Rising to a Higher Standard for Emotional and Spiritual Health with Pastor Mike Manuel

Enhance your emotional and spiritual well-being with insights from Mike Manuel, an ordained pastor, author, and seminar speaker dedicated to helping individuals experience more of God's power, purpose, and peace.

What's Covered:

• Strategies for achieving emotional and spiritual health.
• The importance of rising to a higher standard in personal development.
• Resources available through MOTA Ministries, including videos, blog posts, courses, and ebooks.

Tune in to discover how to elevate your emotional and spiritual health!

MOTAministries.com is Mike's website with many free resources, including videos, blog posts, courses, and ebooks. You'll also find links to purchase Mike's books on Amazon.

Find out more about Pastor Mike:
www.motaministries.com

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Transcript

Mike Manuel: [00:00:00] when you own a business when you're responsible for making payroll and for the livelihood of people, there's a weight that comes with that.

And so we need to be healthy, emotionally And spiritually, so that we can do the best we can in our business, because a lot of people's lives depend on it. 

It's time to reinvent.

Priscilla Shumba: Welcome to the Lessons of Entrepreneurship, the Journey of Reinvention podcast. Today is our special edition of the Faith and Business Coffee or Tea Time Blitz. And I have a special guest for you today. I'lL let you introduce yourself, Pastor Mike. Please let us know who you are and what's your mission.

Mike Manuel: I'm a pastor 

A lot of people refer to as a second career pastor. I became a pastor at age 40, 23 years ago, 

and 

I grew up and live in Montana [00:01:00] in the USA and I've been a lifelong Montanan. love it here. And we live along the East slope of the continental divide.

And so we have a great, panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains 

Grew up on a family farm and went off to college and got into the broadcast media industry. I worked on radio for a while. Then, 

In TV news, local TV anchorman at the NBC station in Helena, Montana met my wife and we decided to move back to the family farm and raise our family there.

And we thought that was our plan. And we did that for several years. 

I said, at age 40, God called me. 

As a full time pastor, and I've been doing that for the last 23 years.

Priscilla Shumba: You've gone from all the activity of the media world, and then you go to the farm and you have all the wonders of nature, and then you're pressed back into another kind of busy hectic life as a pastor. What has that transition been like? 

Mike Manuel: Yeah. , in some ways it's been different. 

Of course, 

Pastoring, there is a lot of communication 

And these days media. So that was very helpful. [00:02:00] But, 

When Jesus taught, he taught, 

A lot 

using agricultural parables and stories. And so that really resonates in our culture where I'm at and, 

Growing up 

, you can see , why he used those parables.

Mike Manuel: And I can see why he called people sheep because way back in the day, we raised some sheep and they're not easy animals 

To tend to. 

They're not overly smart. And, 

They can't really think well for themselves and they need a shepherd. And so I can see why Jesus calls us sheep, 

But yeah, the transition to pastoral ministry 

There was some, I wouldn't say fear, but just some concern because it's a very different, 

Type of lifestyle, but I enjoy people and mostly enjoy doing what God wants me to do.

And I've, 

I've just found such great fulfillment. I've had wonderful careers in the past, 

In the media. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed being on the family farm and being a farmer. I enjoyed that. 

But , it's not been as fulfilling as, Being a pastor, which [00:03:00] is very difficult, but really fulfilling.

Priscilla Shumba: I didn't know that sheep were difficult to take care of. So I learned something really interesting there.

Mike Manuel: looking for a way to die, it seems 

Priscilla Shumba: I like that. When I was looking at your work, that is to equip people to walk in God's power, purpose, and peace. I'm going to ask you to give us the premise of your first book before we dive into your new book, your book, Torn, embracing the new covenant in an old covenant world.

What brought that on?

Mike Manuel: Yeah, that's a great question. Honestly, what brought it on is, as a pastor, you would get questions Like, are we still under the Ten Commandments? Because the New Covenant, the New Testament says we're no longer under the law. And the Ten Commandments is often referred to as the law. And so I never had a good answer for it for several years.

The New Testament is clear, we're not under the law, but how can we dare say we're not under the Ten Commandments? That doesn't sound right. That sounds like heresy, and it actually [00:04:00] is. And so I had to find the answer to that. How does that work?

