God's Recipe for an Exciting Life

By Millie Hull

If you think that Christianity is dull and boring, you are badly mistaken. We can lead very exciting lives here on earth, culminating in wonderful heavenly rewards. When you accept Christ and totally surrender your life to Him, your exciting journey begins! The Lord will help you to grow and learn how to live a life that’s pleasing to Him—but it’s not limited to that.

You get to walk with the Lord on a daily basis. He will help you to become a soul winner. There is nothing more rewarding than leading a person to Christ. It fills you with joy! We’re not here in this world to live a life of ease for ourselves. We are here to, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” This is a mandate to Jesus’ followers.

Life in Christ is not an easy one. It takes courage and stamina, but the rewards are great. He loves us so much and is always there for us. The Lord God, maker of heaven and earth, listens to and answers your prayers. He is there to lead you in the way you should go, down a path of excitement that leads right to Him. Oh, what a loving God we serve!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385005444

Millie Hull

Millie Hull has been a Christian since she was eight years old, and is active in her church. She is the author of “Why? Why? Why?” a children’s book that speaks to the heart of every curious young child. She also wrote “The Greatest Dad” a book for young people who are hurting because they have no dad. It shows them that God loves them and he longs to be their dad. In times like these, Millie is concerned about people coming to know Christ and living a life that pleases Him. Realizing that many people today do not attend church and are lacking in knowledge of the Bible, Millie has two goals. The first is to bring as many to Christ as possible, and the second is to encourage people to read their Bibles.

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Copyright © 2023 Millie Hull.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Sketches by Millie Hull

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Millie Hull

20 Ron Circle

Taunton, MA 02780

508-942-9034

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission

of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0546-8 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0545-1 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0544-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023915670

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/27/2023

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1     Are You Hungry?

Chapter 2     Grace in the Pot

Chapter 3     Follow the Recipe

Chapter 4     Stirring the Pot

Chapter 5     A Sweet Surrender

Chapter 6     Recipe of Surrendered People

Chapter 7     Forgiveness--An Essential Ingredient

Chapter 8     Tithing—Good Measure, Pressed Down

Chapter 9     Prayer and Praise—Essential Ingredients

Chapter 10   Listen to the Master Chef

Chapter 11   Recipe Guideline—Discernment

Chapter 12   Please Don’t Burn Your Food!

Chapter 13   Afraid of the Recipe?

Chapter 14   Hot Food Please!

Chapter 15   The Tantalizing Red Stew

Chapter 16   When the Meat Isn’t Tender

Chapter 17   Good Fruit is Refreshing!

Chapter 18   Good Recipes Start with Good Seeds

Chapter 19   Eating Alone?

Chapter 20   Four Cups of Kindness

Chapter 21   A Boring Recipe?

Chapter 22   Overcoming Recipe Disasters

Chapter 23   Marriage—Bitter or Sweet?

Chapter 24   Leaving Jesus Out of the Mix

Chapter 25   Leaving the Spirit Out of the Mix

Chapter 26   The Greatest Ingredient is Love

Chapter 27   Heaven is Our Dessert

Chapter 28   A Prayer for You

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my loving Heavenly Father, who has blessed me more than I deserve. My desire is for him to be first, and foremost in my life. He has provided all things for me, and I love him with all my heart. Thank you, God, for all that you’ve done for me in my life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all I’d like to thank my husband, Paul, who is always there for me. Without your patience and help, this book would not have been written. I don’t think you understand how much you have changed my life for the better. You have been there for me from the start, encouraging me, and loving me. You always know how to lift my spirits when I am down. We have journeyed together through joys and sorrows. The sorrowful times were instrumental in drawing both of us closer to the Lord, so I wouldn’t change a thing. I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for everything.

I’d also like to thank my Bible Study ladies, (Marcia, Karen, Brenda, Stacy, Kristine and Krupa) and my prayer partner, Joyce, who surround me and my family with prayer. I also thank God for my wonderful church family, Liberty Christian Center. You are such a blessing to me, and I love every one of you. Thank you all for your love and support and for making our church a safe place to land. I’d like to thank all the people who posed for the sketches that are included in this book. It was so nice of you to take your time out to help me.

Finally, and most importantly, I’d like to thank my Heavenly Father who is my source of encouragement. You have guided me through the tough times. You’ve been my joy through the good times too. You have taken me through the storms of life and have led me into the sunshine.

