Follow the Recipe

God’s ingredients and methods will always result in the right product.

By Kerby Thompson

My mother passed away when I was just six years old, so my recollections of her are limited. I do have some special memories, however, that center around the dinner table: my mother’s homemade tomato soup, Jello, mashed potatoes, lemon and honey drink—and apple dumplings!

Mom’s apple dumplings were a treat. As the years went by, I never forgot how delicious they were. When I was around sixteen years old, I found my mother’s recipe and decided to see if I could recreate the taste that I remembered. I measured the ingredients carefully, diced the apples, put the dumplings together with care, and baked them according to directions. They looked good and they smelled wonderful. Finally, after impatiently waiting for them to cool a bit, I took the first taste. That was it! The same delicious flavor that I remembered from my childhood was there once again, ten years later. When I carefully followed the same recipe that my mother had used, I achieved the same results.

“Recipes” in God’s Word

We have been given some “recipes” in God’s Word that will bring the same results that they did for our parents, our grandparents, and our great-grandparents. As with my apple dumplings, the recipes must be followed carefully. We read in Philippians 2:12 that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. This doesn’t mean that we devise a salvation on our own using a recipe that we or anyone else has concocted—there is only one recipe that will bring the right results, and its author is God himself. Rather, this verse means we must take care to follow God’s directions exactly if we want the promised results.

What goes into God’s recipe for the experience of salvation? The Bible tells us the “ingredients” that are necessary. They include:

• Admission of sin — Romans 3:23
• Sincere repentance — Acts 3:19
• Confession — 1 John 1:9
• Forsaking sin — Isaiah 55:7
• Believing — John 3:16

It is fine to admit that you need help in putting this recipe together. God is standing by to give you the assistance you need. Go to Him if you feel that you do not have enough of any of the required ingredients, as He is more than willing to give you an additional supply. His Word tells us that He is the author and finisher of our faith, so don’t throw out the unfinished business and give up! Pray until God’s Spirit witnesses with your spirit that you have received salvation and are now a child of God (Romans 8:16).

Results in our lives

Throughout God’s Word, He presents other recipes that will bring wonderful results in our lives. We read that consecration and setting ourselves apart for God are requirements for receiving the second definite experience of sanctification. When we have been sanctified, we need to tarry until we are endued with power from on high—the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Are you interested in knowing how to be a fruit-bearing, productive Christian? We find a recipe for that in John 15, where we learn that in order to produce spiritual fruit, we must abide in Christ and keep His commandments. Do you need guidance in a certain matter? In Proverbs 3:5-6, we find the recipe: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Do you feel you need more wisdom? The recipe for it is found in James 1:5-6, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, . . . But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.”

The enemy of our souls will almost certainly try to provide an alternate “recipe” for the things we need to receive from God. However, the right results can only be obtained by following God’s recipes, and following them exactly.

I want to be one who uses the recipes God has provided for us. I do not want to leave out any ingredients. I do not want to take any shortcuts.

God’s best is worth any effort!

Kerby Thompson is pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church in St. Louis, Missouri.