If we're not under the law, then how do we relate to the law? What I realized by really looking at the teachings of Jesus the New Covenant is that the New Covenant holds us to a higher standard. Than the old Covenant. In other words in the 10 Commandments it says do not steal, right?

So if you don't steal, , you got it covered. But the new Covenant says be generous with people. So that's a higher standard. Not only are we not to steal people we're to give. to people. The old covenant says the 10 commandments say, do not murder.

All right. So as long as we don't murder somebody, we're good. But the new covenant says, if you just think badly about someone you're committing murder in your mind and we're supposed to give life. 10 commandments says, don't take a life. New covenant says, give life. I can go through all the commandments really talking about that.

So really the new covenant holds us to a higher standard. It's not that [00:05:00] we're not under the Ten Commandments, we're actually over the Ten Commandments. That was really an impetus within what other areas do we really not understand the New Covenant and how that's different from the Old Covenant it's all God's Word, right?

It's all relevant for us today. And so that's really what that book was born out of, is looking at some areas, how maybe we tend to mix in some of the old covenant that makes us possibly not really fully understanding what's in the new covenant. 

Priscilla Shumba: Not only is it don't do this. It's no, actually do even more in the opposite way, rise up to that highest standard, 

Mike Manuel: the Bible tells us of the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. , in the old covenant, not every believer had the Holy Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit would only come on people at different times for different purposes. Jesus said, now I'm leaving and I want you to wait in the city because I'm going to send the helper to you.

I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and he will not just be among you. He'll [00:06:00] be in you , and when God was talking about the new covenant clear back in Jeremiah and the old covenant 700 years before that, he says, I will no longer write my laws on tablets of stone. I will write my laws on your heart.

And so it's the Holy Spirit that really leads us, if we're open and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we'll do the right thing. It's when we're not following the Holy Spirit, when we're following our flesh whatever, that's when we do things we shouldn't be doing. So really it's the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit.

Now, yes, we need to know God's word. We need to know his word. We need to know what it says, but in order to do the right thing and not just not do the wrong thing. We really need the Holy Spirit at work in our life.

Priscilla Shumba: That distinction between Not only not do the wrong thing, but do the right thing. Ah, that's really powerful. 

Mike Manuel: Much more difficult and we can't do it on our own. That's why we need the Spirit of God working in [00:07:00] us and through us.

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you for that Pastor Mike. You've given us a lot to think about already a lot to really You know that activation of the Holy Spirit and yielding to that to do the right things not only to not do what's wrong Let's go into a new book breaking up with the enemy I like that breaking up with the enemy how to defeat the devil's deceit And reclaim peace, hope, and joy.

Maybe give us the premise of the book.

Mike Manuel: Like I said, I became a pastor at age 40. And, Immediately I was, I wouldn't say overwhelmed, but I was surprised by how much spiritual counseling people needed. I was surprised at how much hurt there is in people, especially in Christians, because they do a pretty good job of hiding it.

They put on their Sunday face like, Oh, we're all good. But inside there's so many people being eaten up by anxiety. And fear and chaos in their lives and depression and despair and hopelessness and go on and on. And it's wow, we [00:08:00] need help. And yes, when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we're born again.

We're going to heaven and that's great. And we have a new life, the Bible says, but we still have an enemy and the enemy is real. Jesus said there's a real enemy out there. It's Satan and his army of fallen angels, this demonic realm. And so Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, but he's called us to enforce that victory.

So he won the victory. But we need to enforce it, and he's given us power and authority to do that. And so I think a lot of Christians are not aware that the enemy is there to try to load you down with baggage. Because he doesn't want you to be fruitful Christian. He wants you to be a downtrodden, sour, hopeless Christian.

He wants to steal your hope. He can't drag you to hell, but he can steal your hope, and steal your peace, and steal your joy. And so what I realized pretty early on as a pastor is we need to help people get free of that bondage from the enemy. Yes they're already a Christian and they're not [00:09:00] possessed.

It's not demon possession. It's more of a demon oppression or influence from the enemy. And so I begin to study, okay, the Bible, , number one, that's a thing. So then what do we do about it? And that's really what that book was born out of.

