Trust the Master Chef

When I was in my foods and nutrition class in high school, we had the opportunity to bake and make a variety of things. One day in foods class we were making biscuits. As we got all the ingredients together, I followed the instructions, mixed, and plopped my doughy creation onto the pan. I had visions of grandeur. I could just picture my biscuits coming out of the oven light brown, warm, and flaky just like in a Pillsbury commercial.

When the biscuits finally were done and they came out, it wasn't just as I had dreamed, but they didn't look bad either. When they had cooled a bit, I took one of my creations in hand and brought it towards my mouth and bit into...what was worst biscuit of my life. Something was terribly off about this biscuit. It was on that day that I realized something very important. There's a big difference between baking powder and baking soda. I didn't get it right and I made a bad biscuit. If only I followed instructions as well as I dreamt about biscuits.

There are some things in life that we just need to get right. Details matter and if missed, they can have big consequences. Good intentions don’t always produce good results. Understanding is important too. Get it wrong in foods class and you’ll have a bad biscuit. In life the stakes are much higher and the consequences longer lasting. There are too many stories with bad endings that could have been avoided if people would have paid attention to God’s Word. God doesn’t want any of us to live a could’ve, would’ve, should’ve kind of life. He desires for us to have life and have to it to the full (John 10:10). However, that comes as a response to hearing and heeding His instruction.

If you have a Bible, make sure you pick it up regularly. Read it. Study it. Obey it. Don’t let it collect dust on a shelf. Let God’s Word seep into your heart and come to life. There is great blessing when you choose follow God’s recipe for life. Jesus reminds us in Luke 11:28 (ESV),

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

When God gives you instruction, shows you the details, or convicts your heart in which way to go, don’t ignore Him. Listen to Him and watch how He cooks up something wonderful in your life. We may make mistakes and bake some bad biscuits, but God never does. Trust the Master Chef and know that life will taste much better when you do.

The Flyswatter of the Spirit

My son was afraid of bugs when he was little. Flies, grasshoppers, and other sorts of bugs brought fear to his heart. One day I tried to show him that he didn't have to be afraid. I fetched the flyswatter from the house and showed it to him. I told him the flyswatter was for swatting bugs. I then proceeded to show him how he could smash bugs with the flyswatter. I told him when he had the flyswatter those bugs would be afraid of him. When I gave him the flyswatter he turned from a fearful little kid into a fearless bug-smashing vigilante. We went throughout the house together while as he shouted his battle cry, "Smash those buggies".

Something peculiar happened in my son's life that is a reminder to each of us about how faith and fear work. Everything changed when I, his dad, placed something in his hands. He now had something to hang onto that gave him the faith to overcome his fear. Our heavenly Father places something into our hands as well. He gives us the sword of the Spirit, which is the Bible (Ephesians 6:17). It is what we have been given to hang onto. It energizes our faith and lets us overcome our fears.

There are many things in life that may cause us to live in fear, but that isn't the way God wants us to live. He wants us to live by faith. He places His Word into our hands and gives us the ability to fight back. Take the Word of God in your hand and watch how it will transform you. Watch how fear gives way to faith. When you are submitting to God's Word and standing against your fears with boldness the devil goes running (James 4:7). When you hear His Word, your faith grows (Romans 10:17).

Has fear taken you captive? Has the enemy been creeping and crawling around your life trying to get you off track? Has Satan been buzzing in your ear, trying to fill your mind with lies? Take what your heavenly Father has for you. Hold the flyswatter of the Spirit, that is the Word of God, firmly in your hand. Then smash fear and the schemes of Satan like the pests that they are.

Where There is Jesus, There is Peace

Have you ever noticed that when you are in a different season in your life, you resort back to your old ways? Maybe some of these old ways are coping mechanisms that have you lean on your own knowledge and strength.

In reality, you are only delaying the obvious…repeating the same cycle that you have been in for a while. Or you simply search for answers for the situation that you are currently involved in. Either way, brokenness is a place where God can come into your life and lead you into his strength and his understanding. God most certainly is leading you to Himself. How can we operate daily without him? I am sure you know how that goes.

Jesus never promised us a problem free life. He only promises peace that He can give you whether you are happy or sad, struggling or thriving. In James 1:2-4 the bible says,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

So, while we are in these trials and struggles, we are to find joy in them. Now, does that seem impossible to attain? You may think, why should I find joy in my struggles? What purpose is there for me to be experiencing and enduring this situation that has only caused me pain? Well, the Bible says in Romans 5:1-5,

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that afflictions produce endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Throughout life we must refocus on the path that God has for us. It may be that God has taken away something or someone. Perhaps pain drives deep into the heart, while anger and questions arise. You may never know why these things happen but know that God has a plan for all broken circumstances.

There is no greater love than what Jesus did. You see God has already restored our souls by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. Our brokenness in this world is only temporary. It does not define who we are or what we will become. We are defined as God’s children whom He loves enough to sacrifice his Son for our sins. So, do not be afraid of the brokenness you are currently feeling. God’s love has already covered it.

God, thank you for showing us that our brokenness is not a sign of weakness but of strength in you God. In Jesus name, Amen.

Doing the Right Thing

Sometimes doing the right thing is the last thing we feel like doing. When that happens how exactly are we supposed to do the right thing and not feel weary or have a bad attitude? Doing what is right occasionally, or for a short while, is usually not hard, but Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, we must continue in doing the right thing without losing heart.

That means all the time, no matter how long the time is or how we feel during that time. Doing what is right even when we seem to be getting only wrong results is difficult at best. We feel discouraged and weary, but what we "feel" has nothing to do with what we should be doing.

One of Satan's favorite things to do to us is to try and make us give up because of how we feel. Once our feelings start to quit on us, there he is to whisper in our ear that it's just not worth the effort. However, God tells us it is. He shows us how to endure, persist, continue on, and finish. He teaches us to be long-suffering, patient, determined, and steadfast, just as He is.

I am reminded again and again that I have to do the right thing with a right attitude for a long time before I get the right results. So, what do we do when we feel low on the "right attitude"? We must go to God and wait on Him to give us fresh strength so that through His unlimited grace we are able to press on until the end.

God wants us to be spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity is the ability to live beyond how we feel. It is being in control of our feelings instead of our feelings controlling us. We should live by decisions based on God's word, and not on how we feel about something or someone. Galatians 6:9 states:

Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.

So let us pray that the God of unlimited resources, will supply us all with strength and grace to continue to do good even when we don't feel like it. We all want to see what a glorious harvest it will be! So let us not give up! Keep on, keeping on!