Don't Get Chopped!

There is a show on the Food Network called “Chopped” that is pretty fascinating.  The hour begins with 4 different chefs, and they go through 3 separate rounds of cooking challenges.  Each time a chef is eliminated, and the winner is the one left standing, as it were.  The remarkable thing about the show, though, is the contents of the basket.  For example, a basket might contain a fish head, licorice rope, oyster crackers and a bottle of coffee liquer.  No one in the room has ever even considered putting any of those ingredients together at all, yet they have 20 minutes to come up with an appetizer.  This is the sort of challenge that is presented, and, quite frankly, I am amazed that a single chef can come up with anything at all that resembles food as we know it. 

I have watched quite a few of these Chopped challenges, and I find that the ones who win are the ones who maintain their cool and just start cooking.  The ones who are hyper or who begin to fret over the ingredients are the ones who either can’t complete the dish or just can’t seem to make flavors come together.  

Yesterday, I was thinking about a friend of mine.  I’ve been praying for her for many years now.  She is such a sweet lady, but she has been battling the same issue for so long now.  While I was praying for her, I was wishing that I could be near her so I could help her to understand that God wages war for her.  The enemy has convinced my friend that she can never win her battle.  He has told her that she is defeated, and she leans toward believing these lies because her struggles are real, and she can’t see the end of them.  But when I pray, I am more and more convinced that she will, indeed, be victorious. 

Satan lacks the power or the authority to defeat you.  I cannot stress the truth of this statement enough.  He simply does not have what it takes to overcome a child of God.  He can, however, convince you that you are defeated.  His lack of power and authority make him wily.  He comes at us through our own minds, lying to us, telling us that we are nothing, that we will lose the war over the situations in our lives.  But, this is the truth:  God is more powerful and has more authority.  Always.  God will always be stronger.  If you belong to God and have submitted your life to His care, He will always be victorious on your behalf.  It’s not about whether we can make sense of the things in our lives; rather, it’s about the fact that the God of all creation wages war for us.

Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  This is a rhetorical question…the answer is obvious:  NO ONE!  Do not believe the lies that the enemy whispers in your ear.  You can make it!  Your battles are not too difficult for God to handle.

I know that sometimes I, myself, am handed a “basket” of difficulties, but if I remain calm and listen only to the voice of God, I cannot be shaken.  This is the attitude of a champion.  Don’t be flustered by the enemy in your life.  Don’t be overcome by Satan’s powerless attempts to defeat you.   After all, you have the Creator of all that exists in your corner.  No thing at all is too difficult for Him.