MORNING MANNA            8-3-24

VICTORY IN JESUS

1 John 5:4—For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world,even our faith.

 

When one of our young ladies asked about “something to read” and I immediately recommended “To The Golden Shore”, the biography of Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma–one of my favorites. Shortly after I happened to read this reference to that book in this article by Stephen Davey:

Sometimes it takes more faith to believe that God is in control of your own personal life than it takes to believe that He is in control of the whole world.

On one occasion Judson was falsely accused of being an English spy. As a result, he endured a cruel imprisonment by the Burmese government. His wife, Anne, faithfully and courageously attempted to have him released through every possible channel, but to no avail.

His prison cell was so tiny that he was forced to stand, while the cells of others allowed room to lie down to sleep. The sun was unbearably hot at times; prisoners were never allowed to bathe; pain filled every fiber of his body as he was tortured day after day. His only respite from the agony of his incarceration was a visit from Anne. In those brief but wonderful moments, she would encourage him with the same message, “Hang on, Adoniram, God will give us the victory.”

Week after tortuous week, Anne came and encouraged him, delivering the same words, “God will give us the victory.” After many months, Adoniram was unexpectedly released and assigned the task of interpreter for affairs between the English and Burmese. Because of this new duty, he was still separated from Anne. Sadly, during his time of absence, Anne became deathly ill.

Months passed and Judson was finally allowed to return home a free man. Body broken and weak, he approached the place he once called home. As he slowly limped toward the door, he saw a child sitting in the dirt. The little girl was so covered with filth that he failed, at first, to recognize her as his own daughter. He went into their simple hut, squinting in the darkness, and gasped as he saw the emaciated form of his wife lying on a cot, weakened by disease. Tears coursing down his cheeks, he hugged his daughter close to him and knelt beside the cot.  Anne looked up at him and with her last breath, smiled and whispered the words, “Adoniram, God will give us the victory.”

If you were to be able somehow to interview the Judsons today, they would no longer be saying, “God will give us the victory”; instead, they would joyfully deliver the news, “God has given us the victory!”

Be encouraged, my friend. No matter what you’re going through right now, your life is in God’s hands. Hold fast to your faith as Anne and Adoniram did, even in the face of squalor and disease, deprivation and disappointment, heartache and loss.

Your reward in the end is everlasting, and the celebration of final victory is . . . just ahead!—

Pray right now that God will give you the kind of faith that Adoniram and Anne Judson exercised, even in the face of persecution. Then, thank God for giving you victory over sin, death, and the world, through Christ’s perfect life, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection.” – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

MORNING MANNA                 8-2-24

AN ACT OF ACCEPTANCE 

In this day of “Mega-churches”, crusades, TV preachers, etc. we need to remember the need of one on one personal evangelism. And sometimes a simple kind word can do more than an in your face sermon. The following true story is a good example.

Your kindness to one person can change the course of history for multitudes. Gypsy Smith was one of the great evangelists of the last century, and the beginning of the 20th. He won tens of thousands of people to Christ. His life was often in the midst of the crowd, but his greatest life changing experience was a one on one encounter. He felt very conspicuous, for he was from a Gypsy family, and he was accustomed to being rejected for being different. He felt nobody cared for him but his father. But one day, as he stood outside a chapel, an older man walked up to him and said, “The Lord bless you, my boy. The Lord keep you, my boy.” 

The man walked away, and he never saw him again, but a lump came into his throat, and a tear to his eye, for those words of kindness made a little Gypsy boy feel accepted. In his autobiography Gypsy writes, “When I reach the glory-land, I will find out that dear old man, and while angels shout and applaud, and the multitudes who have been brought to Christ through the Gypsy boy sing for joy, I will thank that grand old saint for his shake of the hand and for his God bless you! For he made me feel that somebody outside the tent really cared for a Gypsy boy’s soul.” It is absolutely amazing what an act of acceptance to a person who expects to be rejected.

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church  

Humble,TX

MORNING MANNA          8-1-24 

NEVER STAND STILL

”But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Pet.3:18

The danger and deceitfulness of drifting is illustrated by the story of the English explorer, William Edward Parry, who took a crew to the Arctic Ocean. They wanted to go farther north to continue their chartings, so they calculated their location by the stars and started a very difficult and treacherous march north. They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped. Taking their bearings again from the stars, they discovered that they were farther south than they had been when they started. They had been walking on an ice floe that was moving south faster than they were walking north. Similarly, how easy it is to be out with step with God, thinking we are walking with Him, when in fact we are moving away from Him faster than we were supposedly walking toward Him! Ouch! That is the tragedy of drifting from the truth. Will you (or I) awaken one day (“come to our senses”) to find, that all the time we have been moving imperceptibly in the wrong direction?! – Bruce Hurt

 C H Spurgeon was right when he said that “The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up. You have to cut every step with an ice ax. Only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any prog­ress. If you want to know how to backslide, leave off going forward. Cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity. You can never stand still.”

The best definition of a backslider that I know of is when a person ceases to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Christian life has been likened to riding a bicycle – you have to keep moving or you fall. When trees stop growing they become unstable and are blown over by storm winds. To keep going you have to keep growing! – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

MORNING MANNA             7-31-24  

A PROFITABLE PARABLE

  “But he knoweth the way that I take: When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” ‭‭Job‬ ‭23‬:‭10‬ ‭

Were we as smart as God we would agree with everything He appoints or allows in our lives. Regardless of what we have suffer on earth there will be no questions or complaints about about it in heaven. There we shall see it all clearly. – HDS

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble, TX

“Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭

Peter could not apprehend the design of our Lord in washing the disciples’ feet, and impatiently expressed his surprise, “You shall never wash my feet!” Our gracious Savior in effect replied, “Wait a little, Peter—and you will see the reason for My doing so. You do not realize now what I am doing—but later you will understand.”

How often are we impatient when we cannot at once see the design of the Lord’s dealings with us. Sometimes, when events run contrary to our desires and expectations—we are ready, like Jacob, to say, “All these things are against me!” While in reality, none of them are against us—but all are, in a wonderful way, working together for our good.

Oh for more confidence in Him who, in infinite wisdom, is so ordering the circumstances of our lives as to promote our spiritual welfare here—and our eternal advantage in the world to come.

Even in the present life, the Lord sometimes shows us the meaning of His past dealings with us, and convinces us that when He was leading us in a rough path—He was leading us by the right way towards the city of habitation.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err,
 And scan His work in vain!
 God is His own interpreter,
 And He will make it plain!”  – Author unknown