christ, for greater earnestness in prayer, for more boldness in witness, for sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit, for deeper sorrow for sin, for warmer compassion for the lost, for more divine power to love? Or is the coolness and perfunctoriness of your prayer life 'Exhibit A' that you are spiritually self-satisfied and lukewarm?"

"Jesus' Word in verse 17 to people who feel that they need nothing, who feel that a week of prayer and fasting is a bit melodramatic -- taking this business of spiritual hotness too far -- the word of Jesus is this: "You are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked." And if such churchgoers don't begin to do something to change their condition, Jesus will eventually spew them out of his mouth." (http://www.desiringgod.com/)

I don't ever want to be like this church that is lukewarm. I want to be "hot" for Jesus! I want my life to be a pleasing taste in His mouth so he doesn't spit me out. I don't ever want to be satisfied with where I am spiritually. If we're spiritually satisfied, we will never grow. I want to grow more and be closer with God each day of my life. I pray that each one of us will grow closer to our Lord and that we will be a sweet and hot taste to Him. Much sweeter and much hotter than hot chocolate!
Love,maryanna