I pray that you will use this book to further your kingdom, and help others to come to know you, love you and serve you. As for me, my plan is to serve you all the days of my life. You are an awesome God and I love you!

PREFACE

I truly believe that the Lord led me to write this book. It wasn’t my idea at all. In fact, I fought it. But I am trying to surrender to the Lord, and this is one way of doing it. My earnest prayer is that something in this book will touch your heart and draw you closer to the Lord. And, if you don’t know the Lord, I pray that you will find him in the pages of this book. So, please read it prayerfully and ask the Lord what he wants you to glean from it.

I pray that you will be blessed by this book and pass it on to others. I also pray that you will see that Christianity is an exciting journey of surrendering to the Lord every day of your life.

Reader, the Lord has been taking me on a great adventure and I am very excited about it. I’d like to tell you about it through this book. Will you embark on this journey with me, and will you taste God’s recipe for an exciting life? Are you up for the challenge? If so, keep on reading!

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CHAPTER 1

ARE YOU HUNGRY?

I’m sure that you’ve seen pictures of little children with bloated bellies and skinny arms and legs. The poor little things are truly hungry. I have never experienced hunger like that. I hope that you haven’t either. But this is how I picture people in the world today. They may look well fed, but they are hungry. It’s not a physical hunger. They are hungry for something that they don’t really understand. They search for something to fill that hunger. They know something is missing from their lives, but they don’t quite know what it is. When you’re hungry, everything tastes good, but not everything is good for you. People try to fill the hunger with money, with a career, with a person, with a house, with a car, with fame, with alcohol or drugs, with all sorts of things. But the hunger persists.

People and things do not fill this type of hunger. We are hungry for the Lord. We want something to satisfy us, but we don’t often look for it in the right place. When others are looking down, we need to look up, for only God can satisfy this type of hunger. Did you know that the more we use things to fill up our hunger, the more distance we put between ourselves and God? This is true because we make things into our gods. We think that our next new thing will be the one to make us happy and contented.

Even Christians are hungry today. We want more of God, but somehow, we don’t always include him in our lives. We Christians often pray for revival. We think it’s something God sends us. We think it just comes to us as a people or a country. That would be a movement of God, and something we can’t control. It would be something we are just a part of, something God sends. That would be wonderful! I would be happy to be a part of that.

But this isn’t what I am talking about here. I’m talking about our own personal revival. I’m talking about us having a great hunger for God, a hunger to draw close to him, a hunger to bring others to the Lord, and a hunger to serve him by serving others. By this I mean that we magnify God by our lives. When we do these things we worship God by the way we live. Have you ever thought of life that way? Have you ever considered that our lives can be an act of worship?

To achieve this personal revival, we need to rely completely on the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us, to change us, to lead us, anoint us, and use us. Revival starts with us. We need to want it. God is always ready, willing, and able to give us a great personal revival, but it depends on us. Do we truly want it? It would change our lives, and people are often afraid of change. It would change us from the inside out. Others may not understand the change; they may no longer understand us.

But I am here to tell you that it is worth it all. God is worth it! He loves us so very much. He sent his Son to earth, had him leave his glorious life in heaven, to suffer and die on the cross in order to save you and me from our sins. Did you know that if you were the only person in the whole world, he would have come to die for you? Yes, he loves you that much! And the wonderful part of the story is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose on the third day and is alive today. He is always available to listen to your prayers. He cares what happens to you. He is always working behind the scenes to help you, to protect you and to bless you. He loves you more than anyone on earth ever could. A person on earth could possibly die for you, if they really loved you. But Jesus died for us when we were sinful and unworthy of his love. He even died for those who were nailing him to the cross.

David wrote Psalm 22 which tells the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Since this was written long before it happened, it shows God’s love for us. He knew from the very beginning that his Son would suffer for our sins. The psalm below shows that Jesus’ death was predicted long before his entrance to the world:

Psalm 22:12-19 Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircle me; they pierce my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, Lord, do not be far from me. O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

What more could Jesus do to show his love for us? And all he wants from us is for us to accept him as Lord and Savior and to live for him. He wants to become part of our lives and show us how much he cares. He wants to help us through the tough times in our lives. If you are a Christian, then you already know all