Author: The Manna Chef

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Lay It Aside

The Manna Chef

One morning, God gave me a deeper revelation about me.  I’m sure many of you can relate, so I thought I’d share with you.  In an attempt to get some exercise early in the morning, I sometimes take the stairs instead of the elevator before heading into my office.  (I park on the bottom floor of the garage, so I take several flights of stairs.)  For some reason, I had so much to carry that particular day: my purse; my work bag, which was heavier for some reason; my lunch bag; my large water bottle; and my large umbrella.  I immediately thought, “Why do I have so much to carry today?” 

I gathered my things and locked the car.  As I approached the stairwell, I was met with my first dilemma of the day: do I forego the stairs and take the elevator, or do I press through and take the stairs with all this stuff I’m carrying today?  Sister, you know what I chose, don’t you?  I took the stairs.

When I reached the half-way point, I began to get a little winded.  The thing is, ordinarily I would have moved up those stairs quickly, but not that day.  I was barely holding on to all my stuff.  Did you get that?  I was barely holding on to all my stuff.  By the time I finally reached the top floor, I was silently reciting a part Hebrews 12:1:

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  

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Meditate on These Things

The Manna Chef

There is so much negativity in the world that we are often bombarded with bad news the moment we wake up and on a daily basis, too.  Between the extreme weather, the increasing incidents of violence, the ongoing pandemic statistics, racial injustice, homelessness—you get it—the list is unending!  If you are not careful, you may begin to focus on all of these issues instead of focusing on the God who has the final say over all of it.  And it’s really easy to say that none of it affects you, but you are human, so at some point, you will be affected whether you admit it to others or not. 

The pandemic alone has caused some mental health issues that often go ignored.  Listen to your body and your emotions when they are signaling an overload warning to you.  Don’t be so holy that you neglect your emotional well-being.  And learn how to be still and let the Lord minister to you.

Face it, Sisters, everything around you has the potential to influence your thoughts.  I want to encourage you to focus on the positive things and all of the blessings around you.  Look at Philippians 4:8 (NKJV):

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

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Can I Get an “Amen”?

The Manna Chef

Sisters, how many of you remember School House Rock?  When I was a little girl, I couldn’t wait to turn on the television on Saturday mornings.  I’d sing along cheerfully, not even realizing I was learning all kinds of information.  (I’d later use that very same tool on my own classroom.)  One of the episodes from the Grammar Rock series was titled, “Interjections!”  The song reminded us to use them to “show excitement or emotion” and then told us they were “set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.”  In other words, interjections interrupt a sentence.  (Hold onto that for a minute.)

This morning, I was thinking about the word amen.  (Those who know me personally are not surprised at all, knowing my love for words.)  Amen is a declaration that simply means so be it or it is so.   That’s why we proclaim “Amen!” at the end of our prayers.  We are literally claiming whatever it is that we have just prayed for.  Well, the word amen is actually an interjection.  (Remember, interjections interrupt a sentence.)

Hmm … That got me thinking!  What if we interrupted the nonsense the enemy tries to throw our way by praying, using the authority that God has given to us, asking Jesus to move mightily on our behalf, and sealing the prayer in His name, and then we proclaimed “Amen,” fully believing that our Lord and Savior is going to come through for us?  Amen is meant to interrupt some things! 

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God Is Your Shield

The Manna Chef

This morning, I read Genesis 15:1b (ESV), “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”  I then looked at Genesis 15:1 (AMP), “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; Your reward [for obedience] shall be very great.”

I took a moment to really think about what it means to have the Lord as my Shield.  First, I thought about the shield of faith (part of the whole armor of God) that is mentioned in Ephesians 6:16 (AMP), “Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”  I have the responsibility to choose to lift up the shield of faith, above all, and that very shield can extinguish what the enemy throws at me.  How many times have felt like the blows were coming from every direction?  Use your shield, Sisters!  Why don’t we choose the armor of God daily when He promises results if we exercise our faith in Him?

Then I looked back at Genesis 15:1, where God told Abram, “You don’t have to be afraid because I am your shield.”  God is your Shield, Sisters.  Think about what that means.  The Lord is your Protector, and He is your ultimate Defense.  He covers you every day.  You need not even respond when others seek to attack your character, your job performance, your reputation, or even your name.  God is your Shield.  And sometimes that protection requires us to be hidden from ordinary observation.  (Read Psalm 91 when you have a moment.)  You don’t need to be afraid of the arrows of the enemy.  As a matter of fact, God can prevent those arrows from even reaching you. 

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The First Pick

The Manna Chef

This morning, I had an opportunity to reminisce about my childhood days, when we played outside all day—literally.  We played all kinds of games, and we danced, sang, and giggled all day long, too.  Oh, those really were the days!  I thought about the team sports in which we competed, including baseball, kickball, and our world-famous relay races.  (Okay, they weren’t actually world famous, but at the time, we thought they were.) 

The team captains were usually the most athletic in the bunch.  There was such a feeling of respect when you were the team captain, but there was also a sense of pride in being the team captain’s first pick.  As opposing captains selected their teammates one after the other, the process sometimes became painful as the captains reached the last pick for each team.  Awkwardness grew when the first team captain (admittedly, sometimes me) would apologetically get to their last pick, and the other captain would, by default, receive the least athletic kid on their team.  Sometimes the process was brutal.

To anyone who endured that experience as the last choice, forgive me if I’ve brought up a painful memory.  I painted that particular picture because we often choose God that way—dead last.  We go to every option before it even occurs to us to seek Him.  I’m not sure if we even realize it throughout an ordinary day, but we choose Him last quite often.

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