Tag: seek

Entrée

Ask, Seek, and Knock…

The Manna Chef

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV)

This passage of Scripture is not for us to quote, snap our fingers, and expect the Lord to move like a genie.  We, the people of God, sometimes misunderstand and then misuse the text; later, we get discouraged when we don’t see the results we desired because it feels like God isn’t answering our prayers or He’s moving too slowly. 

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Entrée

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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Entrée

God’s Got You!

The Manna Chef

God’s got you!  Look, I know that is not grammatically correct, but I need you to really understand that today:  God’s got you right where you are!

God has been speaking to me about supernatural provision and His ability to take care of His children.  Surprisingly, He didn’t send me to Exodus with Moses and the children of Israel or to Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings.  He sent me to a passage that seemed odd at first, and I wondered, “What does this have to do with what You have given me, Lord?” 

But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples.  Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss.  But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!”  And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear.

But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.  Luke 22:47-51(NLT)

First of all, let me give you some context here.  This passage describes for us the moment Jesus is betrayed and arrested.  Judas, one of Jesus’ own disciples, led a crowd that included soldiers and temple guards to capture Him.  They carried blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons as they arrived at the olive grove looking for Jesus.  Judas walked over to Jesus and kissed Him to identify the Man they were seeking, and chaos ensued.  The disciples were ready to throw down to defend Jesus.  Peter even drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, Malchus.  But Jesus shut it all down, and He healed the man’s ear.  He didn’t condemn the soldiers.  He didn’t yell at Judas.  He didn’t run away.  Before willingly allowing the soldiers to take Him, He performed a miracle and healed Malchus—a man who was there with the crowd to arrest Him.  Even when it seemed as if the enemy was winning, Jesus stopped everything and showed us Who He really is. 

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