Priscilla Shumba: Business people, entrepreneur, I'm sure you interact with them and you counsel them at your church and you understand the struggles. It's a double layer, already being a Christian, people put on a face, like you just said, and being a business person, people put on another layer of a face, and there's a lot of things going on .

So I'm interested because you talked about biblical steps. Where people can experience a more abundant life. And I think that's the pursuit of our audience and as kingdom entrepreneurs, something that would really, they would like to hear about.

Mike Manuel: Yes. Everybody needs freedom from that, but especially entrepreneurs and business people. , I've owned my own businesses in the past before I was a pastor. We had a local newspaper and I was general manager of a radio station [00:10:00] for several years. So I've been in the business world.

I've been an entrepreneur. I've owned my own business and anybody that's done that, the unique challenges that come from that. It's hard to be an employee and I'm not taking away anything from employees, but when you own a business when you're responsible for making payroll and for the livelihood of people, there's a weight that comes with that.

And so we need to be healthy, emotionally And spiritually, so that we can do the best we can in our business, because a lot of people's lives depend on it. And so this healthy spirituality, , being healthy emotionally is so important. And probably the biggest thing that maybe a lot of Christians don't understand is They know the enemy is real, because that's biblical, and Jesus said that.

But the only power the enemy has in our life is our power of agreement. And we would think we would never, I would never agree with the devil. But we inadvertently do. We unknowingly [00:11:00] oftentimes agree with the devil. An example would be Proverbs 18. 21, I believe it is, says, Death and life from the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I used to just think that meant, say nice things, don't say mean things. It's much more powerful than that. Our words have power. In the beginning of the Bible, Genesis, in the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, both those God affirms or tells us about our power and authority on the earth.

Now, God made the earth. It's His. He created it. He's King of kings and Lord of lords. But for whatever reason, in His sovereignty, He's given us power and authority on the earth. He's also given us free will. So in that free will, we can either agree with God or disagree with God. And Adam and Eve, early on, disagreed with God.

And when you disagree with God, you're agreeing with the enemy. And the only power the enemy has [00:12:00]comes from our agreement. So going back 18, 21, death and life from the power of the tongue, when we speak words. There are two entities looking to partner with our words, the Holy Spirit or the enemy.

And when we speak according to God's will and His way and His word, the Holy Spirit is there to help that supernaturally happen. And there's a word for that. It's called prayer. God is all powerful, and he can do whatever he wants. But for whatever reason, he's asked us to ask, and he's asked us to be responsible for, management of what happens here on the earth.

And so our words have power. So when we speak in agreement with God, God empowers that. But conversely, when we speak in disagreement with God, the enemy is there to partner with that. And we open doors to the enemy. We give the enemy actually like legal consent. And that [00:13:00] concept is biblical. It's actually in where Jesus is teaching about forgiveness and we need to forgive people.

And he says, if we don't forgive people, he says, we open ourselves up to the jailer or the torturer. Now , God's not a jailer. God's not a torturer. He's good in every way. And he's a giver of every good gift. He's the author and perfecter of our faith and our life. But there is a jailer and there is a torture and it's the devil and his army of fallen angels.

And so Jesus clearly teaches, for example, that Unforgiveness is disagreement with him. He wants us to forgive people. And we can maybe have that conversation on another day because forgiveness can be very difficult because usually when we're hurt and we , won't forgive someone it's because they really hurt us badly, sometimes in hideous ways.

And so forgiveness can be very difficult. And again, maybe we could have that discussion on how to go through forgiveness, another episode. But Jesus says [00:14:00] you need to forgive. And if we say you don't know what they did. So I can't forgive them. I'm not going to forgive them. Then what Jesus is saying in Matthew 18, it's so you just gave the devil legal consent to torture you and jail you.

Now that's a metaphor, obviously. So there are a lot of Christians. Who are walking around, who have opened doors to the enemy through things like unforgiveness. That's just one example. And in my book, Breaking Up With The Enemy, I give, I don't know, nine or ten or a dozen common examples of how we unknowingly, unwittingly open the door to the enemy.

