Comforting Chicken

I love it when you can look at a recipe and just know that it will be a keeper!  The flavors in this recipe post are absolutely perfect together!  Comforting Chicken.  It is what it says! 

I did have a couple minor things I changed on it though:

1.  I used all ready cooked chicken from a previous time and it still turn out great!
2.  Add a little extra water to the mixture so the rice will cook all the way through.  I used brown rice and it needs a little more to cook thoroughly.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 cup water {add maybe an extra 1/4 or 1/3 cup?}
• 3/4 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat oil and butter. Add chicken, onion and green pepper; cook and stir until the chicken is lightly browned and vegetables are tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Transfer to a lightly greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Chicken Italian

Today of all days I was feeling down in the dumps.  I knew in my heart I just needed to pray, but sometimes just stopping and praying and thinking about what to say is hard for me.  So I decided to just write God what I was feeling today. 

Have you ever stopped and written God a letter?  I figure it is just as good as saying a prayer, but with your eyes open.  I had several things on my mind today and I just couldn't seem to get it out anyother way.  So I wrote about 2 pages.  Maybe all in all it was not much, but it had a lot in it.  Then God did  something wonderful...  I felt comforted.  I felt more secure.  I felt much happier.  I realized that God does not care how we communicate with him, as long as we do.  Sometimes with writing I get it out better then I do in saying things.  I've never been good at that.  My thoughts go unspoken.

So as I sit here tonight realizing how things have fallen into place today, I feel more content then I did this morning.  Maybe it is because I didn't have to cook.  We ate leftovers which took the pressure off cleaning up tonight.  Then I realized how long it was since I posted a recipe on my blog.  I have tried a few good ones of late and one that I will not mention.  {who puts basil together with chili powder and brown sugar?!  Yuck! so I will skip that one!}

But as I think about comfort and how God does that in ways I don't understand, I think about one of my favorite dishes, Chicken Parmesan.  While this dish is not quite as rich as the real deal, it has it's wonderful features too.  Chicken Parmesan can be kind of heavy, but this dish, Chicken Italian, is light and wonderful for a summer dish.  The flavors are incredible and tasty and super easy to make by the way!  I did not change one thing!  In fact I really enjoyed how the chicken tasted prior to adding the sauce.  I never thought about adding crushed garlic to the oil and just frying it in the pan with a little salt and pepper.  It's very tasty!

Picture and Recipe is taken from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) package boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 (19 ounce) can Progresso® Vegetable Classics hearty tomato soup
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cook and drain spaghetti as directed on package.
2. Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Cook garlic and chicken in oil 3 to 4 minutes on each side until chicken is light brown.
3. Sprinkle basil and pepper flakes on chicken. Pour soup over chicken; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Rambling

One of my favorite things I like to do is watch a little bit of 48 Hours or Dateline.  Of course, I am careful what I watch, but one thing that sticks out to me is the process that leads people into sin.  I began to notice that it was just one sin in those peoples life that lead to other sins, which lead to more sin.

Remember what the Bible says about when you break one of the 10 Commandments or Law, you have broken them all?  I can clearly see that in some of the stories that were laid out.  One sin of covetousness, lead to hate or an affair and lying and then ultimately to murder.  Interesting...  You just can't commit one sin, because they are usually linked to another one.....

A few weeks ago I noticed that a lot of the news shows where broadcasting stories of affairs or murders dealing with people that attended Baptist churches.  It made me sad to see how much news there was out there, which tarnishes the name of the church.  People then began to view you has an hypocrite if you tell them what church affiliation you are from.  Sad....  But this one particular story was really sad.  It all started with the associate Pastor's family and another family who were close friends.  The wife of the friend was head of the young peoples drama dance team. {yes this church was Baptist church I think.  Sad.}  She started working closely with the associate Pastor and over time they started having an affair which then lead to her husband's murder.

This story reminded me of a radio broadcast I heard about the rise in affairs in churches and some of the warning signs of them.  I don't remember who it was that spoke, but what I heard was good.  Women need to be cautious about working with other men in the church.  What may start out as work can lead into something neither person was looking for.   One may have hit a rough patch in their marriage and pretty soon the other person is building their ego and getting their respect.  Pretty soon it becomes flirtatious.  Then pretty soon they spend more time together and then it because more intimate.

We see it all around us.  We get lulled into a comfort zone of thinking we are immune, but we are not.  We have to be constantly on guard because Satan would like nothing more then to ruin our families lives.  Just look at the families on these shows that go through this.  Their lives are torn apart.  Their kids have not just one parent taken away but possible both, depending on the circumstances.

It makes me glad that our church does not allow women to teach the young men or men in the church.  One the Bible says so, I Tim 2:12, "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. ", but it prevents men from have their emotions played with.  Our young men are all ready bombarded with sinful things from our culture and even in the church.  We need to make sure we protect them.  It makes me realize too as a mother of two little boys how careful we need to be with what we expose them to.  Boys are affected differently then girls are and sometimes as women we forget to teach our young girls and women those things about men.  I never realized it until I got married.

How to deal with the Saul Spirit

Continuation of The Controlling Spirit in the Pray Portions by Sylvia Gunter.

"Study the life of David in relation to Saul.  Look for David's prayers, attitudes, and where His confidence is, as you read these Psalms that David wrote while in difficult relationships: Psalms 3-7, 9-13, 15-18, 34, 52, 54, 56-57, 59, 63, and 142.

