Father God, I ask today that You bless Your daughters and strengthen them to walk in the ways You have called them to walk. Help them to embrace Your plan and to come boldly before Your throne. Strengthen their hearts and guide them each day. I speak blessings over their lives in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I want you do to something for me. Think about those conversations that you’ve had with the Lord when He just whispers in your spirit about the plans He has for you. You know, those dreams that have been inside you for as long as you can remember. What have you been dreaming about lately, or have you gotten so distracted with life that you’ve stopped dreaming? God has placed some amazing things inside of you, and I really want you to allow Him to show you the real you, the one He formed with His own hands (the vessel He breathed life into). Do you see her?
God has placed gifts, talents, and abilities in you to bring Him glory. I’m not going to talk about the parable of the talents. (That one is for another day.) Instead, I want to bring your attention to Philippians 2:13. It says, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” He wants us to thrive, and it is for His good pleasure. Sisters, you bring our Father joy! He has so much love for you that it cannot be contained. He delights in you. Do you really know that? Our Father delights in us. And guess what? Those gifts that you carry on the inside give glory to God and encourage others to develop their gifts for His Kingdom.
We think of God as a genie who functions by giving us all that we desire. We have goals and dreams, and we tell God how we want Him to move in our lives. However, God doesn’t operate that way, and it’s important for us to understand that sometimes the answer to our requests before God is “no.”
Think about times you felt that something was God’s plan for your life, but then it is stopped and God reveals, “That is not My plan. It’s a great idea, but not My plan for you.”
That’s hard to hear, especially when you really believe the plan is a good one that will benefit the Kingdom of God.
David was a king. He was a musician, a writer, a psalmist, a praiser, but he was also a man of war.
Sometimes life can seem so complicated that you feel like you’re in this thing all by yourself. Everywhere you turn, there is a hurdle to jump. You ever find it hard to catch your breath because so much is going on?
There was a time when life seemed so overwhelming that I just wanted to give up; not on living, but in ministry. I felt like I was becoming stagnant. I was pouring out so much, but very little was being poured back in. I didn’t have balance in my life. I was doing the best I could; but I was on “empty.” You know what? People will use you up if you allow them to do it. I was pretty much exhausted and I was becoming bitter. And I’m talking about in ministry and in life. I wanted to throw in the towel; it had become too much.
But the Holy Spirit was right there in the midst of all of my challenges. He listened to me vent and then He checked me. I don’t know about you, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t coddle me. I don’t have many of those tender, sweet moments when it comes to me basically complaining to God. He listens and then gets on my case. I describe it to my friends like He has me in the boxing ring, tearing me up!
The Spirit of God reminded me that although I do have a choice, there is really only one choice to make if I want to receive the promises of God and be who He designed me to be. I have to be obedient to Him and stay centered in His will. We have to learn how to position ourselves to receive from God. My life belongs to Him, so I’m here to do His will. That’s the bottom line for me.
The Manna Chef 