Give our consent, give our agreement to the enemy. And so I think just a lot of people don't know that. They don't know they're doing that. And they get filled with anxiety. The enemy brings all this baggage, fear, anxiety, despair, frustration, all these things. And we just think that's just life. We just, call it the new normal and it's not it's not the way Jesus called us to live.

He gave, us an abundant life. [00:15:00] And that doesn't mean that every day is going to be easy, but it does mean every day you can have peace and hope and joy in the midst of a storm. And so I think that's probably the biggest aha moment a lot of people are getting from the book and from the seminars I've taught on this topic in the past is that, because we do have power and authority over the enemy to send them packing leave me alone, shut your lying voice off in my head and go.

And again, it's not possession, but it is this influence. , a lot of Christians know they have that authority over the enemy, but they don't know that they've given The enemy legal consent to hammer them. And so I think that understanding that knowledge is people go, Oh, okay I need to close those doors.

I need to cancel that legal consent and tell the enemy to go packing. And as people do that, they walk through that book. So the first several chapters in the book, breaking up with the enemy It's really explanation, what I'm telling now, it explains how do we get here and how does that all [00:16:00] work?

last part of the book is more of a manual to steps to, okay, now if I've opened doors, how do I close them? And then how do I get that baggage out of my life that the enemy brought in? And we've had so much good feedback on changed lives. It's really been exciting to see.

Priscilla Shumba: I'm so glad that we had this talk Pastor Mike, because I think sometimes we focus so much on the work. Whatever profession you're in, whatever you do most of the time in your life, your work, your business, whatever it is, and we neglect that spiritual health that truly allows us to have an abundant life because you could have all the money and have all those things going on, the anxiety, the hatred, , and I'm so glad that as kingdom entrepreneurs being aware to how you are, taken away from your own abundant life through certain things.

Mike Manuel: Exactly. You have to be healthy emotionally and spiritually. If you're gonna, Have a healthy thriving business, at least that's sustainable. [00:17:00] You can maybe power through with a load of baggage from the enemy. You can maybe power through for a time or season, but to be sustainable.

And I think all business people and entrepreneurs, they want a sustainable business. They want something they can either eventually sell or pass on their children. And for you to do that, you have to be coming from a place of health and not just physical health. But emotional health and spiritual health.

And I think a lot of times that gets overlooked, like you said, and we just focus on getting a job done. 

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much. Pastor Mike, if there's a message that you want that maybe you haven't had an opportunity to share now talking. I want to give you that opportunity to share whatever it is and then we can close off. 

Mike Manuel: know that focus of your podcast is to entrepreneurs and business people. And so I I want to point to that because again that's been a part of my history and I think, God really, wants to bless you. He does.

He's not holding back. He wants you to be successful and he's not a genie in a lamp that you make your wish and rub, [00:18:00] And he pops out and gives you wishes, but he wants a relationship with you and he wants you emotionally healthy and spiritually healthy. And he wants to bless your business.

likes to see that. So I just would encourage, especially Christian business people, Christian entrepreneurs, don't feel guilty about making money. Don't feel guilty about being successful in business. As long as you're doing it all above board, right? Because God wants to bless you with that.

And there's so much available through a relationship with him. And it's too hard to do it yourself. You need Jesus in your life. And so I just encourage all the entrepreneurs and business owners that you need to partner with someone who can keep you healthy. Both spiritually and emotionally. 

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much for that Pastor Mike. I'm sure you, didn't know this, but when I started this podcast, I remember my thought was that verse that says, beloved, I wish that you would prosper in all things and be in good health, even as your soul [00:19:00] prospers. So thank you so much for being with us and Please I'll put the links down in the description, Pastor Mike, if people wanted to follow you, I know you're on media somewhere, where can they follow you? 

Mike Manuel: Yeah, I'm on Facebook, I the easiest place to check out what's going on, is my website, which is MotaMinistries. com, M O T A, MOTA, stands for Ministry One to Another. So modaministries. com is my website. There's lots of free resources.

There's free courses, free eBooks. There's links to my books you can buy on Amazon my blog, and also way to contact me if you want to do that. So that's the best place to check out on what's going on is my website at modaministries. com.

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. And thank you really for blessing us today.

Mike Manuel: Thank you,