Christian Chefs Fellowship - Devotional Articles

I want to thank all of you who kept and are keeping me in prayer for the time I was sick and in my healing in the Lord. It's great to be alive with yet another chance to praise the Lord and do for His Glory! It's been a very interesting couple of months. Physically I have been down...I was very sick with a flu and complications -- one of which led me to have surgery which put me down again! This time to recover. All this to say...Praise the Lord! What else can I say? I am always saying " Everything for a reason!" And I know one reason was to impress upon me the message of FOCUS. As a Christian, my goal is to accept everything and give it to Him. I wear a little cross as a tie tack on my Chef's coat. I wear it to remind me of Luke 9:23:

"Then he said to them all, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'"

I was touched by how The Message version states it:

"Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: 'Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat -- I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how.'"

Yeah, He did. And many after Calvary did so embracing death for His glory! He showed us by being focused. Jesus was a man that was incredibly focused. He knew what He had to do, and did not let anyone or anything distract Him from it. Because He kept His focus, He could endure the cross...As followers of Christ we must follow Him. As he told Peter in John 21:22 "You must follow me," He was telling Peter (and us) "Focus on me."

I have read that people fail because of broken focus. I believe that now! When we want to quit or give up or surrender it is because our focus is broken. We are incredibly busy with jobs, families, homes, cars - and those things are not bad things! What is wrong is when they become the number one focus. The world throws so many things at us to break our focus. The workplace can be such a place. What you think about determines your focus. Stay in the moment with Him. After all He did for us, we don't want to give in to the attacks by the enemy. We need His focus more than ever. We need His light to show the way. There is Power in Jesus! A laser beam is a good example of what that is -- focused light. That is what gives light its power. Same with us -- our thoughts focused on one thing! The more focused we are, the more powerful we are. Harnessing our thoughts on Jesus' thoughts allows us to think on anything and have power to deal with it. That is God's redeeming power. Our focus is our aim. We see the little laser pointers. They direct the focus of light. What we focus on we will pursue...powerfully and speedily. To that end we will remain true to the final attaining of it...whatever it is. We apply that principle in our kitchens. It's our job as Chefs to point the way, to focus the energies, and to pursue the excellence of our works to His glory and ultimately our rewards. A job well done. I might add good and faithful servant but you knew that. The Lord gave me a verse I have never read before (or never paid good attention to). It is Isaiah 30:2 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" It reminds us in our busy-ness to slow down, listen, and focus. With a strong focus we can stand any setbacks.

"The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out." -John 1:5

Stay focused. Walk in it.
Leo Griego
Member Support, Christian Chefs Fellowship
and
Food Services Director, Nashville Rescue Mission

http://www.ChristianChefs.org/about/leogriego.html

If God is speaking to your heart about these things, and you need somebody to talk with, please don't hesitate to e-mail us about your need and somebody from the Fellowship will contact you as soon as possible. If you have a prayer request or would like to start a theological discussion on this or any other topic please feel free to post it in our Message Boards.

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