Ask, "Lord, what are you teaching me about myself?  What is it in me that You are determined to purge me of?  Keep me here until You have done the work, and then deliver me."  Effectual dealing with the Saul-type controlling spirit must be done on three fronts: sin, woundedness, and spiritual warfare.  You need to repent of your sins and let God heal your wounding.  Then you are in a position to deal with the spiritual warfare issues.  Your enemy is not the person, but the spiritual power behind the control.

1.  Work through forgiveness.

  Thank God for your controller's good qualities.  Ask God to forgive you of the judgment in which you have held him.  Ask Him to forgive you of bitterness, and ask God to bless them with healing.  The controller has many good qualities.  He is a victim of his own family of origin.  Try to understand where he came from and what is going on in him, so that you can extend grace to him and truly love him.

2.  Let God judge.

  God will judge the controlling spirit.  Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his army were destroyed.  (1 Sam. 31:1 and following).  The ultimate controller has suicidal tendencies.  Saul tried to kill himself but had to ask someone else to finish the job (31:4).

3.  Acknowledge to God that you have grieved over the relationship.

  You never had or do not have an affirming relationship with your controller (father or husband or boss or pastor.)  Thank God that it has caused you to press in to Him, to know Him as your Father or Husband in dimensions you never could have known Him otherwise.  God is the great Redeemer.  He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten.

4.  Persevere in prayer.

  The battle is a long war (it continued 7 1/2 years), indicating that this is one of the hardest spirits to get rid of (2 Sam 3:1).  Eventually you will win.  As the house of David grew stronger and stronger, the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.  As you stand in prayer and begin to resist it, you will grow stronger in the Lord, and the grip of the Saul will be exposed and grow weaker.

5.  Set righteous boundaries.

  Jesus had this one limitation--He only did the will of the Father.  Ask your Father how much of the relationship you must continue to be.  You many have no choice, but remember that Jonathan died with his father.  God can give you grace to choose life instead of death.

6.  Take lessons from David's response to Saul.

  Spiritual victories are won by coming against an enemy in the opposite spirit from that which drives him.  For example, meet pride with humility, not more pride.  Meet angry words with a soft answer, not more angry words which stir up more strife.  The following are examples of how David demonstrated his understand of this principle.

  *He would not wear Saul's armor.  He would not imitate him.

  *He knew the living God intimately.

  *He did not throw spears back."

I hope you have enjoyed this little series on Saul.  It made me stop and think about how we all have the tendency to be like Saul, but should be more like David.    While we may not be exactly like Saul, we have qualities that can make us like him. 

A situation in my family this year has made me realize more deeply how easy it can be to let sin alienate us from God.  I never realize how Anger and bitterness will only make one delusional about the realities of life.  {Sin will take you further then you want to go, keep you longer then you want to stay and cost you more then you want to pay.}

Be praying for someone in my family.  They desperately need prayer.  They are living with a true blooded Saul in their life and it is hurting the whole family.  Pray it is not too late to turn them around.  I sat there the other day thinking about how I wanted to pound on "someone" for putting someone I love through this trial.  I asked God what I should do and that day or the next I read in the bible we are to restore them to righteousness through gentleness.  That was my answer.  Gentleness.  When I felt like telling them to "Man Up" and get over them selves and quit being so arrogant, God was telling me to be quiet.

The Saul Controlling Spirit

Continuation of The Controlling Spirit in the Pray Portions by Sylvia Gunter.

"What if you discover that the controller is you?

Perhaps God has given you revelation of your true self, and you do not like what you have seen.  You do not want to be that way.  The first step in breaking the cycle of the Saul syndrome is to acknowledge where you are and what is being done by you or to you in terms of control.  Getting free is as simple as submitting to un-learn everything that you did not learn at the foot of the cross.  Forgive, and be forgiven, and get set free.

God will give you grace to let Him deal with you.  If you are controlling others for your own ends, you are not serving; If you are not serving, you are not Christ-like, and you have missed the whole point of the Christian life.  God wants you to be surrendered to Jesus to let Him form His life in you and live it out through you.  Humility surrenders to God; pride controls.    Pray for God only to control you and those around you and to take away your desire to control.  As you surrender to the Holy Spirit to fill you, you will become stron in the Lord.

There is a leadership-style test that is widely used in the body of Christ that glorifies this controlling personality type with a high-sounding description.  It has ignored God’s righteous standard of servant hood.  Think about the apostle Paul.  He was a Saul, and God arrested him on the road to Damascus.  God can also turn around the Saul in you or the one closest to you.  There is hope, but only God can do it.  Let Him.

Controlling like Saul is a sin needing repentance.

Pray: Father, in Jesus' name,

I renounce the Saul controlling spirit.  I do not want it.
I repent.  Forgive me for sinning against you and others I have controlled.
I submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and resist the tendency of my flesh to control.
I surrender to a new work of the Holy Spirit.
I choose to be strong only in the Lord.
By faith I receive Your grace for humility and holiness, for making me a person after God's own heart -- a worshipper, courageous, a warrior, prudent in speech, wise and discerning, handsome with the beauty of the Lord, with Your signature upon me. (I Sam. 16:18).  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Being controlled by a Saul is a wound to be healed.

Pray: Father, in the name of Jesus,
I forgive ______ for controlling me by the spiritual stronghold of Saul.
I renounce the soulish grip that Saul spirit has had ove rme in the past by their controlling actions.  Free me from all soul ties and the curse of control.
I bless this person in Jesus' name.
Bring me into the freedom and joy of true submission to You alone.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

**There is one more portion of The Saul Controlling Spirt, How to deal with the Saul spirit.